Tania Patterson originally trained as a jeweller, but it is the sculptural side of her practice that has come to the fore over the last decade. Native flora and fauna have always featured in her work. Her 2021 series of bird ‘portraits’ sought to elevate and honour the birdlife of Aotearoa, while nodding to a murkier past concerning musuem collectors and trophy hunters. This developed from her 2019 ‘Confessional' series where she explored her need to apologise to the birds for the sins of humans against nature when she went out walking in the bush. Tania's subsequent 'Still Life' series drew on the aesthetics of the rich history of bird illustration in New Zealand and her love of natural history museums and dioramas filled with taxidermied creatures. 

Tania Patterson’s work is held in numerous private and public collections including Te Papa Tongarewa and Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum.

“My designs are for the most part drawn from my fascination with nature. I have an interest in the museum experience of nature and a series of my work looked at the aesthetic of the obsessive collector. I enjoy the variety of processes involved in making, from the designing of hinges to cutting and soldering to carving wood and painting surfaces.”