Trish Clarke

Trish Clarke is an artist, sculptor, and designer based in Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand.
Trish is established as an artist for contemporary outdoor metal sculpture and has been consistently exhibiting sculpture in indoor and outdoor exhibitions throughout NZ. 

Much of her work revolves around traditional gender roles and also environmental concerns and working in copper and enamels for jewellery.

One aspect of this is using upcycled copper from old Hot water cylinders and air-conditioning tubing. “While it is harder to reclaim the copper into a useable material for sculpture, I love the textures, patterns and especially the colour of old copper. Right through bright tourquise to orange, pinks and reds. I am surprised each time I rip up a cylinder – some of them are 70 years old!”

Trish has works in public and private collections including Whangarei District Council, The Whangarei Outdoor Sculpture Trail, Camera Obscura Whangarei, The Arts Trust and The Kings College Collection.

Camera Obscura Whangarei
From 2015 Trish has been working with Photographer Diane Stoppard and Architect Felicity Christian to build an 8m x 12m Weathering Steel Sculpture within which is a Camera Obscura, which opened in November 2021.

In 2022 the Camera Obscura received an honorable mention in the International Architecture Masterprize. Also winning an award for ‘Small Project Architecture’ Auckland Architecture awards 2023.