Art with difference in Stratford
A collaborative exhibition of seven New Plymouth artists opens on Friday at the Percy Thomson Gallery in Stratford. Tentative Connections shows the artists on their respective creative pathways, working with different mediums to bring exciting works to the community and the art world. This exhibition will be a diverse change from the previous exhibitions in Percy Thomson and should challenge, provoke and stimulate discussion among our viewers," says gallery director Sue Morton. Carmen Roger's latest works see her transforming the mundane blind into something beyond the everyday; the works look at addressing the domestic blind parts and how they relate to geometric abstraction. Inglewood artist Dorothy Andrews says of her work: My ideas for my works come from a love of the natural world, (flora and fauna). The inspiration from the natural things around us is endless. Visions of its many forms bore into the recesses of the mind, to form a tangled mass of memories, which emerge in unexpected ways. Completing a BVA in 2012, Jenny Bielawski enjoys finding new ways to use traditional techniques of knitting, sewing and painting to produce contemporary art works. Her earlier career in midwifery has a strong influence on the skull and body work she is becoming renowned for. Jacqueline Mann's 'painted drawings' are an extension of her sculptural practice and are similarly a nod to architecture. "These graphic compositions evolve in increments, with a lack in editing so as each contributory layer can be viewed," she says. "As each mark follows another, ambiguous structures unfold within their own rules of logic. Influenced by Susan Sontag's literary works 'Against Interpretation' and 'The Aesthetics of Silence, Mann explores what happens when the content from behind a work is removed and we are no longer 'all at one' with the subject. I'm not sure what it becomes then, and this is where the sculptural object, in particular, is for me. It becomes an 'uncertain' object. An emerging artist, Mann has held several exhibitions and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Textures and layers within her mixed media and acrylic paintings reflect a stage in life of self-awareness for local artist Deborah Stewart. She is strongly influenced by her deep love of nature, which she claims feeds her soul and fulfil her visual needs. Juliet Chell describes her work as being inspired by information technology and its influence on our lives. From her studio in Egmont Village, Karena Winnie's work is driven by process as opposed to image, which she says predominantly relates to internal and external space. - Stratford Press