20th January 2022 – 28th February 2022.
Curated Exhibition for NZ Area Surface Design Association Members
The call went out to the members of the New Zealand group of The Surface Design Association to consider this topic from various aspects:
- What does it mean to be an island nation?
- How are we influenced by our geography and our location – surrounded by vast bodies of sea water?
- Does this permeate our psyche as makers?
- How do you acknowledge this reality in your practice?
The challenge was to create a work or works that explored and perhaps developed the artist’s engagement with the reality of being on an island or in an island nation.
Place has many impacts on our subconscious processing of life as well as the obvious influence on our tangible existence. While place is often considered to be just the physical, for many artists, it is profoundly psychological.
Ideas, concerns, issues, emotional states, the light, the colours, the textures, and composition are just some of the points of influence of Place.
Aotearoa is often considered to be an enchanted place – of the world but a little removed and a lot different. These works examine aspects of being located in Aotearoa – New Zealand – The Land of The Long White Cloud.
The participating artists are:
Finola Chamberlain – Waikanae https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/finola-chamberlain/
Christine Keller – Dunedin https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/christine-keller/
Suzan Kostanich – New Plymouth https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/suzan-kostanich/
Beth Pottinger – Hockings – New Plymouth https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/beth-pottinger-hockings/
Jeanette Verster – New Plymouth https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/jeanette-verster/
Jane Woodhall – Te Horo Beach https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/jane-woodhall/
Heather Wratt – Te Puke https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/heather-wratt/
Please look at each artist’s link page for more details on the works in the exhibition.
As well as these artists ‘from out of the blue studio gallery’ invited Karen Rubado from Auckland to also contribute works on the theme. Karen is a weaver and her conceptual woven textiles bring a different insight to the exhibition as Karen is a fairly recent migrant to New Zealand. https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/karen-rubado/
