AUT - Nancy de Freitas
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Nancy de Freitas
Nancy de Freitas
Associate Professor, Postgraduate Studies
Programme Leader, Master of Arts Management
Editor-in-Chief, Studies in Material Thinking
School of Art and Design
Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies
De Freitas works with postgraduate students in the visual arts and design and currently leads a new postgraduate programme, Master of Arts Management. She has a particular pedagogical interest in interdisciplinary approaches, collaborative learning environments and professional/industry relationships. Her academic research interests are related to professional art and design practice, including: exhibition practice; curatorial strategy; practice-led research; active documentation; material thinking and the language of research reporting.
De Freitas has a background in painting and installation practice and has worked collaboratively with composers and writers. Her current focus is multi-sensory installation experience. The philosophical context of her work is related to the dynamics of identity/belonging and the construction of place. Recent work has explored the human condition in which cultural material such as tradition, memory and identity are preserved, questioned, changed, reconstructed and sometimes discarded as markers of individuality. Her work reveals a desire to understand our sense of place and need for home and how our memories of places and events are etched into our sense of self.
During 1999-2000, de Freitas was the AXA Artist in Residence at the West Plaza Building, Auckland, working on the Lagoon Documents projects. This resulted in two exhibitions. In 2001, she was the Amtrust Artist in Residence at the Price Waterhouse Coopers Building in Auckland (resulting in one exhibition) and in 2003-2004 she had an inner city studio residency with AMP Capital Investments (Jones Lang LaSalle). These innovative, negotiated residencies brought the artist and the corporate sector together in a mutually supportive scheme.
Selected exhibitions
The Family Album Series, new paintings, Artline Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, 1992
Imploding the Myth, a sound and sculpture installation for the Studio Gallery, in collaboration with Gordon Baird (composer), The Fisher Gallery, Auckland, 1994
Plate Tectonics, works on paper and canvas, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland, 1996
Ears to the Ground: a Dance in Three Movements, a collaborative mixed-media installation, Robert McDougall Gallery, Christchurch, 1996
From the Curving Air, works on paper, Bowen Galleries, Wellington, 1997
Drawings, Nancy de Freitas and Michael Dell, works on paper, The Drawings Gallery, Auckland, 1998
Nancy de Freitas - New Work, paintings from the Lagoon Documents Series, Peters Muir and Petford Gallery, Auckland, 2000
Parallel Histories, sculpture, light and sound installation in collaboration with Kapka Kassabova and Mark Storey, The Fisher Gallery (Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts), Auckland, 2000
Submerged, new paintings from the Lagoon Documents Series, Waiheke Gallery, Waiheke Island, Auckland, 2001
Recent work: Final paintings in the Lagoon Documents Series and preliminary concept sketches for Weight of the Human Heart, Amtrust Artist in Residence Studio Presentation, Auckland, 2002
Weight of the Human Heart, multi-sensory installation, in collaboration with Kapka Kassabova and Mark Storey, Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Borg Henry Gallery, Christchurch, 2 April – 27 June 2004.
Different Directions: Narratives of being in the world, in collaboration with Kapka Kassabova and Mark Storey, Lopdell House Gallery, Auckland, 3 Sept – 3 Oct 2004.
The Voice Breaks, Installation (paintings and text), X Space Gallery, Auckland, 8-19 June 2005.
Adhere, Special Project Gallery, Department of Visual Arts, Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts, York University, Toronto, March 2-13 2009.
Published Commentaries on Work
Nelligan, J., New Women Artists, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Publication, 1984
Bett, E., New Zealand Art: A Modern Perspective, Reed Methuen, Auckland, 1986
Gilderdale, P., Art New Zealand, Vol. 63, 1992. Nancy de Freitas
Sumich, J., Artline Contemporary Gallery Publication, 1992. Bravado
Binney, D.H., Art New Zealand, Vol. 69, 993/4. The Male Nude: Four Recent Representations
Brown, W., 100 New Zealand Paintings, Godwit, Auckland, 1995
Fowler, R., Fisher Gallery Update, No. 8, November 1994
Robert McDougall Art Gallery Bulletin, No.103, 1996. Ears to the Ground: A Dance in Three Movements
Gunson, V., Art New Zealand, Vol. 87, 1998. Drawing Some Universals: Recent Work by Nancy de Freitas
Simpson, P., Art New Zealand, Number 96/Spring2000. The Landmass in Your Head: Nancy de Freitas' Parallel Histories
Gilbert, T., Parallel Histories Catalogue, Fisher Gallery, Auckland, 2000
Gregg, S., Unlimited, November 2002. State of the Art
Toelei'u, I., Insight, The Alumni Magazine of Auckland University of Technology, Winter 2002. A Room of One's Own
Simpson, P., Weight of the Human Heart Catalogue, Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna o Waiwhetu, 2004
Milburn, F., B.136, Bulletin of the Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Autumn, March-May 2004, Weight of the Human Heart, 2004
De Freitas did her undergraduate degree at the Ontario College of Art (OCAD University, Toronto) and postgraduate study at the University of Auckland (MFA).
Research interests
De Freitas’ research expertise is practice-led research approaches; in particular, the development of appropriate methodological orientations for art and design researchers. Current research interests include: the language of research reporting; theoretical and applied relationships between text and artefact; the effects of documentation and reflection practices on student development and 'material thinking' approaches. She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Studies in Material Thinking (ISSN 1177-6234) www.materialthinking.org, a vehicle for artists, designers and writers to explore their projects and research positions from the vantage point of both the materiality and the poetics of creative research.
Selected publications
http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/v1n2/articles/defreitas/index.htm
http://www.herts.ac.uk/artdes1/research/papers/wpades/vol3/ndfabs.html
http://www.herts.ac.uk/artdes1/research/papers/wpades/vol2/freitas.html
http://nancydefreitas.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.26/prod.30
Contact details
Nancy de Freitas
Associate Professor, Postgraduate Studies
P : +64 9 921 9999 # 8343
F : +64 9 921 9916
e-mail : nancy.defreitas@aut.ac.nz
Website: materialthinking.org
Postal Address:
School of Art and Design
Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies
AUT University
Private Bag 92006
Auckland 1142
New Zealand