KATE NEWBY

In 2012, she was awarded the Walters Prize by curator Mami Kataoka, and was named a Laureate by the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi in 2025. In 2017, she undertook the prestigious Chinati Foundation residency in Marfa, Texas, where she is now based and continues to develop work grounded in the poetics of place.

Her practice has been widely exhibited across major museums and biennales, including the Biennale of Sydney, Palais de Tokyo, Mori Art Museum, and Sharjah Biennial. In 2025, she was commissioned to create The Sound of Trees—a 76-foot ceramic and glass tile mural for Portland International Airport (PDX), Oregon. Evoking the forested landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, this monumental public artwork extends Newby’s exploration of nature, materiality, and human presence into the realm of architectural scale.

Early Years

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1979, Newby grew up near the black sands of Bethells Beach. Her father was a potter, and the natural world around her shaped her approach to art. Newby studied at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2001, Master of Fine Arts in 2007, and Doctor of Fine Arts in 2015. She lives and works between Floresville, Texas, and Auckland, maintaining strong ties to both places.

Kate Newby Artworks

Newby’s artworks are characterised by their engagement with specific sites. She often uses everyday materials to create interventions that encourage viewers to reconsider their environment. Her practice spans installation, ceramics, textiles, casting, metal, and glass, with each work responding directly to the context in which it is placed, the materials dependent on chosen sites and their particularities.

Newby is known for integrating her art into daily life, from embedding coins in pavements to creating wind chimes and subtle sculptural gestures in overlooked spaces. Her works often blur the boundaries between subject and object, inviting interaction and perceptual awareness.

Writing about her work in Frieze, Jennifer Kabat described Newby as an artist who ‘celebrates the minutiae of everyday life; her work is an invitation to look further and see more’. For example, her ‘Pocket Charms’ series began in 2011 and includes nails, coins, and pull-tabs from cans – some were found, others were remade and cast in silver. When Newby first exhibited the charms in 2011, as part of the exhibition Prospect: New Zealand Art Now, they were hidden in the pockets of gallery attendants, who would take the work home at night.

Notable Projects, Commissions, Awards and other Developments

• Walters Prize (2012): Awarded New Zealand’s most prestigious contemporary art honour for Crawl out your window, a site-responsive installation presented at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. The work was selected by Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum Chief Curator Mami Kataoka for its subtle transformation of architectural space and use of natural light.
• Chinati Foundation Residency (2017): Completed a residency at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas—a pivotal experience that influenced her ongoing exploration of scale, light, and material. Newby is now based in Marfa, continuing to develop her site-specific practice in dialogue with the desert environment.​
• Biennale of Sydney (2018): Presented A Rock in This Pocket, replacing a courtyard section with bricks embedded with ceramics and found objects that subtly responded to the site’s architectural rhythm and historical context.
• Kunsthalle Wien (2018): Solo exhibition I Can’t Nail the Days D__own, exploring materiality, fragility, and temporality through everyday gestures and handmade forms.
• Michael Lett, Auckland: Exhibited Had Us Running with You (2023) and, in 2025, presented new work alongside Judy Millar, extending her locally grounded yet internationally resonant practice.
• Sharjah Biennial 16 (2025): Created Cold Water, a large-scale glass and rope installation commissioned by the Sharjah Art Foundation. Installed on the façade of the Kalba Ice Factory, the work interacted with natural light and movement, evoking shifting environmental phenomena across the day.​
• Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), Sydney (2024–25): Commissioned to create Hours in the Wind for the Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace. This three-part installation unfolds across the museum’s entrance, a hidden interior passageway, and the rooftop terrace overlooking Sydney Cove. Made from salvaged maritime ropes, cast bronze, and hand-blown glass, the work responds to the changing weather and light of the harbour.
• Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate Award (2025): Named a Laureate and recipient of the Gow Family Foundation Sculpture Award, honouring her ‘radical yet gentle’ approach to public and environmental sculpture.​
• Portland International Airport (PDX), Oregon (2025–26): Commissioned to create The Sound of Trees, a 76-foot ceramic and glass tile mural. This permanent installation, inspired by the forested landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, expands her practice into large-scale public art and is set to debut in 2026.

Kate Newby Exhibitions and Commissions

• São Paulo Biennial, 2004
• 1st Brussels Biennial for Contemporary Art, 2008
• Let Me Be the Wind That Pulls Your Hair, Artpace, San Antonio, 2017
• I Can’t Nail the Days D__own, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, 2018
• 21st Biennale of Sydney, 2018
• YES TOMORROW, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Wellington, 2021
• Réclamer la Terre / Reclaim the Earth, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2022
• Walls to Live Beside, Rooms to Own: The Chartwell Show, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2022
• Had Us Running with You, Michael Lett, Auckland, 2023
• What a Great Year for Music, Marfa Book Co., Marfa, Texas, 2023
• Our Ecology: Toward a Planetary Living, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2023
• Intimate Confession is a Project, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, 2023
• She’s Talking to the Wall, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 2024
• Very Active Weather, KAYOKOYUKI, Tokyo, 2024
• Hours in the Wind, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Australia, Sydney, 2024–25
• Sharjah Biennial 16, Kalba Ice Factory, UAE, 2025

Website and Instagram

Kate Newby’s website can be found here and her Instagram can be found here.

Critical Reception

Leading art publications have widely covered Newby’s practice, including Frieze, which described her work as ‘radically slight’ and ‘earthwork in miniature’.

Kate Newby FAQs

Ocula | 2025