Art is not just paintings
I’ve spent most of my time since returning from Christmas holidays working on two art exhibitions, neither of which promise paintings but instead celebrate the work of two women, both working in media that have often been relegated to the boundaries of ‘fine art’, or the kind of art we expect to see in art galleries. Clare Plug’s exhibition Look South features stunning quilts and delicate fabric banners. This opened on Saturday, so now the focus shifts to a survey exhibition of sculptural ceramics by Dannevirke artist Ann Verdcourt opening in 3 weeks’ time (subject of my next blog in May). To keep me from getting tunnel vision though, I’ll be stopping and enjoying Clare’s quilts every now and then over the next few weeks.
All the work in this exhibition stems from time Clare spent in Antarctica in 2006, on the Artists to Antarctica programme, supported by Creative New Zealand and Antarctica New Zealand. The programme has been running since 1997, sending anywhere from one to three artists a year south to Antarctica, and the art work that has been produced as a result has often been hauntingly evocative, Virginia King’s Antarctic Heart installation for example - http://www.virginiakingsculptor.com/antarcticheart.html.
I love a great painting and the feeling of being swept up in the skill of the artist, and I have the same response to Clare’s quilts, when I first saw them on display in Napier at Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery and now here. There’s immense pleasure to be had in both contemplating them standing back and getting closer to discover the subtly changing thread colours she uses. The quilts are quiet and sombre, much like I imagine the Antarctic landscape which has inspired her is, while the banners are delicate and ephemeral.
Everyone’s definition of art is different but we’d probably all agree on painting being art. Quilts though? And banners? Art or craft? You could be forgiven for thinking on first sight that Clare’s quilts are large abstract paintings. Does this similarity to painting make them art? In my view there’s no definitive answer to the questions about what art is; the important thing is responding, thinking, discussing, and hopefully enjoying what you’re seeing, whether it’s a painting, quilt, sculpture or ceramic.
I have a personal interest in Antarctica and would dearly love to be able to visit and view the icy landscape for myself, so I find that Clare’s quilts in particular, like King’s exhibition which I also saw in Napier, several years ago, draw me in and don’t let go of me easily. That to me is art and I thank Clare for it.
Nicola Jennings
Curator and Team Leader: Art
There are no comments.
0
comments