Naomi Zouwer is a Canberra/Kambri based, cross-disciplinary artist, researcher and arts educator. Naomi’s art practice encompasses drawing, printmaking (lithography and screen printing), painting, and textiles, exploring cultural heritage, belonging, and the social significance of everyday objects, as well as the transmission of personal and collective stories through material form.
Naomi completed her PhD in Art and Design at the Australian National University in 2019, following a Graduate Diploma in Education and a Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) at the University of Newcastle.
Naomi has exhibited widely in (but not limited to) the following galleries: Jyväskylä Art Museum Finland (2025), Linden New Art (Melbourne Art Print Fair 2025), Megalo Print Studio (solo 2022), Michael Reid Murrundi Gallery Hunter Valley (solo 2021) and Michael Reid Northern Beaches Gallery Sydney (solo 2021), M16 Artspace Canberra (solo in 2020), Beaver Galleries, Canberra (group in 2020), Mayspace, Sydney (group show in 2019), Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Gorman House (solo in 2019) and the Gaffa Gallery, Sydney (solo show 2019).
Naomi has had work selected for numerous art prizes including; the Goulburn Art Award (2024, 2020); the National Emerging Art Prize (2023); Ravenswood Art Prize (2023); the Burnie Print Prize (2023); the Muswellbrook painting prize (2022), the Waverley Art Prize (2020); Lethbridge Small Scale Award (2018); Kate Derum Tapestry Prize (2016): Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award (2015); M16 Drawing Prize (2021, 2015) and the ANU School of Art and Design Drawing Prize (2014).
Naomi’s work is held in several collections nationally and internationally.
Naomi has extensive experience in creative program design and delivery with children, teachers, researchers and communities. She is currently a lecturer of Teacher Education (Creative Arts) in the Faculty of Education at the University of Canberra. She specialises in creative processes and education design to improve learning outcomes, engagement, collaboration and development. As an artist educator, she is committed to project-based learning beyond the classroom, developing programs for museums, galleries, the natural environment, and community settings that foster playful, open-ended exploration and embodied engagement with creative learning. In 2024 and 2025, Naomi initiated and led immersive study tours to Finland in collaboration with academics and cultural institutions such as the Art Museum of Kuopio (KUMMA) and the Art Museum of Jyväskylä.
Naomi's research draws on the nexus between creative practice and teaching, infomed by new materialisms and an artist-led pedagogy grounded in reciprocity, care, and creative inquiry. She has led creative research projects in collaboration with community and educational organisations from preschool to tertiary and cultural instituions, including the National Gallery of Australia, where she developed their participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to arts learning. Her approach is grounded in practice based research (building on her PhD with ANU), and over 25 years in the arts education and museum sectors.
Naomi has presented her research in national and international conferences, as well as in peer-reviewed journals on art pedagogy, creative practice, and material culture.