Don Binney is a New Zealand painter best known for his paintings of birds. He was awarded an OBE for services to the arts in 1995.

He grew up and was educated in Parnell, Auckland

Parnell, New Zealand

Parnell is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is often billed as Auckland's "oldest suburb" since it dates from the earliest days of the European settlement of Auckland in 1841...

, taking classes with John Weeks

John Weeks (painter)

John Weeks was a Devonshire born artist who was one of the most influential staff members at the Elam Art School of the University of Auckland where he taught from 1930-1954....

 and R B Sibson, who became his good friend and guide to field ornithology

Ornithology

Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...

. From 1958-61 he studied at Elam School of Fine Arts

Elam School of Fine Arts

The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded in 1890 by John Edward Elam is a part of Auckland University. Students study degrees in fine art with an emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach.-History:...

 in Auckland, gaining a Diploma of Fine Arts. Binney’s tutors included Ida Eisa, James Turkington, Robert Ellis and Robin Wood

Robin Wood (artist)

Robin Wood is an American artist specializing in game art and fantasy. She is best known for her portraits of characters from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, the Robin Wood Tarot Deck and the cover art for several of Scott Cunningham's books on neo-Paganism.- Biography :Robin Wood...

. In 1963, he held his first solo exhibition at Ikon Gallery

Ikon Gallery

The Ikon Gallery is an English gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Grade II listed, neo-gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henry Chamberlain in 1877. The gallery's current director is Jonathan Watkins.Ikon was set up to...

, Auckland and began teaching at Mount Roskill Grammar School

Mount Roskill Grammar School

Mount Roskill Grammar is a secondary school in the suburb of Mount Roskill, Auckland, officially opened in 1954. The school has students of over 70 different nationalities including approximately 200 International students...

 (until 1966).

In birdwatching

Birdwatching

Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...

, Binney says he discovered a passage into the landscape

Landscape

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...

 and the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with it.

Binney describes himself as a figurative

Figurative art

Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...

 painter concerned with the psychic metaphor of the environment. Working in oil

Oil painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

, acrylic

Acrylic paint

Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry...

, charcoal

Charcoal

Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...

, ink

Ink

Ink is a liquid or paste that contains pigments and/or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush, or quill...

 and carbon pencil, many of his works depict the west coast of Auckland and Northland, containing sea, sky, native bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s, still life

Still life

A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...

 and occasionally, figures.

Exhibitions

In 1965 Binney was included in a survey show of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 painting, held in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and in the “Eight NZ Artists” touring show of Australian State Galleries. In 1967 he was the recipient of a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council travel fellow

Fellow

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

ship. He has spent time living in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, London and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 but returned to teach at Elam, becoming the senior lecturer in Fine Arts in 1979.

Binney has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and was the subject of a thirty-year survey show at the Fisher Gallery, Pakuranga

Pakuranga

Pakuranga is an eastern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. Pakuranga covers a series of low ridges and previously swampy flats, now drained, that lie between the Pakuranga Creek and Tamaki River, two estuarial arms of the Hauraki Gulf...

 in 1989. He has also had a retrospective

Retrospective

Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...

 exhibition curated by Damien Skinner that toured the country during 2003-2004. His work is represented in many public collections including the Auckland Art Gallery

Auckland Art Gallery

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand and has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand...

 and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...

.

Critical Recognition

The painting

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

s of Don Binney, the well-known and popular New Zealand artist, are instantly recognisable, in their characteristic subjects of bird and landscape and their strong lines and gorgeous colours. These confident, celebratory paintings first appeared in the 1960s and brilliantly captured the mood of the times, seeming to express a distinctive New Zealand identity. Binney's work did not stop there: increasingly interested in landscape itself, he painted island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

s, beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

es, headland

Headland

A headland is a point of land, usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends out into a body of water.Headland can also refer to:*Headlands and bays*headLand, an Australian television series...

s; and later pursued collage

Collage

A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....

and sign, experimenting with different media. His most recent paintings link back to those of the 1960s but show a sureness of touch and the maturity of a lifetime's preoccupation with the natural world and with space and mystery.