Aotearoa / New Zealand
Ropework: Soft garniture for life - Finn McCahon-Jones weaves a story around his artistic self, Finn Ferrier. An innocent exploration of knotting ends up as part of the treatment for a life-threatening illness.
Ka Taka Te Wā – Time Passed - Areta Wilkinson creates jewellery imprinted with stones from her whenua among the braided rivers of Canterbury.
Nikau Hindin ✿ A star compass that makes history - Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin created an installation Kāpehu Whetū, Star Compass at Auckland's Maritime Museum. This work uniquely draws on traditions of navigation across Moana with unfinished business from first encounters with European colonists.
Carried Away: A bag of the month - Held close to the body, whether slung askew across a shoulder or closely strapped to the back, bags are objects that have the ability to disappear right under our noses.
Wanda Gillespie ✿ Abacus - Our January laurel goes to Wanda Gillespie's gorgeous abacus. She takes mathematics on a detour.
Warp & Weft – a selection of textile-ish NZ artists - Garland was launched in Ōtautahi Christchurch with the exhibition Warp & Weft, which featured extraordinary textile-related works from artists in Aotearoa New Zealand. We'd like to share a selection of those works with you.
How to Make a Necklace from a Chair – Sarah Read - One of New Zealand's most interesting jewellers, Sarah Read has created a performance practice which explores the value of labour. In this project, she is stringing the polystyrene beads from a bean bag into an epic necklace form.
I like reality. It doesn’t terrify me. - Being based in Aotearoa, NZ, I set out to explore the idea that there is something unidentifiable bubbling under the surface—something all at once mysterious and ugly and dark and beautiful. The idea was to tap into the current generation of Pacific-based makers, who are both following and updating the ground-breaking work of the bone, stone, shell jewellers. Someone once told me that Pacific themes and culture were impacting all forms of Pacific art, regardless of the cultural heritage of the maker. I wanted to see if this was true and if so how a series of disparate works would interact and speak to one another when brought together.
Weaving a koha - Māori weaver Kohai Grace describes how the koha of weaving is a continuous connecting of other generations.
Taurangi - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna writes about Taurangi, her jewellery work that embodies Māori values of honour.
A visit to TÜR Studio - Jane Groufsky visited weaver Christopher Duncan and designer Joseph Yen in their welcoming TÜR Studio on K Road, Auckland.
Garland ✿ Auckland: 9 December 2017 - Join us for the launch of Te Moana nui a Kiwa in Auckland Saturday 9 December 2017: 4-6:30pm Objectspace 13 Rose Rd Grey Lynn Auckland Come along to launch Garland #9, featuring an online exhibition curated by Luisa Tora. Lots of karakia, garlanding, poems and talanoa. Facebook event. Here are the greetings offered by members of the Garland editorial board: My name is Freja Carmichael. I am currently in the lovely lands of the Squamish and Lil’Wat people in Canada. I am from the Quandamooka people of Moreton Bay. I live in Meanjin/ Brisbane and thank you for sharing your beautiful stories and objects from Moana My name is Sana Balai, member of the Nakaripa clan and I come from Buka […]
Moana issue #9 – December 2017 - The December 2017 issue #9 will focus on New Zealand / Aotearoa / Pacific / Moana. We hope to be a new space for gathering contemporary ways of making, particularly those that are not easily accommodated in the modernist studio model. As part of a journey across the region, this will be part of a broader conversation about ornament that includes space for exchange and dialogue. Within a modernist paradigm, objects are ideally encountered on a plinth in a gallery abstracted from their production or use. However, the value of objects often lies in their customary role within ritual practice, particularly gift exchange. When a guest arrives in a community, or a member returns after a long absence, there is sometimes […]
Pink Terraces - Dean Smith is a Castlemaine ceramicist and photographer whose work seeks to interpret landscape. The Pink Terraces series reflects on a distinct geographical feature of New Zealand, his home country.
Nature craft - The traditional story of craft as an art of civilisation involves controlling nature. Fibre is spun, wood is carved, metal is cast, glass is blown and clay is thrown. Making seems to involve an improvement in the otherwise formless quality of materials found in the environment. Natural substances are mastered in order to manipulate them into forms of useful beauty.
Second Home - Shelter is a key element of life on earth. Humans construct homes, birds weave nests, insects make cocoons, animals develop skin, sea creatures and nuts grow shells for protection.
Dear Adelaida - Dear Adelaida, Four years ago, I purchased one of your figurines in San Antonio, Texas, from a Mexican folk art store packed with the usual Frida shopping bags, wrestling masks, ceramic jugs and embossed tin picture frames.
Defining studio furniture down under - A summary of the studio furniture phenomenon in New Zealand including its beginnings, educational opportunities, exhibitions, and participants.
Ruth Castle, Basket Maker - Damian Skinner presents an iconic basket maker from New Zealander and considers her use of imported materials.