As part of the New Zealand Festival, an art fair with a focus on craft arts will be held over four days. Kete will see a number of New Zealand galleries presenting exhibitions of craft work from around the country. In addition there will be lecture ser
Kete; Art Fair, Symposium and Antiques Road Sow
New Zealand Festival
New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Queens Wharf
February 27 – March 2
Art+Object: Antiques Road Show
Sunday 2 March 12-3pm
As part of the New Zealand Festival, an art fair with a focus on craft arts will be held over four days. Kete will see a number of New Zealand galleries presenting exhibitions of craft work from around the country. In addition there will be lecture series, bringing together leading galleries, commentators, critics and artists to debate and highlight the current state of craft.
The art fair will be promoting some of New Zealand’s leading craft artists who are making an important contribution to our art and culture both nationally and internationally.
The participating galleries include Anna Miles, Avid, Bowen Galleries, Dilana, Form Gallery, Masterworks, OREXART, The National, Toi Maori Aotearoa, Vessel, Visual Culture, Whitespace and Whitireia.
Wellington’s Avid Gallery We will be showing work by Scott McFarlane, Peter McKay and Murray Camden Glass.
Scott McFarlane’s ceramic tiles, a series of work he has been making for some years, in which the contents of his visual diary are translated to terracotta tiles, using slips and oxides under a clear glaze, will feature. The work consists of his comments and observations on contemporary events, some humorous, some wry and some quite dark. His tiles range in price from $60 to $150
Peter McKay has been making his statements in jewellery for over 40 years working mainly in sterling silver, often highlighted with gemstones or touches of gold and copper. He makes a range of brooches depicting birds, fish, animals and natural landscapes, and also works with more mysterious images. Recurring themes are of classical architectural arches and columns, and images drawn from late medieval Italian frescoes and drawings. One of his bangles on show retails at $950, with a pendant at $500.
Murray Camden Glass is a combination of the talents of Emma Camden and David Murray, both majorcast glass artists. The work they make under the combined name is an accessible range of small glass sculptures in the remarkable designs. They will be showing a range of their work including houses both tall and small, and solid bowl like forms (“Gatherers”) in several different shapes and colours. The small Murray Camden Houses sell for $508 - $575
Wellington’s Bowen gallery will be showing the work of Pauline Rhodes and Simon Ogden. Rhodes is a highly regarded sculptor and installation artist who has work is in the Te Papa Collection and the Christchurch Art Gallery. She has crafted two sculptures, one from Corten steel with granite disc, the other stainless steel and glass disc. The two works from her Cones of Possibilities Series are $4500 each.
Christina Barton said of Rhodes' recent show at the Adam Art Gallery, Conduits and Containers: Leakage. “Rhodes was 40 by the time her characteristic installations began to be seen in public in New Zealand. During the first 20 years of her adult life, she had been through an unusually varied series of encounters with the arts. She made pottery; she drew landscapes with Toss Woollaston; she studied traditional arts in Nigeria and made terracotta portraits there; in Britain she pursued modernist sculpture.”
Simon Ogden manages to bridge painting, sculpture and craft with his clever use of found linoleum. He creates works which appear to be both naïve and sophisticated combing medieval, primitive and early modernistic stylistic features
The group of works made for Kete are called Tipping my Hat, a reference to the European artists he encountered on a recent overseas trip particularly the Cubists. Oneof these works, Garden is priced at $4800.
Auckland’s Orex Gallery will be showing the cast glass artist Evelyn Dunstan’s with work that is a stunning showcase of both the colourful, flowing luminosity of the medium, and of what can be technically achieved on the leading edge of cast glass design and technique.
Represented in significant collections in the United States, England, France, Australia and here in New Zealand, Dunstan is also one of just five Kiwis to win the prestigious Australasian Ranamok Glass Prize.
Dunstan’s forms are often based on the foliage and flowers of native plants (Nikau Chalice $7500) and introduced species, making metaphorical connections between the behavior and plants in their environment and the way people establish themselves in the land. Her work Clematis Crown ($6500) refers to New Zealand’s native species, Puawhanganga. “A deciduous climber, the clematis has no appearance of life in winter, but develops vigorous new life each spring. In a never-ending circle twisting around and back onto itself, the clematis creates support from within as well as being dependent on whatever it can attach itself to.”
The largest of her works Rose Chalice ($16,500) demonstrates Dunstan’s unique approach to her practice, developed in isolation through experimentation and modifying techniques developed for other mediums, allowing her to create delicate and intricate woven-like works, with complex colouring and textures.
Antiques Road Show
Art+Object will host an antiques road show presented by Hamish Coney and James Parkinson, who will be joined by independent applied arts consultant Simon Manchester. Together, they bring expertise in the valuation of craft and objects. Hosting this antiques road show they extend a public invitation to bring works from collections and homes to the Academy for expert appraisal.
Founded in 2007 Auckland-based auction house Art+Object specialides in modern and contemporary art, applied arts, studio ceramics and 20th century design. In recent years A+O has staged a number of groundbreaking collections of studio ceramics and modern design including the Ross Morrison collection of modern design in 2011. The Len Castle Estate collection in 2012 and the internationally important Martin Hill Collection in 2011 which featured rare examples by Dame Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Bernard Leach.
Art+Object has a strong commitment to and belief in the "native genius" of New Zealand applied and ceramic artists and has staged numerous object based catalogues. The company is driven to increase awareness and collector interest for New Zealand practitioners in the areas of applied arts, ceramics and design.
Kete Symposium
Featuring several local and internationals speakers, the Kete Symposium will focus on contemporary craft with speakers including Yuji Akimoto, Dr Sandra Alfoldy, Emma Bugden, Jacqui Chan, Philip Clarke, Moyra Elliott, Karl Fritsch, Robert Jahnke, Carol Mayer, Kevin Murray, Justine Olsen.
The series of lectures will address a number of topics including:
Why has contemporary jewellery positioned itself within and beyond the space of the art gallery - on the street, as an agent for social, community and political and economic change, in photography, and in the artist’s studio?
What is the current status of craft in the art market?
Why do long-standing traditions of craft-making still contribute to its vitality through the mentoring of young artists by senior practitioners and craftspeople?
How did jewellery re-establish an intimacy and personal connections between the residents of Christchurch and the city, following the 22 February 2011 earthquake?
Why is craft still critical to fostering the identity of indigenous and immigrant communities throughout the world?
How have private collectors of craft in New Zealand influenced the work of the artists whose work they collect?
