About
Karen Sewell is a visual artist who works across media including sculpture, installation, photography, painting, sound, scent and light. She lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, New Zealand. Sewell is interested in the intersection of art with spiritual experience, in particular, human experiences of the *numinous.
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Sewell graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (with Honours) in 2016 from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design. She was a finalist and award winner in the 2024 Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Awards, the recipient of the Premier Award in the Waitakere Trust Art Award in 2011, and has been selected as a finalist in awards including The NZ Portrait Awards in 2012, the Wallace Art Awards in 2013, and the Glaister Ennor Graduate Awards in 2016. Sewell has exhibited work across New Zealand and internationally with a highlight being Luminary I Luminare in Personal Structures biennial exhibition at Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Italy, a collateral of the Venice Biennale.
Sewells unique offering artistically and professionally is through her creation of innovative artworks (often) in unexpected and alternative exhibition spaces as well as gallery spaces that offer the viewer the potential for an experience of the unseen and unknown. Photographic and painted artworks have emerged from the immersive space experience. The practices of the installation, photography, sculpture, painting, scent and sound, work together in combinations to achieve the exhibition experience.
*Numinous speaks to everything within the realm of our experience which cannot be quantified, explained, or contained. Our intuition, and our feeling-states, our connection to the cosmos, and for some a sense of the divine.
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Curriculum Vitae
Education
Master of Fine Art Degree, Whitecliffe College of Art and Design, graduated with Honours, 2016
Advanced Diploma of Art and Design, Whitecliffe College of Art and Design, 2013
Roles
Judge, Waitakere Arts 50th Members Art exhibition, 2024
Judge, 35th Trusts Art Award, 2023
Distinctions, Awards and Award Exhibitions
2024 Award winner Merit Award Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Awards
2014-23 Commissioned Artist for New Zealand Unsung Hero Award trophies
2016 Finalist, Glaister Ennor Graduate Art Awards
2013 Finalist, Wallace Trust Art Awards
2012 Finalist, Adam New Zealand Portrait Award
2011 Winner, Supreme Award, Waitakere Trust Arts and Sculpture Award (Painting)
Books
Luminary I Luminare [Artist Book], Published by Karen Sewell, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2022
Real Fantasy [Artist Book], Published by Karen Sewell, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2016
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
3 Sisters, 3 Kings (earth from my back yard), 2024 and Luminary II XR (Betelgeuse), 2024, ABSTRAXT ABSTRAXT Exhibition, NorthART Gallery, Tamaki Makaurau I Auckland, group show May-July, 2024, Curated by Jessica Pearless
Luminary, 2023, Korschenbroich, Germany, May 2023
Stardust (from my back yard), 2023, Whakatane Galleries, Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Awards Exhibition, Award Winner Merit Award, Feb - April 2024, Curated by Aimee Ratana
Capturing what Cannot be Captured, Atelier Gallery, Whakatu, Nelson, solo show Oct-Nov, 2023
Luminary, 2023, Korschenbroich, Germany, May 2023
Celestial Event Series Astro Dawn, Civil Dawn & Dawn to Daybreak, 2021, lumens, Woman Made Gallery group exhibition, Nov - Dec 2022, Chicago, IL, USA
Luminary I Luminare, 2022, New Zealand Tour, Auckland/Dunedin/Christhchurch/Wellington, May - August, 2022
Luminary I Luminare presentation, Personal Structures, European Cultural Centre, Italy, Venice Biennale, 23 April - 27 Nov 2022, Curated by Sara Danieli and Lucia Pedrana
Luminary, NorthArt, Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand, 21 May - 3 July 2022 (solo exhibition)
Numinous Spheres, NorthArt, Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand, 2021 (solo exhibition)
Curated by Karen Sewell, Jonathan Organ and Jessica Pearless
Wonder Tree & Baade’s Window, Owhango Summer Sculpture Show, selected artist, Owhango, New Zealand 2020–21, Curated by Jonathan Organ and Jessica Pearless
In Paradise 2018 & Luminary (Intangible), 2021NZ Sculpture OnShore, selected artist, Fort Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand, Curated by Anna Hanson 2018 and Sally Lush 2021
Awakenings IV, installation, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, 2021 (solo exhibition)
Faux, The Wilderness Precinct, Featured artist, Festival One, Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton, 2020, curated by Mark Pierson
Paradise Life, EA Arts and Music Festival, Featured artist, The Cloud, Queens Wharf, Auckland, New Zealand, March 2017, Curated by Cleo Barnett, Paris Kirby and Bronson Price
The Stand In, 2015, Glaister Ennor Graduate Award, Sanderson Contemporary Gallery, 2016, Curated by Kylie Sanderson
Adaptation: New Artists in a new space, Warwick Henderson Gallery, 2015, curated by Warwick Henderson
Lost, 2015, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Trust, Pah Homestead, Auckland, New Zealand
2014 (solo exhibition), Curated by Nicholas Butler
Selected texts
McAvoy, Emil, “Levitation: The recent work of Karen Sewell”, Numinous Spheres exhibition catalogue, Northart, 2021
Torrance, Tamar, “Numinosity in the art of Karen Sewell”, Luminary publication, Venice, 2022
Shaw, Megan, "The lineage of Luminary: Wonder and the sphere in early modern art history (1400-1700)", Luminary publication, Venice, 2022
Brown, Judith, "Benediction: Theological resonances in Luminary I Luminare", Luminary publication, Venice, 2022
Represented in Art Collections
C. Hutchinson Collection
The James Wallace Arts Trust
National and international private collections
Representation
Co-Presenters for Venice and Aotearoa NZ Tour
The University of Otago
Public Presentations
Abstraxt Abstraxt Exhibition Northart, Symposium 'Futures' Panelist & Workshop presenter, 2024
Capturing What Cannot Be Captured, Artist talk, Nelson Cathedral, Nelson Arts Festival, 2023
Luminary I Luminare Artist Talks, Venice Italy, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, 2022
Numinous Spheres Exhibition Northart, Artist Talk & Workshop presenter, 2021
