A fan of bold colour and strong line, Colleen Pugh’s training as a graphic designer is evident in her painting and illustration work. When she isn’t creating, Pugh works behind the scenes curating exhibitions, organising community art projects and educating others.

Based in Auckland and with limited access to new materials during the lockdown of 2021, Pugh was inspired to work with what was at hand, and so chose to carve the plywood shapes as woodcut plates. Each chevron has been considered as its own composition, and as part of the larger image which is formed when all works in the series are slotted together. In addition, Pugh has created a limited run of 10 woodblock prints from the combined plates to be gifted with each carved piece.

The depiction of flora is a nod to William Morris whose textiles and wallpaper were made using woodblock print techniques. The specific flora Pugh has chosen have associations with healing, growth and new beginnings.