Odelle Morshuis
Masters in Fine Art, Wimbledon School of Art, London 2004
Bachelor of Art, Otago University N.Z.
Double major in Design and Art History, 1994-1997
Awards/ Competitions:
2025 Queenstown 'Stuff' award winner
2025 Cleveland Art Awards Finalist
2015-2015 Top 10 Artists award Christchurch Art Show.
2019 Best Contemporary award Queenstown Art Awards.
2019 Merit award at the Autumn Arts Festival.
2016 Aspiring Art Awards Finalist N.Z.
2011, 2013, 2015 Central Otago Art Awards Finalist N.Z.
2008 First prize, Dunedin Art Awards N.Z.
2006 First prize Hope and Sons Art Awards Dunedin, N.Z.
2004 Wimbledon Art School Drawing prize 2nd U.K.
1999 'The Artist' magazine 2000 competition 2nd place, U.K.
1997 Mainland Art awards finalist, N.Z.
1997 Wearable Art awards finalist, N.Z.
Collections:
Dunedin Public Library
National Bank of New Zealand Collection, N.Z.
Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Collection, U.K.
Logica Collection, U.K.
Herbert Smith, London, U.K.
Chambers of Christopher Symons QC and
John Jarvis QC, Verulam Buildings, London, U.K.
Steptoe Johnson and Rakison, London, U.K.
Exhibitions (selected)
2025 Sculpture in the Goldfields, Bannockburn
2025 Gallery De Novo Dunedin, Summer rounds
2025 Guest artist ARTE Gallery Luggate
2025 Bannockburn Art Exhibition
2025 Elemental, Deciduus gallery Taupo
2025 Queenstown art Show
2025 Chch Art Show
2025 A muster of creatives, Central Stories, Alexandra
2024 Queenstown Art Show.
2024 Christchurch Art Show.
2004 Brisbane Affordable Art fair.
2024 New Zealand Art Show Wellington.
2024 Echo: Odelle Morshuis and Jillian Porteous Heaphey Gallery, Alexandra.
2003 Pukeiti Predator Free NZ, Taranaki Regional Gardens.
2023 Christchurch Arts Centre, Sculpture Festival Sept.
2023 Bannockburn Arts Festival, Oct.
2023 Wellington NZ Art Show May.
2023 Christchurch Art Show, March.
2023 Riversdale Art week July.
2022 Solo, "Just Visiting" Fox Galleries, Melbourne.
2022 Group, "In Contrast" Tirau gallery.
2022 Auckland Art Fair.
2022 Christchurch Art Show.
2022 NZ Art Show.
2021 Christchurch Art Show.
2020 Christchurch and Auckland Art Fairs, online.
2020 "Figuratively Speaking" 3 Artists at te Huanui Gallery, Darfield NZ.
2019 Melbourne Affordable Art Fair.
2019 Carrick Winery.
2018 Mt Difficulty Winery.
2019 Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong.
2019 Hoglunds Glass art Gallery, Cromwell.
2018 " A Muster of Artists", Central Stories Gallery Alexandra.
2018 Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong.
2014-18 Christchurch Art Fair.
2014 Solo, Mint Gallery, Dunedin, NZ.
2014 Frontroom Gallery, Queenstown, N.Z.
2013-2005 Annual Solo, Hullabaloo Art Space, Cromwell, N.Z.
2012 Central Otago Art Awards.
2013 Wellington Art Fair.
2013 Solo Show, Fluid Art Space, Queenstown.
Selected publications/press/reviews:
Otago Daily Times, “Artists of Bannockburn”, 7 Oct 2019 by Simon Henderson
Otago Daily Times “Exhibition marks gallery milestone,” 27 Aug 2016
Otago Daily Times, Art Seen: Absence and Presence, Hullabaloo Art Space, Cromwell 3 Apr 2014 by Laura Elliot
Southland Times, “Going with the Flow,” 5 Sep 2013 by Che Baker
Otago Daily Times, ''Hullabaloo Art Space Group Show'' Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery, Alexandra 12 Sep 2013
All of my work – 2D and 3D – draws on the human form to create a narrative that explores how we interact with the space around us. It acknowledges that every space has a history of movement – a complex integration of accumulation and change, transitioning and overlaying human activity through the lens of time.
The landscape is not merely a backdrop but a living presence, shaped by and shaping those who inhabit it. The vulnerable lines of the body and the borders of the land are constantly redrawn, redefined, and eroded by time and perspective. Through a dynamic interplay of viewpoints, I capture the quiet tension between human form, built spaces, and the vast, unknowable terrain they inhabit
Bio:
Odelle lives and works from her family home and vineyard in Bannockburn, Central Otago. You can visit her at her home gallery and studio (128 Cairnmuir Road) or the family Cellar Door (Dicey Wines) at 263 Felton Road, Bannockburn. She is currently represented by Blackdoor gallery in Auckland.
Born in 1970 into a large Dutch immigrant family in Mosgiel, Otago, Morshuis grew up in the family hardware store, where a strong do-it-yourself ethic, customer engagement, and visual display formed part of everyday life. Her early interests included art and art history, sewing, and selling painted shorts during school holidays.
After exploring several creative pathways; including Craft Design at Otago Art School and jewellery making. She completed a degree in Design Studies and Art History at the University of Otago, followed years later by a Master’s degree in Painting at Wimbledon Art School, University of London. A decade in the UK consolidated her professional practice through studio-based work, exhibiting with galleries, dealing with art consultants, and showing at international art fairs.
Returning to Aotearoa, Morshuis established a collective gallery in her local town, which she ran for ten years before returning to the Art fair scene and selling via her home gallery, cellar door and dealer galleries.
Her practice remains driven by curiosity and material exploration, working across painting, steel, glass, clay, and drawing, guided by intuition with an ongoing commitment to learning.
Artist Statement:
Odelle explores landscape, identity, and the subtle psychological space between people and place. Working across painting and sculpture her work is grounded in a process-led, material-driven approach. Morshuis allows each work to unfold through making — layering, erasing, rebuilding, and responding intuitively to what the materials reveal.
Her imagery is defined by outlined human figures that hover between presence and disappearance, often dissolving into their surroundings. Crowds appear as atmospheric gatherings rather than literal scenes, while landscapes are shaped by movement, weather, and memory. Horizons shift, forms fragment, and bodies blur, reflecting lived experience and the uncertainty of belonging.
Morshuis treats the landscape as a lived encounter rather than a static view. Snapshots of place function as memory triggers, allowing light, distance, and atmosphere to carry emotional weight. Her sculptural works extend this inquiry into physical space, often incorporating elements that can shift, rotate, or be reconfigured, reinforcing ideas of instability and change.