What a fabulous weekend for soaking in atmosphere and creativity,
artists, galleries and artistic spaces. I am seeing so much work and discovering so
many new places that I almost don’t know where to turn!
Friday was a day for doing the rounds of a few venues I have
been meaning to get to.
Firstly, Ponsonby, a lovely turn of the century suburb with
interesting shopping and plenty of preserved old villas. It is now the home of
an alternative culture and is more individual and creative in feel than the
city CBD. It is home to a couple of great art spaces, one, Objectspace, is a
gallery I have been aiming to visit.
The current exhibition is work by Jo Torr.
Jo describes herself as a sculptor, and though I don’t know the rest of her
work, this selection (called ‘Islanders’
) from a series of collections created between 2001 and 2013 on similar themes
is worked in textiles. The work is
based around exploring the history of the connections and encounters of
European and Polynesian peoples, both in New Zealand and in the Polynesian
islands. She has done this by combining the textile materials and designs from
the cultures in seemingly simple yet obviously deeply thoughtful ways. They
were a joy to be amongst and I hope to be able to get to the gallery to hear
her speak next week.
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| by Jo Torr from 'Islanders' |
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| by Jo Torr from 'Islanders' |
An unexpected discovery as I drove away from Ponsonby was an
art materials shop, studio art run by artists for artists, a treasure trove of goodies – paints, canvases, gel
mediums, digital grounds - I will be
back there soon enough!
Back over the bridge, I wanted to get to the Depot in Devonport .
This is an arts space which is also for the encouragement of artists and
makers, it has a programme of development courses and lectures which are aimed
at the makers, helping them in their practice and with business skills. This is
incredibly valuable as an offering. Of the work on display, I loved the
paintings of Dean Buchanan.
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| Matariki by Dean Buchanan |
The scenery is recognisably that of New Zealand, though with a Japanese style
in composition. The fabulous aerial views of waterfalls and the islands are
bright, bold and dramatic. Next time I have some money to spend ...
The paintings show something of what I am starting to see as
a ‘style’ in New Zealand. Not that Deans’ work is in any respect generic, they
are absolutely ‘his’ and listening to an interview he gave for the culturalicons project,
they fully express who and what he is. During this interview he talks both
eloquently and in a really understandable, down to earth manner about his work.
I came away remembering one in particular, which is that to succeed and develop
you must approach your work with a will. In other words, not hoping it will
happen, not being uncaring of the outcome, but that you have to really get in
there and get down and dirty with it, concentrate and work at the pieces.
Continuing this busy artistic weekend, on Saturday there
was the opening of a new set of exhibitions at Northart. This is anothern
impressive art space, in Northcote and hopefully one which I will be more
involved with in the future. I have joined and offered to volunteer. The only
down side to the open evening was the lack of someone greeting visitors, so I
came away with no idea of who was who, either curators or artists. Of the
exhibitions, the ones I felt most connected with were Jacqueline Aust’s etching
on waxed papers and Frances Rood’s cut paper assemblages.
Jacqueline pieces were collectively called ‘Enshrined’
and are abstract explorations of the ways in which we acknowledge and preserve
our feelings, objects and ideas. They are also beautiful in their own right.
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| Work by Jacqueline Aust |
Frances’s pieces are also about the inner world, but the
physical inner world. The pieces are composed of layers of cut papers, each are
structural forms and networks from our anatomy, slices through the body or
cells. The pieces build to become a complex play of shadow and light
referencing the depth, connectedness yet fragility of our bodies. The series is called 'Transposition', but sorry, no images I can find for you to see.
The Muriwai Open Studios 2013
I had not yet had a chance to visit the village of
Muriwai on the west coast of the north island. It is only 38km’s away from us,
and we are on the coast on the east side, which gives an indication of just how
narrow this part of New Zealand is. Being on the west coast, the feel is very
different, it is much less built up and, unlike our very sheltered bays, the
west coast catches all of the weather, it is popularly known as the ‘wild west’
as it is where the mad surfers go for kicks.
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| Muriwai on a relatively calm day. |
So we took the excuse of the Muriwai Open Studio Trail weekend to pop over. The trail is not the most extensive I have ever been to, with eight venues
plus the main exhibition, which was just as well because our time was limited
that day by other commitments.Whatever the number of venues, I love trails like this, getting to see the artists in their own environments, spending time to give you a real feel for what they do.
We started at the exhibition in the fantastic surf club
and community centre. This is a new building and (unusually for New Zealand),
the architecture, construction and positioning of the club fitted the usage and
environment perfectly.
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| The surf club building at Muriwai |
As is always the case, some work was more to my taste
than others, some of my favourites were:
Alan Ashworth (photography)
Alan’s work was evocative and expressive, atmospheric full
of ‘Muriwai mood’.
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| Alan Ashworth |
Ross Land (photography). These images were interesting
with offset colour edges creating a clever artifice reminiscent of hand
coloured prints. The hand colouring of images seems to be making a comeback and
can be a useful device to direct your attention into the message of the piece.
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| Ross Land |
Maree Wilson (paintings)
Maree says of her work that it ‘evokes water, atmospheric
disturbance and erosion’.
Holes are gouged and drilled through smooth polished
layers of ground and subtle washes of paint, disrupting the painted surface and
moving the works from abstracted landscapes to self-reflexive studies of
surface and the process of making. Once again, atmospheric and moody, and very
well made pieces.
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| Maree Wilson |
Joss Hong (jewellery)
Having studied jewellery techniques with Helen Domleo at
the Beetroot Tree ,
Brian was particularly attracted to these pieces. Joss includes casting,
texturing using a rolling mill, folding
techniques and resin forms in her designs. It was interesting to note that more
than one of the studio hosts and organisers were wearing her pieces.
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| Joss Hong |
Andrew Hughes (sculpture)
These were another favourite of
Brian’s. Andrew has taken tree fern trunks and carved through the surface.
Clearly showing the textures and forms which the trunks have as a natural
structure and adding sympathetic, organic carved forms through the layers of
the trunks. The dark, monochrome of the ‘wood’ serves to emphasise the
textures, needing no additional colour or decoration.
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| Andrew Hughes |
Jacqueline Cockrill (paintings)
As should be the case, the artist
statement given by Jacqueline is much more eloquent and evocative than any
words I can give you, this is what she says:
‘Works exhibit both bold and
subtle qualities. From a distance lines and broad areas of strong colour bring
structure to the works but look closer and you find rich textures incorporating
vibrant colours and markings that continue to engage. My work has been
influenced by an increasing fascination with the organic marking of time
passing. Weathered surfaces, patination and the scars of history. Texture,
layers, cuts and scratches bear testimony to the works painstaking evolution.
The process of applying and scraping away pigment produce marks that cannot be
completely erased. They remain as painted traces and textures revealing what
lies beneath – recording what has gone before.’
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| Jacqueline Cokerill |
The three cottages tucked into the hillside above the beach
which had been those of the three Perrin sisters were probably the most atmospheric
of the open studios. They reminded me of the Welsh cottages I know well. The
sisters were all artistic in different ways including print, ceramic and jewellery, and have all left stacks of work
which is being sorted and documented over time. The cottages are now used as
artist’s retreats.
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| One of the Perrin sister's cottage in Muriwai |
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| Jewellery parts left by Yvonne Perrin |
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| Yvonne Perrin work, partially made. Showing the painstaking process of preparing copper for cutting and etching |
Pat Henley has been a textile painter and had a selection
of scarves and wraps to show, but is now concentrating on creating paintings
about her environment. The immediacy and flow of the liquid acrylic and wash techniques
are those she feels best express her ‘wild, restless,
ever-changing’ home. The habitat of gannets, wind-surfers, wave riders,
excitement seekers. She takes time to watch, listen, explore, be buffeted
by winds, and gaze in awe at the tumult of storms.
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| Pat Henley |
Pat was encouraging visitors have a go with her wash
and ink techniques and both of my girls spent a great hour exploring the
possibilities of the media. I am not entirely sure they were supposed to do a
whole picture each and use as much of the beautiful high pigment inks as they
did. Having said that, I was really pleased that my 18 year old insisted on
having a go after watching her younger sister manipulating the ink and water as
‘she’d had an idea’ and which she says she wants framing and putting on the
wall, quite a result it think!
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| Liquid acrylic, wash and marking techniques by Amber |
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| Liquid Acrylic, wash and texturing on canvas by Bryony |
Engaging
repeatedly with a subject is important, and listening to Pat reminded me of
this.
Less chopping and changing, more focus and attention onto my subjects.
