Our interview with renowned Aotearoa artist, Sheyne Tuffery

Sheyne Tuffery is one of the most highly-regarded and acclaimed multidisciplinary visual artists and printmakers working in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sheyne lives and works in Wellington and paints, prints and does conceptual pieces. His practice has spanned 35 years so far and his work has gained him a major international reputation. His pieces have been exhibited globally and are held in numerous national and international collections. His practice covers a wide variety of mediums from traditional wood block prints, to digital prints, murals and traditional painting.

Overall, Shayne’s work demonstrates a broad multidisciplinary approach to art making, utilizing a wide range of mediums to explore his artistic interests. Sheyne’s previous bodies of work have been incredibly varied.

In 2019 he became the artist in residence at the Carter Observatory, where he created a body of work responding to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Scientific themes, spiritual narratives and environmental issues recur throughout his body of work. His recent works touch amongst other things astronomy, the cosmos, plankton, flowers and the fragility of the earth.

In this wide-ranging interview he chats to us about his practice, his approach to art and some aspects behind his extensive body of work. The interview was shot at Shayne’s studio in the fabulous Toi Pōneke. Find more information on Sheyne Tuffery’s practice here.

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to Sheyne for his time and his enlightening and thoughtful replies to our questions, and the Toi Poneke Arts Centre in Wellington for hosting. All art used in this interview is by kind permission and strictly copyrighted.