Artist Profile

Artist history:

Annie was born in Brazil and has lived between New Zealand and her home country for the past ten years. Annie completed part of her undergraduate training in the USA, where she attended the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design and strengthened her skills in illustration, design and composition. Following this, Annie spent a semester in Florence, Italy, where she studied illustration, painting, Renaissance Italian art history and textile design.

Upon her return to New Zealand, Annie attended Elam School of Fine Arts at The University of Auckland, where she developed a conceptual foundation whilst consolidating technical printmaking skills.

She has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Wellington, Dunedin, Queenstown, Auckland, Christchurch, and the USA, and has had several successful solo shows at Seed Gallery. Annie is represented by galleries all over New Zealand, and her pieces feature in collections all around the world, including the USA, Canada, Italy, Argentina, Dubai, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Fiji, France, and England.

Recent achievements include having an original piece selected for the Wallace Arts Trust collection in 2008, and having two pieces selected as finalists for the Waikato Society of Arts Waikato Youth Art Awards in 2009. A recent collaboration with Save the Children has yielded a Christmas card design that has been printed over 7000 times, with all proceeds from sales going to the organisation.

Educational History:

Tertiary Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) with focus on Installation Printmaking, at Elam School of Fine Arts, The University of Auckland.
Elective papers: Renaissance Art History (Art and Society in Italy), Issues in Art History (History of Cartoons), Ways of Seeing (Overview of evolution of Art.)

2001:
Summer School at Rhode Island School of Fine Arts, Providence, USA. (Programme with focus on Contemporary American Fine Art, Anatomical Drawing, Compositional Design and Book Illustration.)

Semester Abroad Programme at SACI School of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy. (Semester-long programme with focus on Italian art history, Italian language, textile design, Italian interior design, illustration and ceramics.)

2003:
Semester 1: Life Drawing Evening Class at AUT. (Eight-week programme with focus on development of personal style.)
Semester 2: Life Drawing Evening Class at AUT. (Eight-week programme with focus on development of proportion and composition.)

2004:
Semester 1: Fashion Illustration Evening Class at AUT (Eight-week program with focus on developing portfolio.)
Semester 2: Life Drawing Evening Class at AUT. (Eight-week programme with focus on development of perspective.)

2005:
Semester 1: Screen Printing Evening Class at AUT. (Six-week programme with focus on textile design: commercial design development and printing with direct emulsion photo stencils and multi-colour set up on cotton with dye inks and plastisol inks).

Exhibition Participation:

2009:

February: “Jungle Out There”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

February: “Imprint”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

March: “Surface Tension”, group show, Lane Gallery, Auckland.

April: “Run Rabbit Run”, group show, Gallery Thirty Three, Wanaka.

May: “Print Fair”, group show, Gallery De Novo, Dunedin.

June: “New Work”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

June: “Kohia Terrace Art Show”, Kohia Terrace School, Auckland.

August: “Annie Smits Sandano and Jane Gray”, two person exhibition, Toi o Tahuna Fine Art Gallery, Queenstown.

August: “Art Fusions”, Carmel College School, Auckland.

September: Grammar Art Fair, Auckland.

November: “The Unexplained, Fantastic & Unusual”, Solo Show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

December: “Hoopla”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

December: “Christmas Show”, group show, Millwood Gallery, Wellington.

December: “Christmas Show”, group show, Parnell Gallery, Auckland.

2008:

February: “Capsule”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

February: “Art Down Under”, group show, Waterstreet Gallery, Michigan, USA.

February: “My Other Eden”, solo show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

March: “3Some”, three-person show, Letham Gallery, Auckland.

April: “Two”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

April: “Kiwianarama Panorama”, two-person show, LeSA Gallery, Wellington.

June: “Surface Edge”, group show, Lane Gallery, Auckland.

June: “Kohia Terrace Art Show”, Kohia Terrace School, Auckland.

June: “Black Friday”, group show, ORA Gallery, Wellington.

July: “Talk Back”, group show, Artstation Gallery, Auckland.

August: “Anniversary Show”, group show, AOTW Gallery, Auckland.

September: “Spring Growth”, group show, ORA Gallery, Wellington.

October: “Three Contemporary Printmakers Show”, three-person show, AOTW Gallery, Auckland.

October: “New Zealand Works on Paper”, Exquisite Corpse Gallery, Michigan, USA.

November: “King’s School Art Show”, King’s School, Otahuhu, Auckland.

November: “Out of The Box”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

December: “200 x 200”, group show, Kina Gallery, New Plymouth.

December: “Deck the Walls”, group show, Solander Gallery, Wellington.

December: “End of Year Show”, group show, Gallery De Novo, Dunedin.

December: “The Best of 08”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

December: “Out of The Box”, group Show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

2007:

January: “Pod”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

February: “One”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

April: “Delirious Utopia”, solo show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

April: Exhibition of butterfly woodcuts at The Print Shop Gallery, Auckland

May: “Big Heads”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

July: "Stock Room Secrets", group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

August: "Rock Paper Scissors", group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

September: “Let it Roll”, group exhibition, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

December: “Discography”, group exhibition, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

2006:

January: “Small is Beautiful”, group exhibition, Upstairs Gallery of Fine Arts, Whitianga.

January: Print installation on display at National Institute of Creative Arts & Industries, Executive Officer’s Kim Ellis display space; architecture building, Auckland University.

February: Exhibition of butterfly etchings at The Print Shop Gallery, Auckalnd.

April: “Vertices Numero IV”, group exhibition, at Art Depot, Auckland.

August: “Fizz”, group Show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

November: "Converging Margins", George Fraser Gallery, Auckland.

December: “5050050”, group show, Seed Gallery, Auckland.

2005:

May: Exhibition of “Vespa” etchings at The Print Shop Gallery, Remuera.

August: Elam Art Goes Main Street Exhibition, Remuera, Auckland.

December: Elam School of Fine Arts end of year exhibition, Mondrian Building, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand.

2004:

August: Elam Art Goes Main Street Exhibition, Remuera, Auckland.

September: Exhibition of “Farfalla Ape” etchings at The Print Shop Gallery, Remuera.

December: Elam School of Fine Arts end of year exhibition, Mondrian Building, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand.

2003:

December: Elam School of Fine Arts end of year exhibition, Mondrian Building, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand.

2002:

December: Student Exhibition at Manukau School of Visual Arts, MIT, Auckland, New Zealand.

2001:

July: RISD student group show “Time Out”, Rhode Island School of Design Student Gallery, Providence, USA.

December: End of year student Exhibition, SACI Student Gallery, SACI School of Fine Arts, Florence, Italy.