About
Born in 1989, of Samoan and Pākehā descent, Josh Bashford graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with Honours from the University of Canterbury in 2012. He was introduced to The Diversion Gallery by noted NZ-Pacific artist Fatu Feu'u, who mentored students as Artist in Residence at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies in 2011.
Based in Wairewa (Little River) on Banks Peninsula, Josh works as a full-time artist from his home studio. Time spent in the region inspires many of the motifs in his work — the river, the roads, the fish, the hawks — as well as visits to Samoa and a deep connection with environment, faith, and cultural background.
His vast woodblock prints are intricately carved, featuring motifs of wildlife, people, and particularly the energy of birdlife. There is a sense of protection as well as uplift in the works — a shape-shifting quality in which details emerge in viewing over time. He has already established a very original, distinctive style.
Josh has exhibited in Nelson, Christchurch, Blenheim, Auckland, Melbourne and Samoa, and his work is included in numerous private collections. In 2016 he was a finalist in the prestigious Wallace Art Awards.
The Medium
Woodcut remains Josh's principal medium. Each piece begins with the physical act of carving into the woodblock — a meditative process of mark-making where one mark affects another, building layers of flowing birds, bees, water, and landscape.
Sometimes he introduces colour through a complex technique involving embossing the woodcut into canvas, painting into the impressed pattern, then overprinting the dynamic inked lines. These unique monoprints can have up to four very different colour variations, ranging from vivid works with considerable depth to intense, dark, brooding paintings.
More recently, Josh has been using paper cutouts to create unique monoprints (edition 1/1), carrying his printmaking techniques into paintings and mixed media works. His prints on hessian bring an additional raw, tactile quality to the finished piece.
ON THE WALL
Upcoming Exhibitions
August 2026
Christchurch Art Gallery
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Christchurch, Aotearoa
Featured
26 September – 26 October 2026
Josh Bashford, Ben Reid & Brent Forbes
Little River Gallery
Wairewa, Little River, Banks Peninsula
28 October – 21 November 2026
Josh Bashford, Tony O'Grady & Sam Walker
Chambers Gallery
Christchurch, Aotearoa