Tannery Arts Studio, London.
ABOUT
In her multidisciplinary award-winning practice, Annie Smits Sandano (b. 1983, Brazil), maintains a hybridised, vibrant and bold approach to fostering her continued curiosity in materiality and the visceral experience of colour relationships. Whether it be acrylic painting, hand made wood block prints, hoop wall installations or stoneware ceramics, her style is instantly recognisable. Her work is a clear celebration of colour in alluring flat hues with complementing tones and inviting surfaces via the rigorous use of traditional analogue techniques reinvented within her own unique contemporary visual language.
Annie was born in São Paulo, and is an established professional artist working from her purpose-built studio in Hahei, New Zealand, after having lived and exhibited in London for 4 years at Tannery Arts. She received a BA (hons) from the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Art and Rhode Island School of Design, USA, in 2005. Noted collections in which her paintings are held are The Private Collection of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, London UK, The Arts Trust Collection Auckland, CMA+U Architects collection Auckland, The Brazilian Embassy Collection Wellington and The Hilton Group Collection.
Her painting, Head, was finalist in the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards 2022. Within her ceramics she has won the 61st Ceramics New Zealand National Exhibition Award for sculptural ceramics in 2025, been finalist in the prestigious New Zealand Portage Ceramic Awards in 2019 and 2023, and she has won the Waiheke Small Sculpture Benefactor’s Merit Award in 2024 and been a finalist in the New Zealand Small Sculpture Award that same year.
Portage Ceramics Award finalist installation, Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland
RESIDENCIES & AWARDS
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61st Ceramics New Zealand National Exhibition Award, winner, sculptural ceramics, Pah Homestead, 2025
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New Zealand Small Sculpture Award, finalist, Waikato Society of Arts, 2025
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Waiheke Small Sculpture Award, finalist, 2025
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UKU Clay Hawkes Bay Ceramics Award, winner, Rabbit Room Award 2024
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Quarry Ceramics Award, finalist 2024
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Portage Ceramics Award, finalist, Te Uru Contemporary Gallery, 2023
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Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Award, finalist, 2023
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Waiheke Small Sculpture Award, winner, Benefactor's Merit Award, 2023
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Waiheke Small Sculpture Award, finalist, 2023
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New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award, finalist, 2022
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Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Award, finalist, 2022
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Molly Morpeth Canaday Award, finalist, 2021
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Waiheke Small Sculpture Award, finalist, 2020
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Portage Ceramics Award, finalist, Te Uru Contemporary Gallery, 2019
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Waikato Society of Arts National Youth Art Award finalist (2010, 2011, 2013)
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Ceramics Summer Residency (2023) Studio Pottery London, UK.
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Printmaking Residency (2017) Art Print Residency, Barcelona, Spain. Majors: Carborundum printmaking and Moku Lithography
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Painting Residency (2016), Studio Art Center International, Florence, Italy. Major: Acrylic painting
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Printmaking Residency (2016), Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, Australia. Major: Monoprinting
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Summer Residency (2001), Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island, USA. Majors: Art History, Ceramics, Illustration, Printmaking
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Autumn Residency (2001), Studio Art Center International, Florence, Italy
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
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Arts House Trust Collection, New Zealand
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The Private Collection of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, London, UK
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CMA+U Architects collection Auckland
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Deloitte Art Collection, New Zealand
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Ernst & Young Art Collection, New Zealand
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Hilton Group Art Collection, New Zealand
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Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand
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Brazilian Embassy, Wellington, New Zealand
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Private collections throughout New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, UK and Japan
New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award finalist, The Listener, Waikato Society of Arts
SELECTED COMMISSIONS
Ernst & Young Art Collection, New Zealand, 2019
Brazilian Embassy, Wellington, New Zealand, 2013 & 2017
Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand, 2013 & 2016
Hilton Group Art Collection, Queenstown, New Zealand, 2016
Fletcher Family private collection, Auckland 2017
Owen Family private collection, Auckland 2015
Dillon Family private collection, Auckland 2012
EXHIBITION HISTORY
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Sun Seekers, Turua Gallery, Auckland
2022 Exuberance, Gallery De Novo, Dunedin
2021 LUSH, Turua Gallery, Auckland
2020 Fabled Paradise, Solander Gallery, Wellington
2016 Romantic Ideals: New Zealand Landscapes, Seed Gallery, Auckland
2015 Colour Sounds, Gallery De Novo, Dunedin
2014 Full Spectrum, ORA Gallery, Wellington
2013 Flying Through Clouds, Kina Gallery, New Plymouth
2012 Menagerie, Solander Gallery, Wellington
2012 Colour Wheel, Seed Gallery, Auckland
2011 Milk and Honey, Parnell Gallery, Auckland
2009 The Unexplained, Fantastic & Unusual, Seed Gallery, Auckland
2008 My Other Eden, Seed Gallery, Auckland
2007 Delirious Utopia, Seed Gallery, Auckland
Selected Two & Three Person Exhibitions
2017 Taking Shape, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2016 Annie Smits Sandano and Kiya Nancarrow, Gallery Thirty Three, Wanaka, NZ
2012 Birds Suite, The Print Room, London, UK
2009 Annie Smits Sandano and J Gray, Toi o Tahuna Gallery, Queenstown, NZ
2008 Kiwianarama Panorama, two-person show, LeSA Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Selected Group Exhibitions from the past 10 years
2025
61st National Ceramics Award exhibition, Pah Homestead, Auckland New Zealand
Winter Show, Thrown Contemporary, London, UK
New Zealand Small Sculpture Award, Waikato Society of Arts, Hamilton, New Zealand
2024
UKU National Biannual Ceramics Award, Hawkes Bay New Zealand
Alchemy at OmVed Gardens, Thrown Contemporary, London, UK
Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Award, Waiheke Gallery, Waiheke, New Zealand
2023
Te Uru Portage Ceramics Award, finalists exhibition, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Walker & Hall Art Award, finalists exhibition, Waiheke Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Small Sculpture Award, finalists exhibition, Waiheke Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Fluidity, Ora Gallery, Wellington NZ
2022
New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award, finalists exhibition, The Pavilion, Hamilton Gardens, New Zealand
Molly Morpeth Canaday Award, finalist exhibition, Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi, Whakatane, New Zealand
Winter Show, Thrown Contemporary, London, UK
2021
Cloud 9, Dream Pavilion Exhibitions, The Grey Place, Auckland, NZ
Summer Show, Thrown Contemporary, London, UK
Push Play, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2020
Small Sculpture Award, finalists exhibition, Waiheke Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Prism, Thrown Contemporary, London, UK
Gravity & Levity, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2019
Te Uru Portage Ceramics Award, finalists exhibition, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Breaking Ground, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Point Blank, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2018
Summer Selection, London Print Studio, London, UK
Ahead of the Curve, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
End of Year Edit, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2017
Summer Selection, London Print Studio, London, UK
Taking Shape, Seed Gallery & Grey Space, Auckland, NZ
Auckland Grammar Exhibition, Auckland, NZ
2016
SACI Summer Salon, Florence, Italy
Full House, Gallery Thirty Three, Wanaka, NZ
Garden Party Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
To The Point, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Summer Selection, Seed Gallery, Auckland, NZ