David Elliot
b. 1952
Resides Port Chalmers, Ōtepoti Dunedin
In the Southward exhibition, David Elliot’s Hydrurga Leptonyx – Leopard Seal is painted in the manner of a classic natural history illustration and is in response to his voyage to the Auckland Islands with Heritage Expeditions in 2021. Referring to drawings of an animal that briefly visited Aramoana in the summer of 2022, and studies of a specimen in Tuhura Otago Museum, David says ‘leopard seals seem to be increasingly coming up from the Antarctic and visiting our southern beaches.’
An internationally recognised writer and illustrator, David has won many national awards, including ‘Inaugural Winner of The Arts Foundation Mallinson Rendell Illustrators Award’ (2011) and the ‘Storylines Margaret Mahy Award’ (2014). His books have been included in IBBY’s Honour List in 2012 and 2014 and have been awarded four White Raven Awards by the International Youth Library in Munich.
David has a Fine Arts Diploma in painting from the University of Canterbury and is a qualified school teacher. He lives in Port Chalmers and spends much of his time enjoying, and protecting, the wildlife of the Otago Coast.