Anna Korver

Anna Korver is an established New Zealand sculptor with a national and international reputation. Her skillset is wide and varied, carving in wood and stone, working with cast bronze, and doing her own welding for her faceted steel pieces. Originally from Taranaki, Anna is now based in Benin in Africa but returns regularly to create her New Zealand sculptures.

Anna has a BFA in sculpture from the University of Canterbury. In her sculptures, she works with themes of the female form in relation to strength and fragility, balance, identity, and symmetry. Her more abstract and minimalised forms conceal complex ideas about feminine roles and the projection of the inner self through the outer form. Anna’s works are autobiographical, using the female figure to communicate her experiences.

Of her 2023 exhibition, she said: This exhibition explores the two sides of my reality from the static works portraying myself in the present form conjuring hard, but delicate lines to the light hearted, tender works which refer to memories and dream states produced from a distortion of reality and transient, personal thoughts that revisit the playful mischief and mystery of childhood.

Anna is a regular participant in sculpture symposia and sculpture park exhibitions both locally and abroad. Anna has participated in (and won prizes in) international symposia in Qatar, Montenegro, Cyprus, Australia, Denmark, Romania, Albania, Macedonia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Korea, and Costa Rica, among others. Many of her symposium pieces have been installed as public sculptures following the event.

In New Zealand, Anna was awarded first prize for her work at sculpture symposia in Rotorua (2014), Whangarei (2012), and the Coromandel (2008). She has been exhibited on multiple occasions at Sculpture Onshore (Devonport), Sculpture on the Peninsula (Banks Peninsula), Art in a Garden (Canterbury), and Shapeshifter at the Dowse (Lower Hutt). She has twice been a finalist in the prestigious Wallace Art Awards (2016 and 2018).

Anna was a trustee on the board of Eco Artists New Zealand, a charitable trust that uses funds from the sales of art to help environmental projects, specifically focusing on native New Zealand species and their ecosystems. On her views about the relationship between humans and environments, Anna said: …the figure represents myself in varying states of tension and emotion but the new elements are recognising the structure, the strength, and with that the weakness of the communities we are connected to.

Anna has completed many commissions and is available for more. 

Art by the River is a modern Whanganui gallery, opened in December 2024. The gallery features a mix of emerging and established contemporary NZ artists, alongside an exclusive art Collectables selection of art for sale online – both prints and paintings. As an art dealers and collectors, we include rare and sought-after artworks by internationally recognised artists such as Gretchen Albrecht, Banksy, Damien Hirst, Ralph Hotere and, Andy Warhol. We are committed to supporting NZ artists by providing art exhibition space in-house, connecting both NZ and international art collectors with meaningful artwork, and contributing to Whanganui’s unique cultural environs.