Media release
30 August 2012

Exhibition looks at printing through a season of change

Artstation’s latest exhibition, Tai-ohua, which focuses on the shifting natural world through the medium of printmaking, opens on Tuesday 18 September, 5-7pm.

Featuring artists from Toi Whakataa print collective, alongside guest artists, the exhibition features printmaking, a traditionally European art medium, from a contemporary Maori perspective. The theme of changing seasons is showcased through a broad range of printmaking techniques.

Artist and curator, Natalie Couch, combines screen printing and drawing in a large scale work that embodies symbols of the forest and rivers that are woven together in an intricate and shifting balance.

Fellow artist, Alexis Neal combines Raranga Whakairo star imagery inspired by seasonal star charts with fishing net structures to form the weaving pattern in her 2-meter-long woven printed Whariki work, called Te Rangatahi. “I have tried to make connections between the turning of the tides under the seasonal chart, but also recognise our people moving within it,” says the artist.

Layering of colour reflects ideas and histories, while the negative space of the Kowhaiwhai pattern plays an important part in Vanessa Edward’s dry point and screen printed works.

“The four works printed on tea towels are a narrative of the cycle of seasons that integrates the astronomical lore that provided Maori with an abundance of signs towards living. This observation guided Maori through the kumara seasonal phases and the fertility of crops,” says artist Raewyn Graham.

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Notes to the editor:

Exhibition: Tai-ohua

Artists include: Gabrielle Belz, Ruth Green Cole, Natalie Couch, Vanessa Edwards, Sam Farquhar, Charlotte Graham, Raewyn Graham, Noelle Jakeman, Evelyn Kawiti, Dan Mace, Faith McManus, Alexis Neal, Cerisse Palalagi and Vanessa Wynyard.

Exhibition dates: 19 September to 6 October 2012

Opening: Tuesday 18 September 5-7pm

Gallery hours: 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday,
10am to 4pm Saturday

Artstation is the Auckland Council’s community visual arts facility located in the old police barracks at 1 Ponsonby Road, Newton. It is easy to get to by bus, with the Link that stops right outside. Artstation also has wheelchair access and a lift, which can be accessed from the side entranceway to the right side of the building from Ponsonby Road.

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