This page gives us some background insights into who the artists are that engaged in what has been described as speed dating between art and science in this particular iteration.
Pam McKinlay
I love wearing things that I have made and studied clothing and fashion design at the University of Otago in the 1980s. When I turned 50, I started to learn to weave with Christine Keller at community weaving classes. Before long I had purchased my first loom, then a second. Then before I knew it, I had four looms! Originally, I had thought I would like to learn to weave tapestry, as my grandfather was a weaver and our forebears before him. Ten years into my weaving journey, I did a master class with renowned tapestry weaver, Marilyn Rea-Menzies and then I started to combine what I had learnt from Marilyn on an upright loom with techniques on a 12-shaft table loom to create more complex weave structures. 2025 sees me taking all these learnings and heading into further unchartered territory which I hope to share with you all in the coming years.
Included in the ART&SCIENCE and the Textile Curious collection is the work Flows Like Water: Under A Coal Charged Sky, by Pam McKinlay
Flows Like Water is a celebration of the art practice of Pam McKinlay, weaver, textiles sculptor, photographer and curator. The book shines a light on the past decade of her career as an artist, from taking part in the Art+Science project in 2015 through to her leadership of the project from 2018 — 2024. This lavishly illustrated collection is an account of projects that she has made, curated, or been involved in, or all three.
In Flows Like Water, you will find a deep account of the kinds of discoveries one can make by bringing together artistic and scientific method in such a way that each approach speaks equally.
Pamphlaterre Publications is an independent publisher of small art and science tracts, pamphlettes, books of poetry, monographs and most recently the definitive biography of Neil Grant in Neil Grant: Master Potter (2021). Pam McKinlay has worked in publishing since the 1980s as a typesetter and in pre-press for Critic and OUSA publications such as Literary Review, in advertising at Amazing Faces in Sydney, Australia and as a Editorial Liaison for Te Pūkenga and Otago Polytechnic Press, Ōtepoti Dunedin. Her pamphlettes and artist books are held in the National Library, Hocken Collections and Auckland War Memorial Museum Collections. She as artworks in the collections of Otago and Victoria Wellington universities.
Flows Like Water was created and hand bound in Ōtepoti Dunedin.
Find out more about the book at https://sites.google.com/view/ pamphlaterre-publications
Pamphlette no.10
It’s complicated — Ice is Cool Weavings by Pam McKinlay
The first known Greek/Phoenician philosopher of science, Thales of Miletus, viewed water as both the centre of life and the unifier of nature. Water is essential to life with much of the Earth’s water locked in ice.
Glaciers are far away entities which affect the daily lives of millions of people by providing melt water downstream for agriculture and hydroelectricity generation.
At their furthest margin, they affect sea level rise.
The “Ice is Cool” series honours khata, the traditional white silk scarves of the Himalayan region. The designs in the weavings, feature a repetitive ice crystal motif in a cubic form, intricately woven in white-on-white. The surface shimmers along the length of the piece, where changes in surface patterns reflect the immense forces and underlying topography of the flow rates of high-altitude glaciers. Hand-weaving with such delicate yarn meant that progress was made at a glacial pace!
The colour palette in the series come from the changing colours of glacial ice, from deep ice to surface meltwater. Snow is white, and the glacier’s surface typically appears white unless it’s mixed with rock debris. However, meltwater streams and freshly calved icebergs can display shades of blue and turquoise before eventually turning white.
Weavings II — IV
The crystalline structure of icebergs, shaped by changing pressure over tens of thousands of years, eliminates the air once trapped in the snow. With little air or reflective surfaces, the ice absorbs longer wavelengths of sunlight while scattering the shorter blue wavelengths through Rayleigh scattering. As the ice melts, its properties shift, resulting in
a more reflective surface that appears white as it reflects all colours. As it flows into terminal lakes, meltwater appears milky due to “rock flour,” fine sediment suspended in the water. This sediment affects the
water’s colour, giving it a turquoise to blue hue, influenced by the same absorption and scattering effects.
Across the “Ice is Cool” weavings, surface changes on the woven glacier panel feature melt streams, dyed using an ikat technique, flowing along much of the length toward the “glacier face,” where the complex weave starts to disintegrate, with icebergs appearing to drift from the bottom of the panel and with further disintegration becomes more pronounced or more “watery” in appearance.
Weavings 1 and V
(I) “Pink Snow” is caused by red algae called Chlamydomonas nivalis. Pink Snow has an adverse effect on the amount of sunlight reflected by high- altitude ice sheets back into space, a planetary cooling system called
the albedo effect. As the climate gets warmer due to global warming, the growth of snow and ice algae accelerates. As red algae bloom, they cause more ice melt which accelerates further bloom cycles. Pink blooms are becoming a more visible phenomena in the Arctic, Alpine and Himalayan glaciers. In the southern hemisphere blooms also occur in Antarctica.
(V) Diatoms are photosynthetic and occur in virtually all environments that have water and light in both fresh and marine environments and are the dominant phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean. Not only are they lovey to look at but diatom photosynthesis is responsible for every fifth breath we take. Thus, they have a huge impact on the air we breathe, putting them on par with all the world’s rainforests.
The panel, The Great Antarctic Diatom Mystery, references a scientific debate about the presence of Pliocene marine diatom fossils found at elevation, in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. The controversy has all the hallmarks of an Agatha Christie who-dunnit. Were the diatoms found in this place because they were produced in situ, is marine bird poop the culprit, or were they blown there by Pliocene winds? Beyond being a fascinating debate, the origin of these microfossils also has ramifications for what their presence might tell us about sea level rise in climate change modelling.
https://www.facebook.com/pam.mckinlay.5
https://sites.google.com/view/pamphlaterre-publications/project-page
https://sites.google.com/view/pamphlaterre-publications/project-page
STELLA LANGE
I have always been curious about textiles and how they are made and used. I spin, knit, stitch, and weave, and repair cloth when needed. Personal experience making cloth and making with cloth has revealed a disconnect in many contemporary lives, between what we use and what we know about what we use. Recently the whakapapa of my practice has become very important, acknowledging all the forces, people, plants, animals and tools that enabled my textile practices.
Please download knitting pattern for free. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shadows-unfocussed
Stella Lange
FAYE NELSON
By day, I am a Paleomagnetist helping researchers analyse submarine core samples. Magnetic properties of sediment cores can be used to better understand the dynamics of New Zealand’s continental evolution and its record of climate change. My textile and print making are journeys of experimentation. Through texture, colour, and spatial arrangements, I explore themes of tactility and engagement. Hidden narratives and a sense of mystery emerge as I translate scientific concepts into unique visual experiences, often using field work as material.
VIVIEN DWYER
I have been an artist for many years and returned to Art School after my children grew up and became independent. I work in textile art with a special focus on printmaking and felting. An encounter with one of Pam McKinlay’s upright looms in 2020 led to several encounters with weaving larger panels. I have always been very sensitive to touch and love the feel of textiles. As a result, most of my work is based on touch as well as sight. I like to feel what I am working with so texture is very important to what I make. It’s an ever-ongoing adventure in my life.
Christine Keller
We are pleased to welcome Christine back to the gallery. Christine was involved in the early years of the gallery and here is the link to her artist page: https://fromoutofthebluestudiogallery.com/christine-keller/
German born New Zealand based artist Christine Keller positions her work between textile design, craft, and contemporary art, new media research and innovation. She is interested in the clash of tradition and new technologies, and its social and political implications on communities and individuals. In recent years, people and the environment and the consequences for a future in times of climate change have become the focus of her action and production.
https://www.facebook.com/Dunedinsloomroom
https://christinekeller.co.nz/
SUSAN NUNN
Sue began her textile craft career as a young child learning knitting and sewing skills from her mother. She came to the Dunedin School of Art as a mature student to consolidate an artistic career with a degree, where she completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree with Honours.
Sue loved purple. She also loved to experiment with different processes in her art and, what is more, wanted to take the rest of our fibre group with her on various excursions into the textile media she loved. Her art was always travelling somewhere else. Susan Nunn (1956 – 2022).
JACKIE HERKT
After working for many years as an occupational therapist working with children I moved to working with adults and later into teaching roles. I joined the Dunedin Loom Room as a weaving student several years ago and continue weaving now that I have moved north to the Coromandel. Since 2020 I have also helped Pam McKinlay with hosting Rekindle Eco-crafts workshops in Ōtepoti Dunedin, using materials such as ivy and cabbage tree leaves which are often overlooked as “waste” materials instead of being valued as resources.
