Local artist showcases three decades of innovative work
2 March 2010
Ceramics: Ann Verdcourt: A Survey, a Te Manawa exhibition opening this Saturday will display over three decades of work by one of New Zealand’s most innovative and dedicated ceramic artists.
The exhibition, which runs until the 13th June, features more than fifty pieces of Ann’s ceramic work, and follows three themes that have inspired Verdcourt throughout her career; conversations with artists, still life, and play.
Without access to interesting life models, Ann draws models from an extensive collection of art books that featured much loved paintings by the likes of Morandi, Modigliani, Matisse, Picasso and Velazquez. She converses with these works by taking them from two to three dimensions, adding and imagining details not seen in the paintings.
Art Curator at Te Manawa, Nicola Jennings says “The exhibition features 14 still life groupings, showing clearly Verdcourt’s ongoing fascination with the subtle relationships between textures, colours, shapes and space in these groupings of jugs, bottles and bowls. Each grouping can take up to a year to get exactly right.”
Teamed with a thorough knowledge of art history and technique Ann Verdcourt’s work has always possessed a refreshing playfulness, bringing together unexpected combinations of form, colour and texture in surprising ways. Ann draws inspiration from her domestic environment – milk cartons, children’s toys, fruit and body parts all feature.
Ann and her husband, ceramic artist John Lawrence, emigrated from England in 1965. The small town of Pahiatua came as a bit of a shock after rigorous art school training and easy access to galleries and museums in England and Europe. Ann does however think of herself and her work as being unique to New Zealand, she says “Although my work is about being European in a way I am a New Zealand potter because I’ve made things I wouldn’t have made in England.”
This exhibition was jointly developed by Te Manawa Museums Trust, Palmerston North, and the Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui.
Te Manawa is open seven days a week at 336 Main Street, Palmerston North. Call 06 355 5000. All exhibitions and activities are this year, running from our art gallery building.