Heather Watt is a New Zealand-based mixed media artist whose practice is rooted in curiosity, experimentation, and the transformative potential of materials. Her participation in the Evolving Identities Residency in July 2026 at Studio 88 Artist Residency reflects her ongoing commitment to artistic exploration, cultural exchange, and site-responsive creative practice.
For over two decades, Heather has explored the possibilities of layering diverse surfaces and found objects, creating abstract contemporary works that reveal unexpected connections and visual narratives. Drawn to the process of hunting, collecting, and assembling the “unobvious,” Heather’s work invites viewers to engage with texture, memory, and surprise.
Heather has been developing her mixed media practice for approximately twenty years, working across painting, collage, assemblage, texture-based processes, and found-object constructions. Her work combines materials such as corrugated iron, chiffon, fabric, paint, and salvaged objects, creating richly layered compositions that balance intuition with material discovery. Throughout her career, she has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, fundraising exhibitions, and commissioned projects across New Zealand. Her artworks are currently exhibited at galleries in Whangamatā and Tairua.
Alongside her studio practice, Heather has facilitated community workshops in collage and mixed media techniques, sharing creative experiences with both artists and non-artists. Her diverse professional background has taken her to the Middle East and Europe, where she continued to expand her artistic and educational interests. While living and working in Bahrain between 2008 and 2012, she completed the Initial Diploma in Art Therapy and an International Workshop Programme at Metàfora International Art School in Barcelona, experiences that deepened her understanding of creativity, process, and personal expression.
Since committing to full-time art practice in 2020, Heather has continued to strengthen her artistic career. In 2022, she undertook a three-month artist residency at the Art Exchange in Broken Hill, Australia, where she developed a new body of work while facilitating workshops for the local community. The experience reinforced her belief in the value of creative exchange and the importance of providing meaningful artistic experiences for others. Her achievements include receiving the Supreme Award and First Prize in the 2D category at the 2022 Harcourts Art Challenge, judged by Stephen Cleland, Director of Tauranga Art Gallery, for her mixed media work Scratching the Surface.
Artist Statement
Hunting, collecting, layering, and being drawn to putting the “unobvious” together underpins Heather’s work. Through the layering of mixed materials ranging from corrugated iron, chiffon, paint, fabric, and found objects, she creates works that evoke surprise, complexity, and visual interest. Her abstract contemporary practice embraces experimentation, allowing materials, textures, and processes to interact organically. Rather than seeking fixed outcomes, Heather values the discoveries that emerge through layering, accumulation, and transformation.
Material Memory & Surface: Responses to Place in Northern Thailand
During her residency at Studio 88, Heather will undertake a process-led exploration of material memory through mixed media experimentation and site-responsive making. Grounded in the collection and transformation of found and salvaged materials, the project investigates how surfaces hold traces of time, environment, and lived experience.
Responding to the landscape and cultural rhythms of Northern Thailand, she will explore the textures, colours, climate, and visual density of the local environment. Particular areas of interest include the effects of tropical weathering, repetition, ritual, everyday materials, and the ways in which these elements contribute to a sense of place and surface history. Rather than producing literal representations of landscape, Heather intends to translate sensory experiences into layered abstract works through collecting fragments, observing patterns, and experimenting with locally sourced and found materials.
The residency will generate a series of exploratory mixed media pieces alongside material studies, process documentation, collected visual references, and new approaches to layering and assemblage. The research undertaken at Studio 88 will also contribute to the conceptual development of a larger body of work examining material responses across Southeast Asia.
Studio 88 Artist Residency provides an ideal environment for this project through its emphasis on experimentation, reflection, and artistic exchange. Heather values spaces that encourage process over outcome and foster dialogue between artist, material, community, and place. The residency’s international and intercultural setting offers opportunities for creative immersion and exchange that align closely with her practice. As an experienced workshop facilitator, she also looks forward to sharing ideas and engaging with fellow residents and the wider community through informal conversations, open studio activities, or mixed media workshops during her stay.
More about Heather Watt on her instagram.
Studio 88 accepts applications on an ongoing basis. Check out our residency program and apply now.
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