A collection of lino-cut prints of tarāpuka, the black-billed gull. Printed on different colored papers and assembled like an Andy Warhol inspired poster, the work has a handmade driftwood frame to give the birds a home amongst the river debris.
Have you seen this bird, original lino printing block
The tarāpuka (black-billed gull) that featured in the photograph, Have you seen this bird? is repeated here in linocut prints. A reflected silhouette of the photograph was transferred to an offcut of lino and then carved. The resulting linocut was then printed with blue and white inks on a range of colored papers. Finally the resulting images were pasted to a board as if they had been put up on a billboard on the street to advertise an upcoming event. The handmade driftwood frame completes the work and gives the birds a home.
Lino cut for Have You Seen These Birds? and Have You Seen This Bird Too?
On Christmas Day 2023, I captured several photographs of these birds. It was a challenge to get a good shot. The nesting area was fenced off to protect the birds and they were very energetic.
I’ve mounted two prints of the photograph on the sides of a piece of reclaimed post to give the impression of a lost pet notice.
Have you seen this bird?, photograph mounted on reclaimed wooden post, approx 150 x 150 x 400 mm.
I have made other works based on this photograph. A collection of lino-cut prints, “Have you seen these birds?” and a stone carving “Have you seen this bird too?”.
For several millennia, flat earthers have been without strong support for their worldview and now, finally Flatlas is here. The figure of Flatlas, a mythical cousin of Atlas, kneels on an orb and balances a flat earth map above his head.
Flatlas, copper, clay and wood
Inspired by art history and ancient myths and legends, Flatlas, is constructed from air dried clay, painted with fake copper paint. Balanced precariously above his head is a hand etched and weathered real copper engraving of a world map. Flatlas is supported by a reclaimed wooden post and he sinks into a turned globe giving an inversion of the traditional Atlas sculpture.
Flatlas, copper, clay and wood
Flatlas, copper, clay and wood
Flatlas is being exhibited in the Ashburton Society of Arts 60th Annual Exhibition at Ashburton Art Gallery from 1-26 July 2024.
I joined the Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Club at the beginning of the year and I entered six pieces in their exhibition as well as creating and donating a tile for the group project.
You are here, Tile
My, You are here, tile is a reasonably accurate hand drawn scale map of the Ashburton District featuring State Highway 1 (red), State Highway 77 and State Highway 79 (yellow) as well as the major roads and rivers. It was created from a slab of Whitestone clay with the features inscribed and painted with oxides and underglazes and then fired with a clear glaze.
You are here, Ceramic Tile, approx 200x200mm
You are here tile, before bisque firing.
Tiles, Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Club group project in their From the Earth exhibition at Ashburton Art Gallery.
Nest vessel, Blue vessel, House of neglect, Hexagon Vase, Flying pig money box, Ring; ceramics.
Nest vessel
I squeezed clay through a cookie press to create fine coils and formed them into a nest shaped vessel. Colored with red, blue and yellow underglazes and fired with a clear glaze this pot won the Best Novice Hand Work in the exhibition.
Nest vessel newly formed. Clay
Nest vessel, after glazing and final firing.
Blue vessel
My first attempt at creating a vessel on the wheel, this simple pot has a turquoise glaze.
Bowl and blue vessel (right), first wheel work prior to glazing.
Bowl and blue vessel (right) after final firing.
House of neglect
A slab work tower resembling a ruin decorated with black glaze.
Hexagon vase
A slab work hexagon shaped vase with oxides on the exterior and black glaze interior.
Flying pig money box
A functional sculpture of a hollow flying pig with a slot to accept coins. Coins can be retrieved through a hole on the underside covered with a ceramic stopper.
Flying pig money box, after final firing.
Ring
A fleur-de-lis extruded from a cookie press and joined to a coil of clay formed this large wearable ring fired with a black glaze.
Ring, after bisque firing, prior to glazing.
Ring, after black glaze firing.
The Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Club’s exhibition “From the Earth” is at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 18 October to 19 November 2023.
This year, I joined Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Ashburton to learn more skills and make art with clay.
Pocket is a handwork piece that I formed after the noticing the canvas pattern left from rolling the clay. I carved the stitching and added clay for the stud features and after drying, I bisque fired the piece.
The club held a Raku Firing day and so I glazed Pocket with a copper glaze on the studs and another glaze I have forgotten the name of. Raku Firing is exciting. The work is heated to over 1000 ºC and then quickly removed from the hot kiln and placed into a combustible material and starved of oxygen to produce a myriad of colors in the glazes and black where the clay was unglazed. The results are often unexpected.
Pocket, ceramic, approx 20 x 20 x 4 cm
Pocket has been entered in the Ashburton Society of Arts’ 59th Annual Exhibition and is available for sale at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 4-28 July 2023.
Stamp, woodcut block print, 297 x 420 mm (A3), framed
Inspired by a postage stamp found in a pencil box purchased from a second hand store, Stamp is one of my first successes in wood block printing. The wading bird seemed out of place on the stamp so my print has it standing in and on an imagined environment.
The signature follows the theme and is stamped from a set of alphabet stamps also acquired from a second hand store.
I enjoy the challenge of working reflectively and inversely to produce an the printed image.
Stamp (detail)
Stamp was entered in the Ashburton Society of Arts 58th Annual Exhibition and could be viewed (and purchased $190) at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 5-29 July 2022.
Small Worlds, Acrylic, aluminum foil, wood, air dried clay on reconstructed canvases, 13x13cm
Small World North
Small World North, Acrylic, aluminum foil, wood, air dried clay on reconstructed canvas, 13x13cm
Small World South
Small World South, Acrylic, aluminum foil, wood, air dried clay on reconstructed canvas, 13x13cm
Small World Stewart
Small World Stewart, Acrylic, aluminum foil, wood, air dried clay on reconstructed canvas, 13x13cm
With the recent pandemic and lockdowns travel globally has been limited. This has been hard on Kiwis who love to travel the globe and occasionally bump someone they know from home. They establish their common connections and exclaim “Small World!”.
And also during some of the travels of my life, I have met people who have not travelled very far from where they were born. Sometimes you hear of people who have spent their entire lives living and working on a bridge in a European or Asian city, or had never left the small village they were born in. Their worldview is often small.
These globes are for the travel-challenged.
Small World North, Small World South and Small World Stewart were entered in the Ashburton Society of Arts 58th Annual Exhibition and could be viewed (and purchased) at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 5-29 July 2022.
