Born in New Zealand, and introduced to bronze casting at Elam School of Fine Arts, Fountain used a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant (1984) to travel to London, gaining experience at the Royal College of Art and the Red Bronze Studio. Moving next to Italy, she studied at the Rome Mint before settling in Paris.
Fountain’s work has been exhibited at the British Museum, National Gallery of Scotland, the Museo Archeologico of Milan, York Museum, Auckland Museum, and the French Mint. She has designed and made medals for the Commonwealth Games (1990), America’s Cup (2003), and for the “Entente Cordiale” (2004); and among others, she completed a series of 34 bas-reliefs for the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Hospital.
She has had a solo exhibition nearly every year since 1983 – with a further 50+ group exhibitions. In April 2017, her 3.5m high bronze monument, The Earth Remembers (honouring the NZ tunnellers of Arras) was commissioned to mark the First World War centenary commemorations at the Carrière Wellington Museum in Arras, France.
Fountain melds the rich diversity of European art, history and culture with her New Zealand roots and the cultures of the Pacific, to create works that are compelling and original. Exploring her own metamorphosing ideas of conflict, change and growth, her works demonstrate an environmental awareness and concern for the future of mankind.
Click on the links to see some of Fountain’s medals and sculptures