CHRISTINE HELLYAR was born in New Plymouth (1947). She completed a DFA (Hons) in 1970 at Elam, where she subsequently taught part-time. Since leaving in 1996 to work full-time in her studio, she has accumulated numerous awards – the first Adam Award (1988) for her significant contribution to NZ art; Dept. of Conservation residency, Mt Taranaki (2003); Tylee Cottage Residency at Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery (2005); McConnell Properties Stoneleigh Sculpture Award (2009) and the resident botanic artist at the Auckland Botanic Gardens (2011). Exhibiting consistently in NZ and internationally, Hellyar’s work has been included in many major exhibitions, and her work is held in most NZ public collections, including the Auckland Art Gallery, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Museum of NZ Te Papa Tongarewa and Christchurch Art Gallery.
The first series of drawings and sculptures in this exhibition is titled Finding Ferns in the Forest. “It relates to an activity that I find almost sculptural. I like the way you have to look up to see the fern trees. The Found Fern sculptures are about how we own things – I like the way the word found is part of the word foundry, and the way even big bronzes can look like jewellery.” The second series of drawings relates to the Rangiora plant. “Being dark on top and light underneath it is quite graphic – I like the flashing of the white when it’s windy and the Rangiora twists in the wind. There is also interest for me in the way it was used by Māori as a wrapping.”
While the majority of works in this exhibition are by Hellyar, we have chosen this exhibition to introduce a new artist to Fe29. Samantha Lissette’s bronzes sit comfortably alongside Hellyar’s Rangiora drawings.
SAMANTHA LISSETTE exhibits regularly throughout NZ and internationally, and her work is in public and private collections across NZ and China. A member of Medal Art NZ (MANZ), she regularly exhibits with International Art Medal Federation (FIDEM). She has a degree in philosophy from Auckland University and in her art practice she explores the relationship between ‘designed’ elements in the natural world and man’s adaptation of them. There is a strong narrative quality to her sculpture, questioning aspects of the human condition. Often employing humour or irony, she brings a sense of playfulness and delicacy to a medium traditionally associated with weight and substance. She works extensively in all scales of the bronze medium, from monument to miniature.
In the exhibition title piece, Riding the Wind, Lissette captures that moment of updraft as wind catches leaves and carries them upward. Amongst the leaves, a snail has found himself caught in the flight, forced to surrender and go with the flow of life – an analogy for us all to let go of control. Lissette has received public and corporate commissions for her work. Her most recent public commission is the Little Blue Penguin Project at Campbells Bay Beach on Auckland’s North Shore – alittle blue penguin from this series is included in the show.