SHANA CARLAN-RIDDELL

Hello

I am a retired Visual Arts teacher, living in the in the Bay of Plenty on our avocado orchard. I have enjoyed helping young people in their creative journeys over the course of my teaching career, and am now looking forward to having more time for my own work!

My story

I came to New Zealand in 1985 as a backpacker from Alaska, and spent 5 months exploring all the National Parks and meeting people, both locals and fellow travellers. Later in my OE, I met and travelled and worked with Mark Riddell in Australia, and in 1988 we married and moved to Rotorua, New Zealand, where we farmed sheep and cattle, and raised our family.

I studied Fine Arts and Illustration in California and gained my BFA from Humboldt State University, a Post Graduate Diploma of Teaching from Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand, and an MFA in Painting from Whitecliffe College of Art and Design in Auckland, New Zealand. I was the Head of Visual Arts at Rotorua Lakes High School, from 2002-2018, and I still help out at local colleges in their Art departments, but I am enjoying having more time for my own pursuits, both in the studio and outdoors.