Kate Heeks-Purell

Originally from England, Kate Heeks-Purell has called Aotearoa home for the past eight years. After living in Wellington — where the ocean was quite literally on her doorstep — she settled out West in Auckland, where wild coastlines continue to shape her creative practice.

Kate works with mixed media, marine debris, and coastal accumulation — giving new life to materials found washed up along the shore. A lifelong creative (and self-confessed hoarder of found things), she studied art and design but stepped away from making for many years.

That changed when she became a scuba diving instructor. Inspired by the underwater world, she returned to art with renewed purpose. Her work reflects the rich textures, colours, and patterns of the sea — from delicate shells to tangled seaweed. She is especially drawn to reef walls and the hidden ecosystems they reveal.

Through her practice, Kate elevates humble fragments — seaweed, shells, marine cast-offs — to spotlight the quiet, often overlooked beauty of the ocean. Each piece invites us to pause, notice, and reconnect with the natural world.