Under one Sun, Under one Moon, 2024

Wood, plaster, paint, aluminium, lights, wire, motors, plastic, concrete, copper, fabric.

Much of our lives is dictated by our work and requires us to be in movement, away from friends, family, and community. Our connections have moved into digital spaces that can only offer an ephemeral and non-nourishing substitute for in-person relationships. The online platforms for these kinds of connections are mediated and manipulated by corporations that extract from our need for interconnectivity.  They do not have our best interests at heart but often they are all we have so we acquiesce to communicate in these ghostly realms. Our emotional and physical capacities are spent on systems that do not care about us, our connections or the planet we belong to. We are sold the idea that we should always look outwards, that being in constant movement is to be a successful individual, but where does that leave our roots? The demands of the modern experience leave us little time to spend time in closeness with others, to relish the human dignity of meaningful connection without transactional expectations. 

As we go about our lives in opposite time zones we are able to align a couple of times a day, sharing a conversation or a sunrise/sunset. For the majority of the day these works spin separately from one another, but twice a day they will align and connect, illuminating one another. Though the currents of modern life carry us away from each other, distancing us from the connections that give our lives meaning, we find hope and solace in remembering that we live under one Sun, under one Moon.

About the artists:

John Harris began work as an electrician, and moved into mechanical and electrical design through his company Johnny Electric Ltd, specialising in designing and building record cutting devices and record cutting machines. Other projects have included mechanical prop design and building but he has recently been applying his approach to artworks in collaboration with his partner Steven. His process is iterative and focussed on re-designing and recreating older technology with modern manufacturing processes.

Steven Junil Parkis a multi-disciplinary artist based in Ōtautahi, working under the name 6x4. Under this label he produces all manner of functional objects with a focus on clothing and textiles. These one-off pieces feature recycled, repurposed, or vintage materials; valuing resourcefulness and the memory of materials. His practice is heavily process-based, where materials come alive while being worked to create a language to commune with the intangible. He sees the tacit knowledge that comes from the practice of craft as a way to understand what it means to be a human being.

The Garage Project: Beneath the surface, 2024

Photographs on board

For her final Bachelor work, Emma-Leigh Perrin writes: When presented with a blank canvas, with no rules or regulations, what do we do?  We splash it with paint, each stroke of a brush representing a small piece of ourselves. The colours and the shapes are all pieces of us.  A garage is much like this.  An empty room without the societal expectations of the household. It is a space without rules, a space to fill with pieces of ourselves. Through this project, I have documented the small details we are able to learn about a person through the things that they own. Although, anonymity is a very vital part of the images to allow the viewer complete freedom to analyse the contents, to give the viewer utmost permission to be nosey.  The owners of these garages have used these spaces to provide an inner look into their lives, to put their personalities on show.  You, as a viewer, are invited to visually enter these spaces and see what hidden symbols you can find. Consider it a “Where’s Wally” except “Wally” is the owner and you must build him yourself using tiny puzzle pieces you find within the image.  Wally – The Frankenstein version.

Emmie-Leigh Perrin is a photographer and videographer recently graudated from the Bachelor of Arts and Media programme at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT).   The Garage Project is part of her final work and illustrates her interest in art, illuminating societal constructs manifesting in everyday life.

Follow her work here:

Instagram: @emmieslens

Facebook: @Emmie’s Lens

www.emmieslens.nz

He Kura Taiao e Hokia, 2024

A treasured home will always be revisited.

Ano me he Whare Puungawerewere, 2021

Alas a beautifully weaved carved house, intricate like a spiders web or, behold a beautifully carved weaved house, collecting spiders webs.

Me aro koe ki te haa o hineahuone, 2024

Pay heed to the dignity of women.

Object 1: Carved native timber ( Kauri), Stain and varnish

Object 2: Weaved adornment for the neck and upper torso. Weaved Nylon and synthetic cords, upcycled chandelier pendants/ buttons and black chain.

Ano me he Whare Puungawerewere, 2021 began as a lament for a place, I long for, and as I returned to Aotearoa a mother, in search for the place that raised me, I drew inspiration from an old waiata ‘ Te Moemoea o Whakatu’, a composed by Hone Nuku-Tarawhiti, that speaks of the whakapapa of Whakatū Marae, and the intentions of the time. Ano me he Whare Puungawerewere, asks us to revisit the Marae, the purpose and function of Marae, not only for whanau but within a community. Alas, a beautifully carved and weaved house, intricate like a spiders web, or behold, a beautifully carved weaved house, collecting spiders webs.

Samara Davis is a multi-media artist based in Whakatū who pushes the envelope of tradition in her work that explores themes of identity, biculturalism, colonisation, connection and disconnection through intrinsically made objects exploring the marae and the whāriki (woven mat) as places for connection, understanding and the sharing of knowledge. This installation also celebrates Changing Threads, The National Contemporary Fibre Arts awards which celebrates 15years, 2024, two successful works submitted by Samara Davis.

Mata-onerua, 2024

2024, Onerua collected from home in Tāmaki Makaurau, plywood, tanalised glass

Mata-onerua speaks to the process of composting in an art context. Onerua or compost is a soil enhancer that aids in the reciprocal nature of giving back to the whenua. As a reiteration of a previous kaupapa Hei whare onerua, this work presents another cycle of life. The onerua containers were informed by windows of a whare to view onerua as a cultural landscape. Mata as translated to eyes or face, that reflects tangata and whenua. As a gift of onerua to Whakatu, Mata-onerua presents the cyclic transformations of life and foundations of whakapapa.

Sculptural installation artist Java Bentley, speaks to hangarua as a way of connecting to the cyclic nature of all things and thus whakapapa. Acknowledging the natural world as interconnected and that is constantly evolving gives an opportunity for tangata to also change and adapt as kaitiaki. Focusing on hangarua materials, Bentley visually presents the whakapapa of materials to discuss the relationships tangata have with our everyday landscape.

As a site-specific artist, she is informed by the environment and community. Recently completing her Masters in Māori Visual Arts at Toioho ki Āpiti in Palmerston North in 2024, she continues to give back her mentors Karangawai Marsh and Kura Te Waru Rewiri.

Java Bentley (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi, Samoa, Pākehā)

Website javabentley.com

Instagram @javabentley

The Genius, 2023

Embroidery cotton thread and linen

In about 1986 our family bought our first microwave. We made a long family trip from the North Shore out to East Auckland to buy it second-hand. It was massive by today's standards and had wood grain sides, The National Genius. When we got home it was plugged in and we cooked something, my brother and I stood in front of the display counting down out loud from 5 minutes until we were bored.

Pretty soon we started to cook almost everything in it - whole chickens, circular trays of muffins, chocolate cakes and Milos. For years we used the timer function for various tasks around the house that were not microwave related. In the same sort of sense that you can preserve your family memories through a sampler, I have been inspired to preserve my family history by creating a long stitch embroidery of this key part of my childhood.

Erica van Zon (b. 1979) currently lives and works in Wellington. Since completing her Masters at the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2007 she has exhibited in artist-run spaces, private galleries and public institutions. Solo exhibitions include: Salad (Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland 2023), Deep Deep Icy Blue (Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington, 2022), Peppermint Twist (Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington, 2018), Verdant Geometry (Scape, Christchurch, 2018), Opal Moon, Local Lime (Sarjeant Gallery and Objectspace 2017-2018), Coffee Perhaps (The Dowse Art Museum, 2016), Dogwood Days (Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2014-2015); The Light on the Dock (City Gallery Wellington, 2013-2014).

Erica van Zon is represented by Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland.

Portrait of an artist as mouldy bed, 2023

Various textiles, stuffing, thread, metal fixtures and MDF.

Bio/blurb:

Writing about Portrait of the artist as mouldy bed is, as they say, like dancing about architecture (cool!)

But seriously folks

Bio/blurb:

You are an artist and writer from Te Whanganui-a-Tara, now living in Mawhera where you work (goddammit!) on your immersive queer sculpture project Gloria of Greymouth. You are represented by Bowen fucken Galleries.

(hmm, feels too much like "I will sell this house today" from American Beauty).

Third option:

Bio/blurb

Sam Duckor-Jones is speaking in the third person. He is always self-referential in his work & thinks very highly of his-self. Sam Duckor-Jones has many wise observations regarding his own practice Sam Duckor-Jones Sam Duckor Jones SmDucorJonnesSamDuckerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Will somebody please clean up this mess!!!!!!!?

Please clean it up & put it in a reusable bag & think about what you have done.

Well what I have done is this: a self portrait of the artist(me!!) as a mouldy bed #votegreen

Hey no politics!!!!

Well what I have done is this: a self portrait as a very glamorous bed which I am calling:

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS MOULDY BED

We all hope you like it very much :)

Sam Ducker-Jones

Gloria of Greymouth

Humanoid AI is a type of artificial intelligence that is designed to resemble humans in appearance and behaviour. Humanoid AI is still in its early stages of development, but it is likely to take over our lives the way mobile phones have done.

We need to ask ourselves if we really need all this technology. Could it be time to unplug ourselves and imagine the future in a different light?

Klaasz Breukel was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (1973)and moved to Nelson, New Zealand with his family in 2009. Besides running a graphic design studio and working as a design and media tutor, Klaasz continues to explore printmaking, installation art and projection in his art practice.

For an impression of his work, visit www.thisisthem.com

Work #1 Cast Silver Amulets, Bank Lane

Work #2 Bone Rope, Porcelain, Morrison Square

May 2022

My name is Rose Marie Salmon, I live in Lyttelton. I moved back last year after being away for years. I work in film and TV making costumes. I’m thrilled to present this work in Viewfinder.

I love the organic nature of clay, and I never really know how things are going to turn out. I love the surprise and mystery of what makes it through the process of creating, and firing. The colours and textures are always a huge surprise and the process is so satisfying. This work is an example of my art practice and my enjoyment of the repetitive. It's been a collaborative effort to make it and get it fired with the help and particular support of the Mt Pleasant Potter Club.

My Jewellery practice has stemmed from my preoccupation with magical objects and mirrors, and my ceramic practice which includes anamorphic vessels and wee hooves. I like the vessels as a metaphor for holding real or imagined spiritual entities and possibilities. I hope the vessels have their own presence. I hope they give some peace and stillness.

I’ve enjoyed making these so much, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Thank you to Katie and Viewfinder for your support.

Arohanui

Rose

Rose Salmon Marie Rose Salmon was born in Napier New Zealand in 1978. Rose is a multi-disciplinary Artist, primarily interested in working with Ceramics Embroidery and Jewellery.

Rose works in the national and International music video and film industry, which has taken her to Europe, South Africa in China. Rose works on special effects paint works within the costume department. Ageing and distressing clothes shoes and jewellery.

Rose is greatly influenced by fellow New Zealand artists including, Bronwyn Cornish Jacqueline Greenbank and Jess Johnson. Take a sneek peek into her recent showing with Jess Johnson here

Big House Blues, Bank Lane

Lost Fun Zone, Morrison Square

‘Big House Blues’ and ‘Lost Fun Zone’ are composed of multiple components, made from a weathered second-hand plastic cubby house and pool collected from the side of the road.

Familiarity surrounds these objects as my daughter and her friends played on them for years in our backyard. Over time the plastic started to break up, crack and disintegrate, with this mass of plastics destined for landfill – an overwhelming realisation and key catalyst for this work.

This work highlights the issue of plastics within our society where consumer culture and the media play a large role in the functioning of our throw away culture. As a society, we need to question our relationship with consumerism and ask important questions about its long-term social, ethical and environmental impact and look at the role that our own personal responsibility plays.

Lisa Furno is an Australian contemporary jeweller based in Bundjalung Country and is a partner of Gray Street Workshop graystreetworkshop.com a leading contemporary and object making space in Adelaide. Follow Lisa Furno’s work @lisa_furno

Jimmy D campaign image 2019: ‘One Night In Heaven’ Medium: 35mm film – Kodak Image Pro 100, Minolta Freedom Zoom - Bank Lane

Lela Jacobs campaign image 2019: ‘A-E-I-O-U-Y’ - Morrison Square

‘I believe that everyone needs a place for their shadows and villains to go. And for me, that is the primary ‘why’ I take pictures. I see and feel a freedom in expressing a darker side of human nature in my work, or else our phantoms find other places in life to haunt. I prefer to let my shadows loose inside a frame.‘

Marlborough Lights (aka David James) has been working professionally in the photography biz since 1999. Despite failing photography in high school art class, he nabbed a coveted position at a studio in North America – learning the greasy ropes of commercial product photography. First shooting medium format film, then digital.“I have tried so many times to give up taking pictures and doing something honourable with my life. But it keeps crawling back. I think I am cursed to do it.”

Having previously resided in New York and Toronto, Marlborough Lights returned to Aotearoa to continue his love of photographing bands and fashion. He has worked for a number of New Zealand based fashion clients including Lela Jacobs, Jimmy D, Lost and Led Astray, Nom*D, Company of Strangers, Astro Princess, and The Service Depot.

Marlborough Lights now lives in Marlborough, New Zealand. Instagram: @marlborough_lights

www.marlboroughlights.com

Zorros/ Foxes, 2022 - Bank Lane

Kusi Kay / Happiness / Felicidad, 2022 - Morrison Square

Acrylic paint, paint marker, canvas.

Kusi Kay" significa "Felicidad" en quechua, una de las lenguas nativas de Perú. Es una obra que reúne una serie de pensamientos y emociones expresados a través de sus colores y diseños. Las mujeres de los Andes y su singular vestimenta evocan cálidos recuerdos de mi hogar, la antigua ciudad de Cusco, mientras que los vibrantes colores exteriorizan el proceso de curación por el que he estado pasando mientras me acostumbraba a una vida más tranquila en Nueva Zelanda. Mantener la inspiración y la energía para mi pintura ha sido a veces un reto, pero a medida que me voy curando se ha vuelto más fácil y para mí esta pieza es una representación de lo lejos que he llegado.

'Kusi Kay' means 'Happiness' in Quechua, a native language of Peru. This is a piece that brings together a series of thoughts and emotions expressed through its colours and designs. The women of the Andes and their unique dress evoke warm memories of my home, the ancient city of Cusco, while the vibrant colours externalise the healing process I have been going through as I accustom myself to a quieter life in New Zealand. Maintaining inspiration and energy for my painting has at times been challenging, but as I heal it has become easier and for me, this piece is a representation of how far I have come.

Follow Lucia’s work on her Instagram The Rocket Station

Howling Cat, 2022

Multimedia objects and photographic stickers

Bank Lane and Morrison Square

Cat Fooks makes art from things. Things like my cake stand. But also lamps, vases, urns, side tables, and writing desks. Often they’re things she’s found left on the side of the road under signs marked FREE. Or they’ve come to her in other ways, as gifts or heirlooms. And she makes art from other artworks too, objects generated and gestated in her Onehunga studio that never graduated to the status of exhibitable art object. All of these things, these various part-objects—the constituent elements of a Fooks’ work—are brought together, collaged, messily and almost violently into finished artworks.”

~ Lachlan Taylor

Cat Fooks was born in Kirikiriroa Hamilton in 1976 and completed a Bachelor of Visual Communication, majoring in Painting, at Unitec in 1999. Seventeen years later, her first solo exhibition, Pleasant St., was held at Anna Miles Gallery. In 2020 Fooks’ was one of four artists included in Objectspace’s Deadweight Loss: The Value of Making. Fooks lives and works in Onehunga and is represented by Anna Miles Gallery in Auckland.

Bank Lane Window Images | Sam Harnett

Water Runs Deep, 2022

Wall Sconce

Sandstone clay fired with cobalt stain, dark green raffia and golden hand-rolled hemp.

Bank Lane

Butterfly Effect, 2022

Lamp

Base coiled and sculptured with white sandstone clay and fired with Manganese Dioxide ‘Effect’ bubbles. Shade is Madagascan natural raffia, woven with black dyed raffia spots.

Morrison Square

Leigh Thompson describes herself as an intuitive creative. Working with clay and fibre, in functional art and spatial design. Her work intersects light and sculpture using natural elements of the water flow and rock formations as an inspiration.

Leigh works from her studio on the beautiful Tahunanui Hills in Nelson. You can find her work for sale at Kiln Gallery - Hot Clay on Hardy Sreet. Follow her practice on Instagram leighclayfibre.

Exquisite Corpse Series 6, 2022

3 Necklaces

Based on the surrealist game, the exquisite corpse jewellers Kay van Dyk, Joel Fitzwell and Katie Pascoe construct a series of necklaces with a top, middle and bottom without knowing what each other has made. Together they are assembled to make jeweller’s Exquisite Corpse.

Within the Exquisite Corpse structure van Dyk, Fitzwell and Pascoe explore ways of working collaboratively while following individual lines of enquiry. Each necklace or ‘corpse’ is an act of trust, surprise and synergy.

Series 6 is photography based and is the penultimate series showing before all 7 Series or 21 objects are exhibited in Ashburton Art Gallery next August 2023.

Project 21 follows an ethos of tacit art making as a line of research and development. Fitzwell, van Dyk and Pascoe have been working in this collaborative way since 2017.

Matariki, 2022

Acrylic, canvas and plywood

Ko Tainui, ko Te Arawa ngā waka.

Ko Tainui, ko Te Arawa ngā iwi.

Ko Waikato, ko Waingaehe ngā awa.

Ko Maungatautari, ko Tarawera ngā maunga.

Ko Ngāti Ruru, ko Ngāti Uenukukōpako ngā hapu.

Ko Parawera, ko Ruamata ngā marae.

Inspired by my brothers and sisters who support and encourage me through life’s challenges and remind me of the importance of togetherness.

Tena koutou katoa

Messages for your Body, 2022

USB Lightbox and acrylic lettering

Works:

#1 UMBRELLA

#2 JELLYFISH

#3 HAMMOCK

There’s an inner landscape of experience that each of us can choose to be conscious of and inhabit.

With years spent in self-inquiry through the practice and teaching of yoga, meditation, breath awareness and conscious movement, Sam is fascinated by the way we might language and communicate with and through our bodies.

In these works, an instruction or invitation asks you to participate and become an active part of the work itself. Each piece offers the idea of placing an image or object into the body-mind. Often the viewer isn’t aware of how they are standing or perceiving as they observe an artwork but here Sam is interested in giving a postural cue that may change this lack of physical awareness. This is a play between the subject and object, the ‘Seen’ and the ‘Seer’.

Many artists have utilised text as a powerful tool to make a statement and draw out emotion but how specific can the artist be in what the viewer might experience or feel? Can an artwork be an invitation to activate a specific pathway of experience in the viewer’s body? Is that an imposition or a gift?

Sam originally studied Fine Art and Contemporary Critical Theory at Goldsmiths, London in 1997. Since then she has explored her creativity in a number of different fields including multimedia and online learning environments. She has taught inquiry-based yoga for 20 years and continued to explore the language and possibilities of paint and object throughout. In recent years Sam has returned to her art practice with gusto, turning her home yoga studio into one covered in paint and art materials, showing and selling her work here in NZ.

Especially Broccoli, 2022

Ceramics

I started making ceramic eggs because I find eggs very satisfying to look at as well as eat. I love the way the yolks look so shiny. I got a bit obsessed and started making a lot of them and giving them to my friends. So then, it just made sense to make bacon to go with the eggs. I like it when they end up in strange places, like on someone’s mantelpiece or on a pile of magazines. I made potato chips next and they were very addictively easy to make. During the lockdown, I just made piles and piles of them because my brain was fuzzy and I could not think of anything else to do. They are also the perfect thing to make when you have a tiny scrap of clay left over. I find them very comforting. I made chocolate bars because I wanted to see if I could. I enjoy painting with the underglazes and I love the bright colours you can get. In addition, I love chocolate bars. I made some broccoli because I realised I should make something healthy that is also delicious. I find it funny that I make piles of ceramic food because when I first started living on my own I would cook just one vegetable for dinner, like a big pile of broccoli. I did this for three reasons: laziness, my low cooking skills and comfort. I love comfort.

I have a Bachelor of Design in Printmaking from Christchurch Polytechnic. I have been sporadically doing pottery courses at Risinghome and General Pottery since about 2013. Thank you so much to Gwen Parsons of General Pottery, Tatyanna Meharry and Tjalling de Vries.

Takahia, 2021

Hardboard, pen, ink and paper

On the 24th Septempber 1907 the Crown established the Tohunga Suppression Act with the intention to convict and eradicate traditional Māori healers. This law breached Article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as ‘Tino Rangatiratanga o rātau taonga katoa/The unqualified exercise of chieftainship over all their treasures’ was agreed upon when signed in 1840.

It was a direct attack on Rongoa/Medicines, Tikanga/customs, ngā Toi/our Arts me ngā Reo/and our language and created a ripple effect throughout Te Ao Māori that is still felt across generations today. In 1962 the Act was repealed. Now almost 60yrs later (in 2021) ACC officially recognized Rongoa Māori as Medical Treatment. With this piece, I aim to raise awareness of this nation’s history from a non-colonial perspective.

Ko Tararua te maunga

Ko Waiohine me Ruamahanga ngā awa

Ko Papawai te Pa

Ko ngā iwi o te Tai Rawhiti Rongomaiwahine Kahungunu

Rangitane me Ngai Tahu, me Werehi ooku iwi

Ko Nerys ahau

Born in 1994, Nerys grew up in both Aotearoa and Cymru/Wales, and is currently based in Te Tau Ihu, Aotearoa. Nerys’ mahi toi/artwork is heavily influenced by the social injustices created by colonization from both a māori/cymraeg perspective. Her intention with art is to restore indigenous histories and knowledge and to weave the worlds of fine and applied art together. Hear more about her practice here

Paye Attention, 2021

Poster Campaign

PAYE ATTENTION is a local grassroots social media and poster campaign highlighting gender pay gap issues in Aotearoa New Zealand. Specifically, it calls for Awareness, Transparency and Equity in the workforce.

The timing of this campaign takes place when women effectively start working for free in Aotearoa. Currently, the average pay gap is 9.2%. However, when you look into the stats this jumps up to up to 30% for Māori and Pasifika women due to equity issues.

The issue of pay transparency sits alongside the gender pay gap and this campaign supports a call for transparency across public and private sectors inclusively. Pay transparency is proven way to reduce the gender pay gap.

So lets Paye Attention NZ!

Raspberry Productions is an art design team based in Whakatū Nelson. Follow Raspberry Productions and their campaign here

Nightmare Snare, 2021

Mixed Media

Dream catcher letting you down?

A sound nights’ sleep remaining elusive?

Being visited by night terrors?

Banish the Incubus, upgrade Now!

If your dream catcher is failing to filter the fear from your futon there is a solution....

Complain directly to the Anishinaabe people... inquire about a refund perhaps...

It seems extremely unlikely the Anishinaabe received any compensation for the use of their cultural and intellectual property,

they may feel disinclined to compensate for your part in the misappropriation....

Never fear, the Nightmare Snare is here!

Oops, looks like I’ve opened a feedback loop of well meaning misappropriation.

Jim MacKay’s arts practice is non-strategic, mildly reactionary whimsical practice of some longevity. MacKay has been exhibiting and attending symposia since graduating in 2000. His works are held in public and private collections in Aotearoa and beyond. In his early career, he worked virtually exclusively in cast glass but of late his work explores historical and contemporary narratives in a range of materials, traditional, non-traditional and concept driven. Follow choice pieces here

Pansy Boy, 2021

Painted Flora, Artificial Flora, Ribbon

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance “ Oscar Wilde

Growing up in a straight society I have always battled with hiding my feminine side and with what a boy should be. Always drawn to beauty and creating from it, Pansy Boy represents my hidden shame of being both masculine and feminine while challenging the stereotypes that still exist in our current time.

Jamie Brown is a mainly self-taught artist based in Motueka, he creates sculptural pieces from organic and found materials. Manipulating them with various techniques and vibrant paint colours his works are exhibited around the country. He is part of an artist collective ZAPPEKIN, bringing local artists together to collaborate and inspire each other. Follow Jamie Brown’s practice here

Untitled/Late Frequency, 2021

Gradient Painting, Polished Aluminium, Rubber, Charcoal Dust

The abstract paintings of local artist Michael Dell are a rumination on the processes of art making and on painting itself.

The installation ‘Late Frequency’ is, in part, Dell’s playful nod to the legacy of minimalist abstraction from the mid 20th century. This admiration for the art movement comes at a time which (the artist admits) is rather late in the scheme of progressive contemporary art. Yet minimalism, which began as a conceptual art movement, has seen a steadily expanding trajectory into ubiquitous principles of design through to life choices and even lifestyles.

The impeccably polished alloy objects in the installation are instruments of transmission. Dell contemplates how art movements circulate through time and diffuse through the wider culture, like a frequency we tune into. Equally, the ‘Gradient Painting’ above the objects, contemplates the minimalist aesthetic one of reduction and surface flatness with an emphasis on the use of materials over expression or narrative.

'Late Frequency’ mirrors art-making and its processes, which in turn suggests an ongoing conversation about itself; an artwork about an artwork.

April Dell 2021

April Dell is an art writer currently living in Berlin, Germany. Follow her excellent art writings here

SPACE JUNK, 2018

Multiple Brass Brooches

Our skies are full of relics. Half a million pieces of man-made and natural orbital debris circle our planet at this very moment, clogging the Earth’s orbit with technological and geological history. This space junk is the past, present and future of human surveillance, entertainment and communication. Revolving beside these satellites are fragments of asteroids and meteors that contain within their cores the beginnings of our universe. Moniek Schrijer’s Space Junk reveals the contexts in which preciousness and usefulness unite and diverge. The rock and metal that surround our planet may have lost their initial use, but they reveal our cultural and physical histories.

All that stood between Neil Armstrong and the vast expanse of space as he descended to the lunar surface with Buzz Aldrin in 1969 was a thin layer of bright tinfoil-like material. This vehicle officially called the Lunar Excursion Module or LEM, was a geometric octagon in gold and silver. The ungainly LEM bears a strong resemblance to Schrijer’s Space Junk. Each is tessellated, shining, metallic, yet somehow frail. This appearance of strength and fragility is further compounded by their material. Brass is an alloy used widely in spacecraft, as it is a metal that does not corrode and is a metal that can be both solid and malleable which allows for infinite weight, shapes and uses.

Rejected brass remnants have been reformed into jewels twisting into themselves creating a sense of protectiveness. Obsolescence is built into almost everything but Schrijer’s ‘junk’ is transformed and given a different life. Like debris that orbits our planet the brooches previous life is hidden within. Bent circles, clear voids and spidery fingers of brass curl and protrude from and within the brooch. Their original purpose remains a protected mystery, usurped by their new form.

Abridged Text by Sarah McClintock, 2018

Moniek Schrijer is a contemporary jeweller living in Wellington, Aotearoa. Follow her work here moniekschrijer.com

Be Kind, 2021

Photographic Installation on paper

2000mm x 1800mm

"He kokonga whare e kitea, he kokonga ngākau e kore e kitea.”

“The corners of a house are visible, not so the corners of the heart.”

What would you do if you could truly see people's thoughts?

Would you mock or would you care?

Would you relate or be scared?

Look into their thoughts, what is visible on the outside might be a facade. If 2020 has taught us anything it is to be kind, you don’t know what others are going through. Grief, love, anxiety, depression, illness, hope, freedom, insecurity, worry, wonder, happiness, sadness, aroha, mamae, tūmanako, āwangawanga, pōuri, āmaimai, koa, māuiui.

Our reactions to different situations are unique and shaped by our own personal journey. Your reaction to these images will also be unique, there is no right or wrong reaction.

Be Kind offers a glimpse into what emotions are behind the facade.

Kei te pēhea koe?

How are you feeling?

How did you feel yesterday?

Do you have anyone to share your true feelings with?

Kia Atawhai. Be Kind.

Melissa Banks is a photographer based in Whakatū Nelson. She is also the creative director and co-owner at Plink Software, a local kaupapa Māori software company. Melissa photographs for local iwi and businesses. Be Kind is the beginning of a larger project that Melissa is working on.

Kia atawhai, kia ngāwari, kia manawanui hoki, tētahi ki tētahi, tātou ki a tātou, ki a koe anō hoki.

You can learn more about Melissa and follow her mahi on Instagram or Facebook at @melissabanksphotographer or on the web at plink.co.nz.

High Hopes, 2020.

Calico curtain with rings, acrylic paint, clay, cinefoil, paper, card, foam core, bamboo, digital prints on canvas, iron pyrite, obsidian, cast aluminium and bronze, artist’s paintbrushes and palette knives, sterling silver, wood, glue, tape, and blue-tac. 2400 x 1900 x 300mm.

This year I have thought a lot about art-making as a form of repair and resistance *. High Hopes is a banner I painted during the initial Covid lockdown in a temporary basement studio under my home. It is a calico curtain made years ago by my mother Christine that became a studio dropcloth for several years, then a communication hung on the front of my house last April.

The isolation gave me the rare opportunity to slow down, rest and reflect. I oscillated between feeling spooked by collective fear and sadness and seeing this as a time of awakenings and opportunities. Hope is a form of repair. It can be soothing, offering an escape to an imagined future, a respite from reality. But hoping is also a form of resistance; a place to acknowledge the state of things and powerfully imagine something better. It can be risky to invest in wishing for something, but it is necessary, especially when the stakes are high.

*For excellent writing about art as a form of resistance and repair, read Olivia Laing’s Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency

Josephine Cachemaille is an award-winning installation artist who makes paintings, objects and assemblages. She approaches art-making as a place to engage with non-human things as bodies with needs, desires and agency. She describes objects, materials and media as “collaborators” who know things and have the capacity to act. In this sense, she is exploring the potential of art-making as a kind of relational ontology, where dominant ways of “knowing” the world are challenged.

Josephine has a degree in Psychology and a post-graduate diploma in Fine Art. She has had multiple solo and public exhibitions and currently, her installation This Way That Way is showing at The Dowse Art Museum. Last year she was part of the New Zealand Presentation at the Beijing Biennale and exhibited at the University of Wyoming Art Museum. She lives in Nelson with her husband music journalist Grant Smithies and their daughter Rosa.

www.josephinecachemaille.com

http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/this-way-that-way

Put That Away, It’s Disgusting #2, 2016

Ink and Paper, 1500 x 2000 mm

“Taught from infancy that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.”

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 - 1797)

If we are taught that there are disgusting parts of ourselves, we put them away. There they become shy hidden places. These places are not shown in public and they are not shown in private. Looking outwards, we sense the hidden selves of others and observe ourselves in the eyes of others. Finding the gaze of the other inescapable, we turn it on our own self and form our own cage.

But what if we were to take the shy hidden places, and bring them into the light. And then, with great care, enlarge them to their full magnificence. Now, gloriously large, we can be celebrated.

And then, consider the interrelatedness of all things. Where is the end of you and the beginning of me? How does the way I see myself affect the way you see yourself?

Sam Dollimore’s work invites us to adore the all, the everything, of our magnificent selves. If the invitation feels transgressive, it is worth keeping in mind that the boundaries it encourages us to traverse are externally imposed. Do these boundaries serve us? Or do they keep us in a cage in which we turn the key ourselves?

Sam Dollimore (b. 1979, Masterton, New Zealand) is a Porirua-based artist. Her work celebrates the body as transgressive and looks to a place where flesh might emerge transcendent.

https://www.samdollimore.com/

Text by Pania Walton

Next Big Thing, 2020

Wood, paper, glue, eyelets, found springs and screws 1400x1400x280mm

Next Big Thing is the second in a series of works replicating structures that are secondary, or in service to something else. By playing with these structures, Lee Woodman explores and amplifies the objects within our built environment that are not supposed to be seen or are temporary utilities. The billboard structure is secondary to the message displayed, as is a scaffold to a building under construction.

Within this series, Woodman is interested in the relationship temporary structures have to whatever they were built for, how they are designed to be largely invisible and their secondary nature. The fascination with scaffold-like structures and the physical interplay of basic building blocks is born from Woodman’s background in construction and design.

Lee Woodman designs and builds objects, sculpture, habitats, furniture, sets and exhibitions for a wide range of clients and institutions.

https://www.instagram.com/lee.woodman/

Almost, 2020

(1) Bellevue Oasis, 2020, Oil and Acrylic paint on hardboard, 290 x 290mm

(2) Warm Sands, 2020, Oil and Acrylic paint on hardboard, 290 x 290mm

(3) Movie Colony, 2020, Oil and acrylic paint on hardboard, 150 x 95mm

Almost is an art project that investigates the problematic relationship between the real and the ideal. To buy into an ideal involves allowing yourself to slip into a state of denial regarding the unattainability of these ideals. There must be suppression of knowingness in order to hold onto the illusion. This project is interested in the sensibilities of these states and how the real and the ideal can merge and blend. Vacations epitomise this slip. Four weeks of annual leave to fly away to glistening sands and soft crashing waves. Anticipation and optimism often collide with disillusion when the reality of the vacation doesn’t match up to expectations.

The paintings in Almost are based on images sourced from the travel website Airbnb. These types of images are designed with maximum appeal, to lure you into buying that ticket somewhere, elsewhere. The intimate scale of the paintings reflects the ‘snapshot’ approach to selling this kind of vacation lifestyle. Beginning prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic and partially painted throughout the 2020 New Zealand Lockdown period, Almost acts as a response to a complex and changing world that constantly presents new difficulties and the perpetual expectation that we either accede to or retreat from, external realities.

Kirsten Fitzwell graduated from the Auckland University of Technology with a Master of Art and Design in 2015. At the core of her practice are ideas of idealism, escape and desire.

Follow Kirsten here: http://www.instagram.com/kirstenfitzwell

The Hidden, 2020

Multimedia Installation

These especially collected pieces of firewood are presented here for the first time, from a private collection in Nelson.

The collection has built up over a number of years, with each log being chosen based on their intuitive relationships to seminal works of art. These have been sourced from wintertime firewood stacks, with the pieces of firewood being ‘saved’ from the fire as it is built, due to their resemblance to an artwork.

This intuitive response is based on the ‘outsider art’ idea - that a piece of wood can have a hidden work within it, which the outsider artist visualises when finding it, and is thus inspired to make the finished work.

The Hidden reverses the outsider art idea (of the hidden waiting to be exposed). Rather than the artwork being hidden in the wood and being revealed by the artist, the wood is displayed in its raw form which already resembles a work of art – thereby relying instead on the viewer’s imagination to reveal the artwork within it.

Douglas Kelaher is a Nelson-based technician. He has worked with both public and private collections around the country and is privileged to be working closely with the collector on the presentation of these personally significant objects. Douglas’s work ethos is ‘discretion is the better part of technicianing’.

Threshold: The Raft, 2020

250 x 200 cm

Charcoal, acrylic, spray paint

In 1816 the French naval frigate, the Meduse, hit the coast of Mauritania due to the incompetence of its captain. One hundred and fifty men were set adrift on a raft that was patched together from the remnants. Only 15 men survived, after 13 days at sea. The survivor’s recounted rebellion, dehydration, hunger, mental exhaustion and acts of cannibalism.

Theodore Gericault in The Raft of the Medusa, 1818-19 depicted the exact moment when the ship was spotted. Humanity is revealed in all its multi-faceted glory; misery, desperation, acceptance, survival and hope.

Humans currently face extreme weather conditions that are unprecedented. The question is how can we affect change? And what actions will assist in our mental well-being?

Kim Ireland’s art practice is founded upon research and the power of historical narratives that are expressed through the medium of charcoal drawing. The Raft, 2020 is the third of her Threshold series which reconstructs global climate events. Sourced from media websites, the photographs depict isolated moments that are enlarged to life-size proportions. With every work, the overarching theme is the human psyche that consistently reveals our paradoxical nature. However, The Raft created an opportunity to also highlight the power of action. Alongside questions of transparency and the insidious nature of global corporations, and our cultural institutions. https://hyperallergic.com/432195/liberons-le-louvre-total-protest-performance/ https://www.facebook.com/LiberonsleLouvre/

the_rush_of_stillness, 2019

Mix media digital print

“Everyone's a winner, bargains galore

That's right, you too can be the proud owner

Of the quality goes in before the name goes on

One-tenth of a dollar, one-tenth of a dollar, we got service after sales

You need perfume? we got perfume, how 'bout an engagement ring?

Something for the little lady, something for the little lady,

Something for the little lady, hmm

Three for a dollar

We got a year-end clearance, we got a white sale…” - Tom Waits, Step Right Up

Karolina Gorton is an illustrator who practices capturing the essence of subjects in simple lines and bold colours.

www.lolkastudio.com

5 Warnings, 2019

Vinyl, Paper and Ink

5 Warnings derives from labels on cigarette and tobacco packaging. Ann Braunsteiner has taken examples of such labels, creating new meanings – with one of them stating a serious issue, one that is merely a warning, whilst the others are more playful.

Note: the consequences of smoking are not denied in the presented work

Braunsteiner’s interest lies on how successful such warning labels really are? They are stating an obvious problem regarding long term effects/consequences – yet seem strangely limited to one consumer product in such a graphic and visual language. Further questioning their impact, especially in a time where such imagery is so easily available and present in our everyday consumption. 5 Warnings uses Viewfinder Window as such, an everyday encounter and has been inspired by the works of Barbara Kruger [artist] and Agota Kristof [writer].

5 Warnings are presented in post card format, edited by hand – a limited edition print, free for the public to take.

To learn more about and follow Ann Braunsteiner’s practice go here

Home / 2003, 2019

16 black and white photographs and glosa.

Home / 2003 belongs to a series of work that continues Russ' exploration of domestic life. Inspired by Vincent van Gogh's painting The Potato Eaters, she recreates the scene of an adult daughter's return to her parents' home and merges everyday life with art history in a New Zealand context.

Photographs of a New Zealand landscape and an original poem bring Russ' work together with the American writer Lyn Hejinian. A line from Hejinian's book, My Life, at the end of each stanza provides brushstrokes of linguistic colour that allow the scene to break free from domestic realism.

Catherine Russ graduated from Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters with an MA (distinction). She has a diploma in Writing for Creative Industries and a degree in Arts and Media. Catherine’s work occupies the space between fiction and non-fiction bringing art and writing together.

Follow Catherine https://www.instagram.com/_cat.russ_

Photo: Rachel Brown

Small Change, 2019

Digital Print Vinyl, Still Photography, Spot Colour Print

“Because for me, that’s what art is all about: wellbeing. Being able to create and access art contributes not only to our individual wellbeing, but is also an important factor in the wellbeing of our communities, and our society as a whole.”

“The arts can challenge us to reconsider how we look at the world, the assumptions we hold, who we are and who we could be. Art can provoke us to think about our past. It can offer a voice to marginalised groups who may otherwise struggle to be heard. Art can connect us, start conversations, and help us tell our stories.”

The Right Honorable Jacinda Ardern – September 5, 2019

https://thespinoff.co.nz/art/25-09-2019/jacinda-ardern-writes-we-cant-say-we-value-our-art-if-we-dont-value-our-artists/

Leigh Paterson is a communication design lecturer and practitioner. Specializing in graphic design and design theory Paterson has a keen interest in typography, mark-making, pop culture and issues and intersections relative to design concerning; appropriation, technology, dissent, gender, space, subversion and banalities. You can learn more about Leigh Paterson’s mahi at www.leighannepaterson.com

All my friends are psychic, 2019

Hot pink neon, plexiglass, polyester

All my friends are psychic, is a satellite project to Sacred Sites, Jen’s concurrent solo show at Ramp Gallery which includes performance work in the window of the gallery, where Jen receives live psychic readings. http://jenbowmast.com/projects/sacred-sites/

Jen Bowmast graduated from Canterbury University with an MFA (distinction), showing both in New Zealand and internationally. As a finalist in the Arte Laguna prize 2017, Jen exhibited in Venice with her installation Poetics of Space, first shown at G Space gallery at NMIT. Jen is a finalist in this year’s National Contemporary Award 2019 and has been awarded a residency at the Taitung Country Artists Exchange Programme in Taiwan (connected through Asia NZ).