Harriette Blount

Hariette Blount was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, but later moved to the UK. She studied at the Bournemouth College of Art for six years, specialising in lithography and painting, and graduated with a National Diploma in Design and an Art Teachers Degree. During her time in the UK she exhibited in Bournemouth, Blanford, Bath and Bristol.

In 1965 she moved from Hampshire, England, to New Zealand. She was based in Devonport, Auckland, for some years, but later relocated to Nelson where she established herself as a painter and women’s rights advocate. Her mural for the Trafalgar Stand (1985) is said to be one of the earliest painted in the region. Other reported works include a ‘Jester’ door mural at Fairfield House, which has since disappeared.

Blount was an active member of the NZ Women’s Movement, particularly in the arts, and participated in women’s support groups in the Nelson area. In a statement published by Spiral magazine in 1982, Blount stated she had “spent the last fifteen years muddling along as a mother, trying to keep alive something which is very much part of my identity. I'm appalled looking back at what I used to paint, that I was trying to find acceptance amongst the males of the art world, disguising the fact that I was a woman, signing myself as simply Blount in order that nobody would discover I was a woman, knowing very well that I would be dismissed.”

She has described her artwork as “contemporary folk art with integrity” (The Prow, 2011), and stated in 1982 that she would like to restore integrity to folk art, “the integrity that is lost in our society because advertising has attempted to dictate what we choose to surround ourselves with, and how we respond to everything. That sounds ambitious but it’s what I want to do.”

See also:

• Harriette Blount and Robyn Belton, ‘Edited transcript of a discussion between Harriette Blount and Robyn Belton, after seeing Mothers, Nelson 1982.’ Spiral magazine, issue 5 (1982), pp41-42 (PDF made available by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū)
• Hariette Blount, 'A statement and two painted doors' , Spiral magazine, issue 5 (1982), pp42-43 (PDF made available by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū)