Johanna van Laar NZ; Australian, b. 1964

Johanna van Laar is a Ryde based artist who loves to compose works expressing a juxtaposition of complementary colours, giving an intense vibrancy, liveliness and vitality to her paintings. She is inspired by the picturesque countryside of Provence or Tuscany in Europe, with its stunning palette of colours, charming rolling hills sprinkled with vineyards and fields of sunflowers and lavender, and also the French cafe scene. Johanna has also produced both New Zealand and Australian landscapes and beachscapes, as well as many portraits. Although Oil is her favourite, she also paints in other media such as acrylic. Her Dutch ancestry has recently  inspired rich still lifes steeped  in old master precision. 

Johanna's art training began at Uxbridge Art Hub and Te Tuhi Art Centre in Auckland, NZ and she completed her Diploma of Art from The Sydney Art Scool in 2018. She is also a qualified Primary School teacher and was a specialist Art Teacher at a middle school in Auckland for a number of years. Since immigrating to Australia in 2014, she taught as a classrrom teacher at an independent primary school, and also produced a number of large murals for their buildings, and backdrops for their productions.

Johanna has been teaching Fine art class/courses at Prince Gallery Art School, Gladesville since 2018 and has also taught children's classes at Sydney Art School.

Johanna has participated in Exhibitions at Uxbridge Arts and Culture Hub and Te Tuhi Art Centre and Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand, and in Exhibitions at the Sydney Art School,  Hornsby Art Society and Gallery Lane Cove. She was a finalist in 2017 in the Hornsby Art Exhibition and in the Lane Cove Art Awards in 2023.

Concentrating now on her own studio practice, Johanna's curiosity with narrative and folk lore, combined with her European Naiive style, make her work a joy for the senses and certainly a local emerging talent to watch .