In a week’s time, the Maori Hill School Fundraiser Exhibition is on again. I will have another room full of paintings, and 30% of every sale will go to the school.
This is the second year I’ve held this exhibition, and I’m so grateful for the wonderful support of the PTA, who help make the exhibition run so smoothly, from organising the catering to creating such a warm and welcoming atmosphere on opening night. A huge thank you also to Etrusco for generously providing the wine. We’ll also be enjoying a delicious platter, once again thanks to the PTA.
I’d love to see you there for a chat, a drink, and an enjoyable evening surrounded by art. Whether you’re looking for a special piece for your home or simply want to come along and support the school or myself, everyone is very welcome.
To make the exhibition even more tempting, I’ve slightly discounted most of the paintings on display for the event. I’m still making the final selection, as there is limited space, but I have the majority already sorted.There will be a mix of acrylic still life, landscapes, watercolour flowers and some strawberry paintings from last year’s solo show ‘A Remix of the Beatles’ which was held at the Otago Art Society.
Most of the works this year will be smaller pieces, as I’ll be using table easels. Thanks to the Otago Art Society, however, I will also be able to display some larger works on their standing display easels.
Here is a picture of last year’s show. I was able to use easels and display walls panels from the Wakari Art Group, which was great as I had a lot of larger works on show.
And here is all the information you’ll need to join me:
Below I am showing some of the paintings that will definitely be in the show. If you are interested in one, just contact me directly and I can reserve it for you before open night. Apologies for the slightly blurred images.
Greengages for Elfriede – Acrylic on board – 300mm dia. – $960 (for the duration of the exhibition only)Lemon and Lace – Acrylic on board – 200mm dia. – $590 (For the duration of the exhibition only)Grannies – Acrylic on board – 300mmdia. – $960 (For the duration of the exhibition only)Grapefruit and Lime Swirl (2024) Acrylic on board – 300mm dia. – $960 (For the duration of the exhibition only)Blemished – Acrylic on board – 500mm dia. – $2100 (For the duration of the exhibition only)Something – Acrylic on board – 200mm dia. – $590 (For the duration of the exhibition only)Grapes and Blueberries – Acrylic on board – 200mm dia. – $590 (for the duration of the exhibition only)
Thanks again for supporting my art and subscribing to my newsletter!
For the first time, I took part in a Midwinter Christmas Pop-Up Shop, filling the walls with some of my paintings in the Community Gallery on Princes Street here in chilly Dunedin. None of the paintings were particularly wintry or remotely related to Christmas, but it was all worth it! Juliet Walker managed the event and invited me to exhibit and fill the walls. Everything was so well organised and incredibly uncomplicated. Juliet and her daughter ran the whole show and made it all so easy for the rest of us artists. The shop had a wonderful European Christmas feel, and I’d love to do it again next year.
The biggest surprise was that I finally sold my painting “Lowland Storm”โthe first original I’ve sold this entire year! A lovely lady from Invercargill walked in within the first five minutes of the shop opening, saw my painting, and bought it on the spot. Thank you so much if you’re reading this!
At the same time, the Riversdale Mixed Media Show was on, where I had been invited to exhibit. This show is always so well organised and of high quality. This year seemed even more impressive than usual. Sadly, I didn’t make it there in person to see it for myself. I had four of my still-life fruit paintings on display, and they have all now safely returned home, ready for the next exhibition. One advantage of not selling very much is that I never run out of artworks to exhibit! In fact, I’m almost relying on that this year, as I have several more showings planned, with some artworks potentially appearing in more than one exhibition to help spread my work around Aotearoa a little bit more.
During June I’ve been busy entering various competitions and preparing and packaging paintings to be sent off to exhibitions. This week alone both the Otago Art Society’s 150th Annual Exhibition and the Ashburton Art Society’s 62nd Annual Exhibition are opening, and I’m fortunate to have paintings included in both. They are new works and I will share them with you once the openings are over.
My airport exhibition is also still running for another two and a half weeks. Once that’s done and if all goes to plan, I hope to hold an Open Studio on the last weekend of July. I will have paintings and prints available to purchase directly from my studio. For this I have just received my latest prints from my photographer and printer, Murray Eskdale at Mint Printing, and as always, they look superb! This time, I also have four new designs available and in various sizes. Here is a sneak peek…
I’m also already preparing for my next solo exhibition at the beginning of August. It will once again be a fundraiser exhibition at Maori Hill School, with 30% of the proceeds going to the school. Please mark the date in your calendars! The exhibition opening will be held on Monday, 3 August, from 5.00โ7.00 pm at Maori Hill School. I’d love to see you there!
So, there always seems to be plenty happening! At the very least, I’ve had a lot of fun along the way, and I’m very grateful to have this creative career alongside my work as a primary school teacher. Sometimes the two even come together, whether it’s through my fundraiser exhibition or helping make props for the upcoming school musicalโwhich opens tomorrow! How exciting!
I still have my small collection of paintings on display at Dunedin Airport for June and the beginning of July. I chose larger works, mainly landscapes, as they make a stronger impact and help fill the vast space. I have already received some lovely feedback and am very grateful for the opportunity to show my work to so many people. Altogether, I have eight works on display across four walls around the terminal.
This year has been a year of new endeavours, challenges, and firsts for me. For the first time, I entered an overseas award, The Salon Art Prize for the month of April, and received an award in the Landscape category for my painting Lewis Pass Beech Forest. Along with a certificate, I received prize money that covered the cost of my entry. More importantly, this recognition makes me eligible for the grand prize at the end of March next year, as well as a feature in the magazine. The most exciting part, however, is exhibiting alongside artists who have been my idols for quite some time.
Other first-time endeavours this year included entering the NZ Contemporary Art Calendar, applying for a fellowship, submitting work to the Adams Portraiture Awards, and participating in the New Zealand Paint and Printmaking Awards. Not all of these opportunities were successful, but it is always worthwhile trying new things and seeing where they might lead.
With my other job as a teacher, along with the paperwork and organisation involved in various exhibitions, the one thing I have not done much of this year is painting. I am just about to finish my first landscape of the year, which will be entered into the Ashburton Annual Exhibition. I am also hoping to complete another painting for the upcoming Annual Exhibition for the Otago Art Societyโs 150th anniversary.
I was hoping to have an open studio in June sometime but it might have to wait a little. If you are keen to visit, however, you can flick me an email from my contact site (website: http://www.sarahfreiburger.com) and arrange a time to come by. I won’t have many paintings on display in June, though, as they are all out on show.
I am still feeling the effects of the concussion, but all in all I can now do most things again in the same way and for the same length of time as before my injury. Yay!
I have a few exciting things coming up. One is that I recently found out my painting Lewis Pass Beech Forest will be included in the 2027 Contemporary New Zealand Art Calendar, designed by Elastic Design and published by Browntrout Australia. My painting will feature in the month of June. This feels like a huge privilege, given the status of the calendar and the number of entries they received and had to choose from. I love the variety of artworks they have selected. I will receive a limited number of calendars later in the year for purchase and will put out a call closer to the time.
The original painting is still available and will be a major feature in my next show, which brings me to my second piece of exciting news: I will be the featured artist at Dunedin Airport from next week until mid-July. In this exhibition, I will have my two larger forest scenes on display (Lewis Pass Beech Forest and Silent Weavers), along with some waterscapes, still life paintings, and nine little strawberry paintings of my show Nothing is Real โ A Visual Remix of The Beatles. All paintings will be for sale, but my main aim is to make my work visible to a larger audience.
Other than that, I have been painting small colour studies to inform larger works. I am not yet sure which of the two I will choose to develop first, but they may both make it onto a larger board.
A little study from the Otago Dam TrackStudy from Nature Loop Walk at Kidds Bush, Lake Hฤwea
I have also completed a quick third study featuring a misty forest scene. It takes time to create fog that actually looks like fog with acrylics, as I have to build up smooth layers of paint that interact with each other. The effect becomes more translucent, and different colours shine through depending on light intensity, temperature, and angle. It is quite a neat effect, though never straightforwardโand I could really do without all the hairs and fluff that seem to appear at exactly the wrong moment.
Study from a scene on the West Coast near Haast
I have now started painting a similar scene on framed meranti plywood, measuring 900 mm x 310 mm. So far it looks quite grey, but the forest in the foreground will soon introduce fresh greens, and I am thinking of leaning the fog towards a pinkish tone, which it already slightly has.
Thatโs it from me for now. I wish you all well, and youโll hear from me again in the coming weeks. Thank you again for signing up to my newsletter.
I have been MIA for the past few months due to a concussion, during which time not much happened. No concentrating, no working, no painting, nothing at all really. This left me mostly resting, alternating between the most exciting activities of sleeping, sitting and waiting, eating, listening to copious audiobooks and tiny walks. Then, when I started to feel better, I had to take things very slowly, doing only small, short tasks throughout the day, which I have gradually extended over the weeks. The hard bit was, and still is to be patient. I now feel so much closer to being my normal self againโso glad! Who would have thought that getting things out of the car could have such huge repercussions!
While I was being majorly useless, things nevertheless still happenedโluckily not much planning was required on my part, or it had at least all been done before I bumped my head. I was happily surprised and so pleased to be a finalist for the New Zealand Paint and Printmaking Award with my painting TwoFold (see below) at Artspost in Hamilton. What an opportunity to show my artwork alongside some of my long held art heroes in the same exhibition. The show itself is now over, but it has been extended and is now exhibited at KHR Galleria at Villa Tuscany in Matamata until 24th April. TwoFold was the last painting I did in 2025 before my wee little accident and before my parents arrived to spend Christmas with us.
On another note my painting The Catlins River made it into the Hope and Sons Art Award, which runs biannually. This show can be viewed up in the Railway Station at the Otago Art Society until 11th April.
The Catlins River – 900mm x600mm – Acrylic on board
With this painting, I noticed how important the right lighting is. When I painted it in my studio, it looked warm and balanced, with the greens not too overpowering and the water clean. Unfortunately, when I took it outside, I got quite the shock at how cool and blue the colours suddenly appeared, how the reds and browns got lost, and how the greens looked far too strong and fought for attention. The water that appeared so clean in my studio now looked yellowed and stained. The lighting at the OAS unfortunately reveals all of thisโbut thatโs just life. I have seen this happen before, especially with paintings I havenโt taken outside at all to paintโwhich was pretty much all of last year. So, something to watch out for in the future!
On that cheerful note, I wish you all well, and Iโm hoping to continue my monthly newsletter from now onโfingers crossed and heads not bumped in the future!
I hope the year has started well for you. I enjoyed a very special five weeks with my parents, who came all the way from Germany to stay with us over Christmas. The last time they visited was seven years ago, so it truly has been precious.
I am super thrilled to be a finalist in the New Zealand Paint and Printmaking Awards this year. They are being held at the end of February in the Waikato area. Unfortunately, Iโm not allowed to share the painting with you yet.
Other than that, I also had the Aspiring Art Awards to look forward to at the start of the year. This year more than ever, as I hand-delivered my latest painting due to its size, together with the lovely artworks of Rod Eales and Anne Baldock. My partner and I made a whole holiday out of it, going from cold, grey Dunedin into what felt like true summer (at least for that day).
Below is a photo of me with my entry, Silent Weavers, for the Aspiring Art Awards. You can view it, along with all the other artworks I currently have available, at my next open studio next Saturday, 24 January, from 10 amโ2 pm at Caldwell St. Just pop in if you have time.
“Set within the beech forests along the Otago Dam Track in Lawrence, Silent Weavers captures an immersive forest scene rich in intricate detail. A V-shaped composition, guided by subtle visual vectors, draws the viewer into the heart of the painting. Trees and spiders alike weave patterns of light, shadow, texture, and colour across the forest floor and sky. Reds and browns anchor the foreground, while a variety of greens and blues beckon toward the beyond. From afar, the scene reads as a cohesive whole; up close, it celebrates a dense network of natureโs chaotic order and invites slow exploration.”
At the end of last year I completed my latest commission: A painting depicting a scene from Hoopers Inlet. I like the strong triangle composition in this piece with the Hillman, rider and woman. I added some subtle light play to accentuate the woman a bit more as she is important for this piece.
If you haven’t already you can sign up to my newsletter below so you can stay informed what I am up to every month. That’s it from me for now. All the best and till next time.
If you havenโt yet had the chance to see my current strawberry show, โNothing Is Real โ A Visual Remix of The Beatles,โtomorrow (Friday, 28 Dec, 5โ7pm) is the perfect time to do so. Drinks and nibbles will be provided for this closing event at the Otago Art Society in the Railway Station.
It has been a wonderful two weeks, and Iโd like to thank the Otago Art Society for hosting me in this perfect little gallery. Iโve received some lovely, heart-warming feedback from visitors!
Here are some impressions from the show:
It will be a busy weekend ahead, with the closing of the show on Sunday and another opening happening back-to-back for me. Next week, on Tuesday 2 December, weโre opening our combined show Artists Shop 2025 at the Community Gallery, 26 Princes Street, from 6pm onwards. Come along to mix and mingle, and maybe pick up some early Christmas giftsโor a treat for yourself. There will be great artworks to explore, nibbles, drinks, and possibly even live harp music to enjoy.
Artists Shop 2025 will be open daily from 3โ13 December. This event involves 12 artists, all of whom are listed on the poster below. Last year, it was one of the most rewarding events for me, offering the chance to connect and have in-depth conversations with other artists. Iโm very much looking forward to repeating it this year.
This year Iโm clearing out some of my art, so there will be bargains on unframed works, studies, and older pieces Iโve held on to, as well as cards and high-quality prints (also discounted). With so many artists on board, there will be a wonderful diversity of work and something for everyone to enjoy.
Iโll be there for most of the days except Fridays, and Iโm planning to do a small demonstration at some stage as well. Iโll share more information about that on my socials (sarahfreiburgerart on FB and Instagram) if youโd like to come along.
After all of this I will enjoy Christmas this year with my parents who are coming over from Germany to stay with us for 5 weeks. I haven’t seen them since Christmas 2023, so this will be extra special. Last time we met, my dad celebrated his 80th birthday in style…
…and I had a hell of a time with family and friends :-D
In January I will be part of the Craigs Aspiring Art Awards again and I am really looking forward to this event. I have entered a bigger painting this time, which is about to get varnished. Can’t wait to share it with you once the event is on, as we are not permitted to share beforehand.
That’s it from me. In case we don’t see or hear from each other before the fast approaching end of the year I wish you all the very best and a joyous time with family and friends and hopefully a little bit of time to relax as well!
Over the past few weeks I have been painting what seems like a huge pile of strawberries.
This all came about when I won a space for a two-week show in one of the Otago Art Society’s galleries upstairs in the beautiful Dunedin Railway Station. Earlier in the year, I also had a solo show at Mฤori Hill School โ my biggest to date โ which included a painting of a strawberry. That piece was so fun to create and received such positive feedback.
Iโve always had fond memories of my childhood and teenage years connected to strawberries โ they were once my favourite thing to eat (before my apple addiction). I remember trips to our local strawberry fields in Tamm and the surrounding area (near Stuttgart, Germany), where we could pick and eat strawberries galore. And what is more, I was once completely infatuated with The Beatles โ especially their song Strawberry Fields Forever โ so much so that even my first-ever email address involved strawberries!
Out of all that, the idea was born to do a show about strawberries. I originally planned to paint eight realistic-looking, small, 20cm round pieces for the show. Well, I must have been painting like the devil, because Iโve definitely surpassed that number โ Iโll have 16 when theyโre all ready! Theyโre pretty much complete now.
And without further ado, hereโs my little blurb for the upcoming show:
In Nothing is Real, small becomes extraordinary. Dunedin-based artist Sarah Freiburger transforms the ordinary strawberry into a hyperreal muse, revisiting The Beatlesโ iconic songs through a series of witty, meticulously painted scenes. Each work reimagines a Beatles song with a playful visual twist, inviting viewers to look more closely โ and have a laugh.
Rendered in acrylic with precision, these bite-sized paintings merge nostalgia, reinvention, and humour. Some strawberries rest delicately on crochet doilies; others interact with each other in comic absurdity. What begins as a humorous riff on familiar lyrics becomes, in the end, a tender homage to the songs that shaped a generation.
But wait โ thereโs more! There will be a little (and maybe unexpected) twist in the show โ but youโll have to come and see it for yourself. I wonโt spoil the surprise, just come along, have a good laugh, and enjoy! I had mega fun composing and painting these little pieces.
What I can tell you is that thereโll be an A-Side and a B-Side to the show โ just like in the good old tape and vinyl days!
I hope Iโve given you enough of a taster to make sure you pop this event in your calendars. Thereโll be a finissage on 28 November from 5โ7pm, with drinks, red nibbles, and other bits.
Iโve just finished two commissions, and both are now in the hands of their new owners. Working on commissions always comes with a bit of a challengeโmainly because you never quite know if what you think works will line up with what the client had in mind. Thereโs always that little bit of uncertainty around whether expectations will be met.
These two recent pieces couldnโt have been more different in terms of approach. One was very straightforward: a collector of mine wanted a painting based on a single photograph. There wasnโt much to figure out in terms of composition, which allowed me to focus more on technique. The only thing I changed a bit was to introduce more vibrant colours in the tลซi to make it stand out more. I loved painting this piece, everything just flowed from start to finish and it didn’t take as long as I thought it would.
Here are some shots from the Commission Tลซi in Bottlebrush:
The first layers of the tลซi in the bottlebrush. This painting measures 50cm in diameter.
The finished painting
A close up on the tลซi and some of the bottlebrush
The second commission, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. It was a present from the children to their parents and should depict their farmland where they once lived for many yearsโa place full of emotional history for them. There wasnโt one photo that captured the essence of what they were after, so it involved a lot of planning, sketching, and piecing together to get a feel for the place and to figure out perspective, composition and light. Even though I made some sketches beforehand, they didnโt feel quite right, and once I started the painting, the overall scene just didnโt work. The composition felt offโrather than working together, the elements were competing with each other instead of sitting in harmony. So, in the end some elements made it into the final painting, others didnโt (like the feeder and the calves). Honestly, it was one of those really hard going pieces because of the construction of it all and mainly also because I wasnโt sure if Iโd managed to capture the spirit of the place.
But in the end, it was all so worth it. I learned a lot along the wayโabout planning, composition, and painting in general. These tricky pieces make me connect more deeply with the work in the moment, and I always come away feeling like a slightly better painter. The best part by far though was hearing back from them after they received itโand learning that they were genuinely happy with itโmeant the world to me. I poured a lot of time, energy, and sweat into that piece, and knowing it resonated with them makes it all worthwhile.
These are the progress pictures and final version of “Beneath Mt Te Aroha”
In the first version of this painting there were some calves. However they did not work well with the overall composition of the painting and didn’t make it to the final version. The people then needed to be more central and prominent, so they had to be redone a lot bigger.
I used a plastic sheet to cover the. calves and see to draw in the family a little big bigger and more central. Once I was sure where to go from there and had discussed it with my client I made the necessary changes.
And this is the final version. This painting measures 60cm in diameter.
A close up of the dad on the bike.
I took a shot of the finished painting caressed by the first sunrays in the morning-still on the easel in my studio.
Over the next few months, Iโll be fairly busy with another commission, finishing up a large forest painting thatโs almost done, and preparing for my next solo show at the Otago Art Societyโupstairs in the railway station, in the Joan Hardey Gallery. The show will run from 17โ30 November (no opening date set just yet). At the moment, Iโm painting lots of strawberries for this exhibition! More on thatโand a few other developmentsโin the next newsletter.
Thanks so much for your support, for following along, and for taking the time to read this.
Last weekend was so much fun catching up with everyone at the Otago Art Society, up in the beautiful Dunedin Railway Station. I couldnโt stop smiling when I bussed in on Saturday for the first of two days for me of painting in public. This is a yearly event that brings together artists and the community. There are always wonderful new encounters to be had, knowledge shared, and plenty of laughs.
This event was organised (as in the past few years) by Brenda Nyhof and Lorna Allanโthank you very much, you two, for an outstanding job yet again! Itโs one of my personal highlights of the year.
I was so stoked about my new, smaller prints that I had on displayโthey look stunning! For all fellow artists out there thinking of getting their work professionally photographed or printed to last a lifetimeโMurray from Mintprinting here in Dunedin is the man for it. I also still have prints available for anyone interestedโjust send me a quick message.
Here was my workspace and the two paintings I have been working on. Still not quite done yet though – too much lovely chatting…
These two will be part of my next solo exhibition coming up in November, which I will share more about soon.
I also have been very busy lately with a number of commissioned work. Two of them are finished now and I will be able to share them with you soon.
New Prints:
Limited Edition Print (100) of Racemans Track, 250mm x 250mm, $120
Limited Edition print (100) of Lewis Pass Beech Forest, 300mm x 224mm, $125
Limited Edition print (100) of Growing A Rainbow, 250mm x 250mm, $120
Thanks for reading my post. Have a great start to spring, keep safe, warm and till next time!
Sarah Freiburger 