Island Bay

Tom Burnett was born in London in 1958 to New Zealand parents, both of whom were artists. The family came to live in New Zealand while Tom was only young. He began drawing seriously while on a trip to the Tokelau Islands when he was sixteen, returning after five months with some detailed drawings of the area. Burnett left school at seventeen, studied watercolour painting with his father for a year, and then had his first exhibition in Auckland. Since then he has exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand. Burnett is renowned for his printing techniques which he combines with painting and drawing. He has traveled to other Polynesian Islands, including the Cook Islands. This results in work with a strong Pacific flavour which also reflects the landscape of coastal New Zealand.