Gathering Leaves Artist Panel
Saturday 19 October 3-4pm
FREE Event
Join us for a panel discussion with artists from our current show Gathering Leaves.
The panel will include Susan Te Kahurangi King, Petita Cole, Teresa HR Lane and Kenneth Merrick.
About the show:
Gathering Leaves brings together six contemporary artists working in collage and drawing based practice. This exhibition explores the activity of gathering as a means of creative expression. These artists gather materials that are personal, reflecting their experiences and subjects of interest (including ecology, gender, pop culture and Te Ao Māori). We may observe small items of humour collected during daytime drudgery or memorabilia from family occasions. Their work, often assembled from media sources, can present rich details. Some of these materials are drawn out of large studio-based archives, highlighting the dedication that gathering calls for.
Kenneth Merrick collects some material that we may consider mundane - fruit stickers, Post-It notes. He shows how something that is possibly inconsequential can hold greater significance as an artwork. His works on display are pages extracted from many sketchbooks, developed over recent years in several countries. Susan Te Kahurangi King works mainly on paper, though in recent years has also shown a natural affinity when drawing on lithographic stones. Although new paper is easily accessible, Susan often opts to draw on odd pieces she's gathered or acquired, the pre-existing marks or creases often serving as a starting point. Collage is also incorporated in many of her works, whether self-adhesive stickers or paper items, often vintage, gathered over time from various sources.
Teresa HR Lane’s current collages are drawn from the experience of living on a retired sheep farm in Te Tai Tokerau. Lane's practice reflects upon the large-scale agricultural transformation of land in Aotearoa. Her whimsical responses, assembled from many sources (notably NZ Geographic and Forest & Bird), present hybrid figures (native bird/human) jostling for dominance in the landscape. Peter Madden has explored the medium of collage for over twenty-five years, developing a large body of work. His fantastical sculptures are notable, with intricate collage fragments from multiple sources often in tandem with found objects. Madden’s wall-based collages can be likened to flattened sculptures, with their multi-layering of supports.
The digital collages by Tracey Tawhiao are developed from her art images and landscape photography, overlaid with work by other artists from the past and present. She uses collage to create anachronistic and detailed images that challenge reality, and for its ability to present a sense of timelessness. George Hajian’s practice concerns the representation and performative aspects of the so-called masculine body. He collects printed material that presents the fetishised male body from a variety of sources, including adult magazines and vintage publications. Hajian is interested in the materiality of the original published sources, as they enter popular discourse and aims to retain this authenticity in his collages.