wild pounamu Print

Claudia Grutke was born in Germany and migrated to New Zealand after completing a degree in Pharmacy at the University of Hamburg in 1996. Even though a part of her always wanted to be an artist she chose a very grounded profession and stayed in healthcare for more than 20 years. With many years spent in Christchurch, it took an earthquake to initiate change. In 2013 Claudia moved from Christchurch to Raglan, took up her paintbrush and spatula and began working in the studio as an autodidact to create abstract paintings. In search for new inspiration and direction she attended the 2020 Art2life Creative Visionary Program. Claudia’s creations evolve as emotional and intuitive reflections of the artists subject. She currently investigates presence in a meditation of movement and mark making. Layers and texture define a moment in time and space. Intuition guides the process. Working in mixed media without preconception, layers inform each other until balance is achieved. Claudia is the winner of the Artist of the Year competition 2014 by Chroma Australia. Claudia held a solo exhibition at Frankton Gallery, Hamilton; February 26 to March 16 (2019) and a solo exhibition at KAH Gallery, Wellington October (2021) She has participated in group exhibitions in Bologna (2015 & 2016), in Milan (April 2016), her work was on show at the NZ Art Show in Wellington (June 2016, 2017 & 2018) and in group exhibitions in Madrid (October 2016), Wellington (December 2016,2019,2023) and Hamilton ( May 2017, 2019,2021,2022,2025) as well as Raglan(2017,2018, 2019, 2020,2021,2023,2024, 2025).