Sarah Ziessen is a Rotorua based ceramic artist. Her work delves into themes of personal identity, status and belonging. Born in London, Sarah immigrated to Aotearoa, New Zealand in 2002. In 2013 she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with a focus on painting, at Whitecliffe College.

She won the Emerging Artist award that year in the Rotorua Museum Art Awards and has made the finals each event since that time. Her explorative work, 2017 with 'paint skins', progressed and Sarah won the National Contemporary Art Award in 2018, with her painted sculptural work You and Me. The Weight of History.

At that time, Sarah’s practice pivoted to ceramics — she now runs a pottery studio in Rotorua where she works and teaches art full time at Island View Pottery.

Her work in this year's Rotorua Museum Art Awards won the Supreme Award and was donated to Rotorua Museum collection by The Friends of the Museum.

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