Katherine Throne’s paintings are alive with the energy of the natural world.
The Wānaka-based contemporary artist has long drawn inspiration from the tenacity, beauty, and raw vitality of the great outdoors. Through sweeping gestures, layered washes, and thick impasto, Throne captures not just the appearance of gardens and landscapes, but the feeling of being within them – the play of light, the tactile richness of petals and stems, the quiet drama of shadow and colour. Here, we explore the motivations behind her practice, her relationship with the land, and the ways she channels the spirit of nature onto the canvas.
What made you decide to become a painter?
I started my fine arts degree majoring in interior design, but I fell in love with painting during the two years of foundation drawing and painting classes that were part of the degree programme. The classes were a bit of a creative revolution and I loved the emotive power that colour and mark making could generate. Paint presented so many ways to express ideas and emotions. Once I developed a concept I was passionate about, paint was a natural and eloquent language to tell my story. Paintings can bring about profound feelings of connection, and it’s wonderful when the viewer sees something in my work and thinks, “I know that feeling, I feel that too.”
What is it about the flower and flora that captivates you?
My interest in the flower began during my master’s thesis when my research into the history of interior design revealed that the flower was one of the most important and longstanding motifs in design history. Fluent and visible in all aspects of decorative design, it presented a connection to nature that is still relevant today. It disappeared from design language with the rise of Modernism, and for a long time suffered the degenerative and degrading connotations that everything associated with the decorative and feminine also experienced. My first solo exhibition Wallflower was about returning the flower to the wall, and since then I’ve been interested in the flower as a motif of feminine courage, beauty and resilience.
Tell us about where you work and your daily rituals.
My studio is at my home in Wānaka. It’s great for late laundry loads and when the kids are home sick, but probably because of the juggle of being a mother and running my own business, my studio hours are precious and work days are often long.
My initial floral inspiration came from community gardens where I developed a love of the wonderfully abundant and slightly ramshackle style of growing that’s become a feature of my work. When we moved to Wānaka in 2020 I finally got the chance to plan and plant my own wild garden, and now it’s the source of a lot of my painting content. The studio is surrounded by garden and is a wonderful distraction when I’m stuck. Getting between the stems and seeing movement, hearing insects and noticing the light refract through layers of growth is a great meditation to clear the head.
Tell us about your recent exhibition Deep Roots, Tall Poppies at Sanderson
Deep Roots, Tall Poppies was a collection of paintings based on my garden. Although carefully tended, my garden is encouraged to grow wildly and delightfully towards abandon. I’ve noticed that gardening is easiest when I let the community of plants thrive as they would outside my garden. Some of my most useful plants are deemed weeds, but I appreciate how their long tap roots mine for nutrients and pull them up for the benefit of neighbouring plants. From showy tall poppies – so easy to criticise and chop down – to quietly hardworking heroes, everything plays a unique role in maintaining a supportive environment. I see my garden as a joyful community of characters that delight in the freedom of being unique. Sharing this joy is what the exhibition was about.
You are soon to be showing at the Aotearoa Art Fair. What can we expect?
The collection of work for Aotearoa Art Fair is about drama. One of my favourite flowers to paint is the rose, partly because its rich petals work well with thick impasto paint, but also because I’m intrigued with the paradox the rose presents: beauty, fragrance and decadence on the one hand, and brutal thorns and tenacious habits on the other. It’s the classic femme fatale, a wonderfully powerful feminine motif. This collection has a good dose of roses, but there’s also other characters that hold court in the drama department when the light sinks low and the shadows slant deeply.
You have previously collaborated with art historian Dr Linda Tyler. Can you tell us about your relationship with Linda and how it aids your practice?
Having someone else write about your work is extremely helpful in an art practice. They read your work in a different way, revealing new points of perspective and trains of thought.
Dr Linda Tyler has written about my work several times since our first interview together for Art Zone in 2023, and Linda’s thorough knowledge of art history allows for deep and searching questions. Her essays, which have accompanied several of my Sanderson exhibitions, have provided valuable insights by placing my work in the context of New Zealand artists and reveal useful associations I hadn’t considered. Her support has been wonderful, and I’m looking forward to our scheduled talk at Art Fair about my paintings in the Sanderson booth.
What have you got coming up later in the year?
I’m going to delve into the studio again – winter is ideal for experimenting with new techniques and materials that I don’t have time to explore during my busy summer exhibition period. It’s a chance to make work without the pressure of success, and amidst the expected failures there’s always something I get excited about and carry into my next body of work. I’ll be releasing a small capsule of paintings in spring at Sanderson which will be the result of this winter experimental period.
