by Caroline Griffin
Recently I
visited the Objective Awards with Sarah and we talked about the exhibition and
of course her work in the awards titled Time Parallel, which I must say on
behalf of Left-Field collective, we are very pleased to see in this show.
 |
Anna Rae (Mangere
Arts Centre) and Sarah in front of Sarah’s work.
Photo: C Griffin |
We found at
the entrance to the gallery a small white statue of a man with jeans and bare
torso with brick-like goggles this interestingly is made from casting plaster.
The title M.O.W2 left me guessing but I think something about a virtual gaming world
with plaster models like my son painted years ago. The figure had an upward
gazing stance somewhat searching or looking into the heavens. Anyway we were
keen to move on into the room.
Firstly the
light in the room is at its bare minimum so a moment is required to pause and adjust
which I think is a good thing as it slows things down. On first inspection the
walls are lightly filled with works and there are three cluster arrangements of
glass covered plinths for the other works.
This year
the show has fewer works than in previous years with twenty-four works in one
room. The winner is a ceramic urn by Richard Stratton, second prize went to
Fran Allison for her lei work - My Place, and third prize was awarded to Ross
Malcolm for his brooch titled Pseudo Curio. Really nice to see two of the top
prizes going to people (Fran and Ross) who we know from the Jewellery
department at Manukau School of Visual Arts. Both works look at an aspect of Pacific
history and how in different ways it has an impact on us and this follows the whakatauki
for the exhibition; People come and go,
the land remains.
What I
noticed was there seems to have been a careful selection from the various
disciplines of object making. There are 8 jewellery works, 7 ceramic works, 2
glass works, 3 woven works, and 4 other-type works. Our overall reaction was that
it looks like the selection quality has been raised and that surely it must have
been difficult to select from such a wide range of disciplines.
Sarah and I
had a discussion about how within the different object making disciplines there
seems to be more opportunity to push the boundaries with medium within
jewellery and the jewellery community is actively doing this. Ceramics has a
long tradition but is limited by its medium although I did notice polymer clay
at the Portage Awards. It’s an interesting conversation to select from a
diverse range of disciplines and talk about skills, boundaries and traditions.
Not an easy task and I imagine a difficult task for the judges to choose the work.
 |
Sarah Walker-Holt,
Time Parallel.
Photo: C Griffin |
I was
interested to hear Sarah talk about her work. I know partly what her work is
about but its ambiguous quality has always intrigued me. Sarah talks about the knowledge
of the future generation is not learnt or passed on but believes it is somehow a
part of us which is carefully tied in with her chosen medium of old wooden
kitchen utensils. These old utensils have the patina and character of everyday
use and carry knowledge of their owner. These are then dissected and rebuilt
from a variety of different objects coming together in new forms which result
in something that looks like it has a purpose of some sort but not obvious and
not known. Perhaps something which may
jog memories and these memories of course will be different from person to
person. For me there were memories of old wooden skipping ropes and worn
timbers and sash ropes of colonial houses by the beach and in the background
the kitchen utensil quietly nodding to its domestic roots. There is also a possible
futuristic apoplectic quality to Sarah’s work where we revalue past
experiences. Sarah supplied a kitchen utensil hook for her work to hang from
the wall which cleverly dictates how the work is shown.
We were
pleased to see Renee Bevan’s balloon pieces carefully placed in the show next
white domestic-ware ceramics. Renee’s and Fran’s work both talk about the
exhaled breath Fran’s perhaps the final exhaled breath whereas Renee is a more
playful breath.
Ross
Malcolm is known to us through the MIT jewellery department. His work is based
on a flowering parasitical plant whose common name is woodrose and these
brought back memories for me of when these woodrose could be found in souvenir
shops in New Zealand
years and years ago. I had completely forgotten all about them until seeing
Ross’s work.
Our visit
was fairly rushed and I felt I needed more time or an artist statement to
access some of these works. The works have been left without their artist
statements which I find rather intriguing as one was required for the judging
but then deemed unimportant for the rest of us although the three prize winners
have their statements printed in the catalogue. Artists are required to spend
time on carefully writing these statements which I personally would prefer not
to do, so I only think it’s fair to include them along with the work.
The
Objective Awards close on the 1 December.
Caroline
Griffin
