Bernadette is available for commissions - whether people, pets, or places. Enquire now.
Bernadette Ballantyne is a soft pastel artist based in the Waikato, originally from Taranaki. She studied at Whanganui’s Quay School of the Arts, where she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts before spending 13 years teaching. In 2022, she made the leap to pursue her art full-time.
Working primarily in soft pastel realism, Bernadette’s work focuses on storytelling and narrative, often exploring nostalgic themes rooted in memory, rural life, and fleeting moments of connection. While she has made a living through portrait commissions —capturing people, pets, and places with care and detail — her personal work delves deeper into ideas of identity and belonging.
Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and is held in private collections across Aotearoa.
She has been recognised with several awards, including NZ Emerging Artist of the Year in 2005 and the Supreme Art Award – Tasman Art Awards in 2024. She has also been selected for a number of national exhibitions, including the Craig’s Aspiring Art Prize and the Cleveland National Art Awards.
Art by the River is a contemporary Whanganui fine art gallery, opened in December 2024. The gallery features a mix of emerging and established New Zealand artists, alongside an exclusive fine art Collectables selection of New Zealand fine art prints. As an art dealer and collector, 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 through a regular art exhibition in-house, connecting both NZ and international art collectors with meaningful artwork, and contributing to Whanganui's vibrant cultural landscape.
