Wansolwara

IMPressive V – Wansolwara: Print here and now

Nathan Homestead, Manurewa, Auckland, 28 October – 30 November, 2014

New Zealand Steel Gallery, Franklin Arts Centre, Pukekohe. 24 January – 24 February, 2015

Every inked image participates in a migration like shift from its start point, be that a plate, block, screen or file, to place(s) where it will be seen. The printed image sits on a new ground, always in the here and now, separated from, yet connected to its origins. All of us here in Aotearoa carry the legacy of recent or long distant migrations to the land of the long white cloud. We are connected to, and separated from, the rest of the world by salt water. We live close to the sea, it nourishes us, connects us to home and opens us up to discovery. The word ‘wansolwara’ comes from the Solomon Islands. The word comes from the pidgin dialect and literally means ‘one salt water’. The notion arising from this is one ocean, one people.

Carole Shepheard

Coaster trading, 2014, screenprint on coasters. 

Along with the original, the coasters show the additions of the dairy cow, the for sale sign, the milk treatment plant and the swallows.

Navigating the aisles of mostly Chinese imported goods, I came across coasters reminding me of ‘Willow Pattern’ dinnerware. Originating in England, the willow pattern traditionally imitates a Chinese landscape and represents the first journey of migration. The coasters reveal no trace of origin on the packaging or coaster, but I assume, ironically, that they are a Chinese import, therefore a second migration. The coasters have undergone a further migration with the intervention of screenprinted imagery showing dairy farming, with a milk treatment plant looming large in the background. This alludes to Chinese investment here in New Zealand, depicting yet another form of migration. The swallows, appropriated from the common willow pattern design, are said to represent lovers. China / New Zealand relations have been somewhat contentious of late. Also too, the ‘coaster’ aptly refers to one living by the sea.

Coaster trading (detail)

Les morgue des ouvres

The book morgue

An exhibition of the book as art object curated by Michaela and Olivia (2nd year students from the Print Studio aka P Lab) at Dutybound bookbindery, Dunedin, October 2014. The show coincides with the Art+Book symposium and the Otago Arts Festival. It was great to see so many people about on the day of the Dunedin Street Art Festival. My work, Dreamwork, also featured in the exhibition.

Art + Book

Art + Book Symposium Dunedin School of Art October 16-18 2014

An exhibition and two days of papers and discussion from those engaged in art and book – as artists, art historians or theorists, teachers and cultural workers, and others involved in the wide constituency of the artworld, as well as those engaged in the world of books.

I presented a paper – The Book as Art Object–A Remedial Reading and had a work from my master’s show The evolution of Industry in the exhibition.

Abstract

Remedial, in this context, applies to the definition of curative or affording a remedy. The concept of Kazimir Malevich’s pharmacy, a term coined from his essay ‘On the Museum’ in 1919 in response to the impending destruction of Russian museums and art collections by civil, political and economic unrest, is contemplated as a vitalising agency in the transformative character of the burnt book as art object.

Book burning has an unscrupulous history and is regarded as a crime against culture. Is this a culture defined by the achievements or failures of our civilised industrial world, a world facing environmental, social, and economic crisis? However, within our current digitised culture does the physical act of book burning evince concern among die-hard bibliophiles and is the notion of the pharmacy able to offer amnesty? This paper will introduce and analyse the ideas and methods of artists who acknowledge book burning in their art practice and conclude by forging connections between their work and the prudent nature of Malevich’s pharmacy.

 

Compact

Salon des femmes got together for a one night show in association with OUSA Art Week. The exhibition theme was a response to the word ‘compact’ and was held in a small entry foyer leading to art studio spaces on 140 George St.

compact to make more dense; compress; condense
condensation Psychology The process by which a single symbol or word is associated with the emotional content of several, not necessarily related ideas, feelings, memories, or impulses, especially as expressed in dreams.

 

 

 

 

 

The reagent bottle containing the charcoal remains of Sigmund Freud’s book The Interpretation of Dreams, symbolises suppressed hopes and dreams.

 

 

 

Dream work with Becs’ Maquettes I-V 

Check out Salon des femmes for more images.

Salon des femmes

“All in together girls, never mind the weather girls…”

The Salon des femmes are a coterie of passionate artists, all alumni from the Dunedin School of Art, who get together in community collaboration and exhibitions.

Check out the website for our latest collaboration.

Oil on Canvas

On Friday 10th January the ‘Oil on Canvas’ exhibition opened at the Dunedin Community Gallery. Artists from all over the country displayed their works, exploring the theme of deep sea drilling in Aotearoa.

My work for this show included a series of nine prints with drawings using a ‘kitchen lithography’ process that works on the basis that oil and water doesn’t mix. The imagery played out a noughts and crosses game where x = water and o = oil. Either had the chance to win but water was given the victory in the final image. The drawing sketches made reference to Hieronymous Bosch’s painting ‘The ship of fools’.

Along with this print series was a found object, sculptural work from my first year sculpture project, consisting of an old petrol can with an Arabian proverb written in reverse and a car rear view mirror lying beside the can to make the proverb comprehensible.

The proverb reads: 

    “My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies a jet-plane. His son will ride a camel.”