Central Stories is delighted to present Collection of Works, an exhibition of paintings by Alexandra artist Jen Anderson, on display throughout March in the Heafey Gallery.

Jen comes to painting with a remarkable story. The daughter of Douglas Badcock — one of New Zealand’s most celebrated landscape painters, whose luminous Queenstown Lakes works won multiple Kelliher Art Awards and remain highly sought after today — she grew up surrounded by art, colour, and creative conversation. Yet despite that rich inheritance, it wasn’t until July 2024, at the age of 75, that Jen finally picked up a brush and followed her heart.

Her brother John Badcock, of Geraldine, is also a well-known New Zealand painter, and the artistic eye runs deep in the family. But Jen’s voice is very much her own. Drawing on decades of gardening and an intimate knowledge of the Central Otago landscape, her paintings are bold, instinctive, and richly coloured — the work of someone who has spent a lifetime observing the world with a painter’s eye, even before she knew it. Flowers, gardens, and the textures of the natural environment provide her subject matter, rendered with a freedom and confidence that belies just eighteen months at the easel.

This is Jen’s second exhibition, following a warmly received show of 33 works at the Forfar Gallery in Roxburgh last year.

Entry to the Heaphy Gallery is free. Central Stories Museum & Art Gallery is open daily, 10am – 4pm.