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About

Niljora Logo Carolin Leary Prinn

b. 1984, Boston

Carolin Leary Prinn's love for art emerged in childhood, inspired as much by the golden age illustrators and classical animation as she was by ancient art and the old masters. At the same time, she was penning her mythical world, The Islands of Niljora, that would become the rich narrative and symbolism behind her work.

 

She graduated with honours from The Savannah College of Art & Design with a full time scholarship and also studied classical art in Boston and Italy. Her professional career took off in her ancestral home of New Zealand, where she was a finalist for The Adam Portrait Award and selected for a national tour with The New Zealand Portrait Gallery. Alongside exhibiting, she engaged in projects in illustration, portraiture and created her own apparel design label with two fellow artists. Ever inspired by world culture and her life experiences, she travelled onwards.

 

Her artwork has featured in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine and The International A.R.C. Salon and showcased in galleries in The United States, New Zealand and Europe. Her illustrated books were purchased for the permanent heritage collections of New Zealand's National and Otago University Libraries.

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Photograph  by A. Smailovi​c

Carolin Leary Prinn

Artist Statement

"I see my works as artefacts of my mythos, The Islands of Niljora.

This is the way I have explored the world we live in since I was a child, expressed in paintings, drawings and written stories. Parts myth, adventure and spiritual journey, The Islands of Niljora has evolved into a symbolic reflection on our universal human story. My work explores themes of light vs. dark, good vs. evil, hope and cautionary tales. They possess stories of heroes and deity-like observers, passing their quiet gazes over the patterns of the human world. My work weaves into a lifelong fascination with nature, the mystical and the mythological."​

 

• • •

"From madness and nothingness came the creature Niljora."

Carolin Leary Prinn is a Fantastical Fine Artist, Painter, Illustrator & Author - art-of-carolin-prinn, symbolic art, surreal art, esoteric art, fantasy art, mystical art, spiritual art, beautiful bizarre artist directory, International ARC Salon, Adam Portraiture Award, Florence Academy of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, new contemporary artist, fantasy artist

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Exhibitions​

2025  June, "Enchanted Fables", Curio Art Gallery (Portugal)

2025  "Art of Lore", Poetic Tiger Gallery, Boise, ID (U.S.A.)

2024  "P.S. 9th Annual Postcard Show", Nucleus House, Portland, OR (U.S.A.)

2024  "Enigmatic World of Owls", Poetic Tiger Gallery, Boise, ID (U.S.A.)

2024  "The Portrait Show 12: Myth", Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA (U.S.A.)

2023 The Frankfurt Book Fair (Germany)

2020  Student Exhibition Online, The Florence Academy of Art (Italy)

2019  The Parkin Drawing Prize, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington (New Zealand)

2018  The Parkin Drawing Prize, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington (New Zealand)

2017  The Adam Portraiture Award Exhibition, The New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington (New Zealand)

2014-2016  The Adam Portraiture Award National Tour, The New Zealand Portrait Gallery (New Zealand)​

2015  The New Zealand Art Show, TSB Arena, Wellington (New Zealand)

2015  "Art4Vanuatu", Bartley + Company Art, Wellington (New Zealand)

2015  "Exhibit One", 2 Eva Street, Wellington (New Zealand)

 

SOLO

2016  "Worlds", Deluxe, Wellington (New Zealand)

2014  "Entrance To The Secret Worlds", Deluxe, Wellington (New Zealand)

2013  "The Primordials", Deluxe, Wellington (New Zealand)​​​

2002  Honourable Mention, The National Scholastic Art Award (U.S.A.​​​​)

 

Also in:

Isle Sur La Sorgue (France); Rue Tromphime (France); Berlin (Germany); Keri Keri (New Zealand), Savannah, GA (U.S.A.)​​

Publication & Press​​​

Infected by Art, Volume 13

Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Issues 49, 45

Poetic Tiger Gallery, Interview "The Mythical Art of Carolin Leary Prinn"

Beautiful Bizarre.net Article

International A.R.C. Salon Catalogue, 14

Dir. Skougaard, Denmark Museum of National History, Artist Talk, N.Z.P.G.

ZHIZHY, Artist Feature, Wellington, New Zealand

RadioActive FM, Artist Interview, New Zealand

Honours

 

2024  "The Polaris Collection" of The Lunar Codex w. Beautiful Bizarre Magazine

2024  "The Polaris Collection" of The Lunar Codex w. The International A.R.C. Salon

2021  Scholarship, The Florence Academy of Art

2019  Finalist, The 14th International A.R.C. Salon

2019  Finalist, The Parkin Drawing Prize, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts

2018  Finalist, The Parkin Drawing Prize, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts

2016  Finalist, The Adam Portrait Award, The New Zealand Portrait Gallery

2014  Selected Artist, The Adam Portrait Award National Tour, The New Zealand Portrait Gallery

2014  Finalist, The Adam Portrait Award, The New Zealand Portrait Gallery

2010  Painting Residence, The Savannah College of Art & Design, Lacoste, France

2007-2010  Dean's List, Savannah College of Art & Design, U.S.A.

2007-2010  Artistic Honours Scholarship, Savannah College of Art & Design

2006  Offered Scholarship from San Francisco Academy of Art

2002  Honourable Mention, The National Scholastic Art Award, U.S.A.

Galleries & Stockists

 

Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A. - Artwork

Poetic Tiger Gallery, Boise, Idaho, U.S.A. - Artwork

Nucleus House, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. - Artwork

Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A. - Books

Books​

 

2021  The Spirit of Shadows, A Collection of Tales from The Islands of Niljora, Carolin Leary Prinn

2015  The Primordials & Tales from The Islands of Niljora, Carolin Leary Prinn

Education​

 

B.F.A. Honours, Savannah College of Art & Design, U.S.A.

2019-2021  Classical Training, The Florence Academy of Art, Italy

2017  Workshop, Per Olav Olsen & Melissa Franklin Sanchez, Florence Academy of Art, Italy

2008  White Cloud Workshop, Paul Tobin (WETA), New Zealand

Graduate courses in concept art (S.C.A.D.), Workshops (The Museum School & MassArt, Boston)

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