Shona McFarlane

Shona McFarlane (1929 - 2001), New Zealand artist and media personality. MacFarlane studied to be an art teacher at Dunedin Teacher’s College and upon graduation completed further study at the Hammersmith School of Art in London. After working as a journalist back in Dunedin she was the first female member of the Arts Council and went on to establish the Moray Gallery in 1972. McFarlane’s interest in the arts even extended to marrying the former Minister of the Arts, Allan Highet, and she fronted the TVNZ arts programme Highway One as well as reaching wider fame as a panelist on the popular 1970s TV show Beauty and the Beast. McFarlane painted throughout her life in watercolour or acrylic, and she is most well-known for her still-life paintings - one of these “Arrangement with Jellybeans” has been published as a print.