Séraphine Pick was born in Kawakawa in the Bay of Islands, where she began drawing and making models from an early age as a means of entertainment. Her interest was formalised in 1984 when she was accepted into the University of Canterbury’s Ilam School of Fine Arts. She later graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in painting. In 1994, she was awarded a Visa Gold Merit Award. She has received the Olivia Spencer Bower Award and was the 1995 Rita Angus Fellow.