Material Sense: recent acquisitions from the University of Canterbury Art Collection
Curated by Lydia Baxendell
Focussing on moments when materials and our senses play the lead in artistic processes, the exhibition Material Sense interweaves a network of connections between a diverse group of artists. Paradox holds sway; the qualities of materials working against the traditions and contexts of fine arts, testing our perceptions about what it means to be a painter, sculptor or film maker.
The installation offers a series of playful prompts to think about form, colour, surface, structure and the process of making. A convergence of vibrant colours, scent, textures, media and forms; Lydia Baxendell has curated Material Sense using recent works acquired by the University of Canterbury Art Collection.
Material Sense features works by Annie MacKenzie, Areta Wilkinson, Christian Lamont, Connor Clarke, Cora-Allan Lafaiki Twiss, Dan Arps, Emma Fitts, Helen Calder, Isabel Van der Leden, Judy Darragh, Julia Holderness, Mark Braunias, Motoko Kikkawa, Nathan Pohio, Nicola Farquhar, Nina Oberg Humphries, Oliver Perkins, Sione Monū, Steve Carr, Tui Emma Gillies, Tyne Gordon, and Zina Swanson.
The Jester Knows How Tired I Am
James Newey / Eli Molloy-Wolt / Lewis Robertson / Laura Heron
The Jester Knows How Tired I Am is a critique of the symptoms and flaws of prevailing individualism; a fabricated living space catering to one occupant alone; reflective of human behaviour, spatial and sociological experiences.
While interiors are of individuals’ own making, is outside influence visible? To what degree can broader systems infiltrate one's space? Are they inherently ingrained if all is born from these systems? The artists come together to create a hyperbolic example of our current lives, isolated but collectively pushing against this notion.
Built structures, found detritus, image and object-based artworks make up a derelict abode, drawing upon aesthetics of filth and decay to illustrate the pitfalls of insular life; finding too much comfort in privacy while yearning for community.
Drawing from the Earth
Katie Hayles / Brittany Hewitt
Drawing from the Earth is a collaboration between sculpture student Brittany Hewitt and painting student Katie Hayles, both in their fourth year at Ilam. The two have worked on their own respective practices side by side throughout their time at art school, now choosing to work together collaboratively. As the title hints, ‘Drawing of the Earth’ combines artistic agency with the natural world. Each artist draws from the Earth as a muse in their work, as an appreciation of the miracle of life and Earth as its facilitator.
The spirited installation features work by Katie Hayles, who has created intimate drawings using felt pens as well as life-sized oil paintings. In her practice, she aims to harness the energy achieved through brushwork, colour, and abstract composition in the hope to bring her paintings to life on their own. Brittany Hewitt demonstrates working intuitively and responding to her natural environment through methods of collecting found materials and growing chosen horticulture materials in a gallery/studio setting. The found material Hewitt collects, such as found sticks, sheep's wool, and bricks dug from the earth relate directly to her agricultural background.
Consequences
Rupert Ogden-Travis / James Newey / Harriette Herlund / Claudia Long
A formal education, while necessary in deepening the knowledge and discourse on the subjects of contemporary art and design practice, can limit time for experimental cross-disciplinary collaboration.
In this exhibition, four students across three studio disciplines work towards returning to childlike qualities of art making. They implement these methods in a symbolic way to revisit the creative contexts of childhood from an educated perspective. With the recurrent motif of ‘art as play’, the artists embrace the element of chance in this quick turnaround collaborative project, while calling into question how playful, explorative practices sit within the formal context of the educational realm.
땅地 Earth | 물水 Water | 불火 Fire | 바람風 Air Cold | Wet | Hot | Dry
MiKyung Jang and Jenny Reeve
MiKyung Jang and Jenny Reeve incorporated both their research interests to make work in collaboration with, and within the natural environment. Patterns and colours, made by nature, are imprinted into the surface of the work of both artists as they harmonise the four elements in this exhibition.
Presentation Layer: NFT forms, platforms and transference
Marie Porter / Motoko Kikkawa / Nur Aleeya Noradzmudin / Simon Denny / Stu Sontier
In many descriptions of NFTs, it appears that assets and markets are the central nodes of production; the artwork is secondary. How does this sit within our understanding of art, as artists?
Looking at the emerging NFT scene in Aotearoa, Presentation Layer brings together works by three established artists operating in NFT forms, platforms and modes of transference, and two current Ilam School of Fine Arts students who are new to the medium.
Co-curated by Antistatic, Nina Dyer, and Raewyn Martyn, the show developed from an Ilam School of Fine Arts roundtable discussion of multiple histories of the NFT — artistic, economic, technical — considering how our understanding of these histories might shape future behaviours within art practices and markets.
Between Each Other
Quanxin (Jondy) Zhen / Marcel Foster / Lucy Lyth / Josephine Burrow / Holly Payne / Rachel Brown / Baillie Piebenga / Eli Molloy-Wolt / Charlotte Dowle
Between Each Other was an exhibition presented by third year sculpture students at Ilam School of Fine Arts, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha. The students' research emerges from surveying the coexisting space between selected content, intersecting with the work of two other artists.
Looking out to external influences and modes of practice raises questions: are we operating as independently as we feel we are? What am I intersecting and what is intersecting me?
Acknowledging that a research practice coexists with a multitude of exterior and interior elements all influencing each other reciprocally played an important role in the production of this group exhibition.
Melissa Macleod | Pig Face, Hare’s Tail and the New Day
Research for the Olivia Spencer Bower Award (2021) ‘Flower Fields’, pivoted on investigation into local flora, exploring the use of this as a living sculptural material. Particular focus over this time was on the Gazania (New Day,) that grow on the local verges and dunes of our eastern Christchurch communities. At the core of this investigation was the inherently hardy and adaptive qualities of these coastal species, and how they speak of place.
How would it be to create a large scale monument to New Brighton, bright yellow flowering, that is temporal and evolving? How to navigate the challenges around public work of this genre? And what of using a non native species; the place of the ‘invasive’? This specific project remains unrealised and ongoing.
Pig Face, Hare’s Tail and the New Day presents a performative arm of this research; recording the often slow and methodical process of seed collecting. Like trapping ghosts, here we witness the harvest of New Days. The work offers a small window into a year of walking and foraging, of knowing local terrain- an escape of sorts.
