exquisite
ecology
evolving
endangered

extinct

                  Fossil (2007)

                  Perspex and Intron Print 16cm long

When I was asked to create a bug, why did I end up making a snail?  Is it another connection to the sea shells of my childhood?  Regarded as an annoying garden pest, do snails play an important role in the ecological landscape?  Here was a chance to recreate a garden pest into something whimsical...

My snail had developed a mutual relationship with a plant, to such an extent that one could not survive without the other.  A recipe for extinction.

At night the flowers in which the bugs lived would open up, and the bugs would glow and make eerie and exquisite musical sounds, to attract other bugs to pollinate the plant. 

The only record of the bugs existence, was found in this journal, clutched in the skeletal bones of a man's hand many,many years later.

Fossil (2007), pages from the journal  

The sounds of the snail had enchanted the explorer, to such an extent that he was unable to sleep, he was obssessed, he was mesmorised, and eventually he could no longer function, existing only to hear another night of song...

... the little things in life ...

sea and sand

memories of a child

                                        Three sisters (2007)

                                        Glazed Raku Clay  50 x 70 x 42cm each

I have often created works in sets of three, is this because I am one of three?

These three shell sculptures are representations of myself and my sisters, and of the many hours we spent wandering along the beach collecting shells with our Mum.  Creating these sculptures directly from our earth mother, Papatuanuku, seems so appropriate. 

Each shell was crafted from the same plaster mould.

They are all the same, and yet they are all different.

Depicting our individual strengths and characteristics, each shell has been adorned with different patterns:

Unaunahi - the fish scales

Kowhaiwhai - the generations

Patikitiki - the flounder

... Whanau, a bond of strength and protection ...

So where do I begin...Look to the past, to see the future

the sun sets

on an old world

the sun rises

on a new world

two worlds

worlds apart

yet not so different...

Journey (2007)

Sandblasted Steel, Wire

This sculpted artwork represents the journey of my heritage, the two worlds from where I come.  My European ancestors immigrated to New Zealand, to come to a new land, bringing with them everything they owned.  My aunty passed on to me a doily, which was made by my great grandmother from the very linen which had travelled over on the immigration journey. The pattern at the top is derived from this doily and is like a sun, setting or rising. Handcrafts skills have been handed down the generations, my grandmother taught me embroidery, crosstitch, knitting and crochet. 

My mother's whanau are from Waimana, a valley on the north-eastern edge of  Te Urewera Rainforest.  She also taught me knitting and crochet, as well as taaniko weaving (Maori hand weaving without a loom).  The lower design represents a weaving pattern called Aramoana (the waves of the sea).  Again these skills were traditionally handed down from generation to generation.

The wire represents both the journey from one side of the world to the other, and myself as I come from both these places.

So the two worlds of my heritage, the world of the women, they are very different worlds, and yet they are also the same...

To these women, I owe so much.

...the knowledge of the hands and the mind...