Collage - Mixed Media
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The theme of 'Exploration' fits into my ongoing interest in ideas around collecting and cataloging - as a way of promoting species preservation, by examining our relationship to the environment and each other, both historically and potentially.
These pieces use inkjet or laser printed elements, cut out and collaged together on heavy weight, archival paper. Additions of hand-stitched silver thread and graphite elements bring them alive. |
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A little water, a little shelter, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, inkjet, charcoal, silver-tone thread) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 300 x 300 framed $295 Framed |
This piece came about because I was inspired by a monotype I made using fern imprints. After some research I discovered that all ferns need 'a little water, a little shelter' to thrive and I felt that was a simple metaphor for the basics of what people need to survive as well.
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Ocean song and lost words, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, inkjet, laser, silver-tone thread) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
I got to thinking about messages in bottles - set adrift to be pushed around by the ocean current, probably lost for good, occasionally found (apparently less of them now social media has taken hold). Not an ideal situation if you were marooned on a deserted island. The male Humpback whale migrates up to 25,000km to breed in warm waters, where he sings songs that last from 10-20 minutes long. I wonder how many whales have seen cast-away bottles with messages curled up inside them, floating past or perhaps they don’t distinguish between these lost words and the amount of plastic and rubbish that competes for place on some distant shore?
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The last catch, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, inkjet, laser, silver-tone thread, pencil) Fabriano HP paper 155mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
The New Zealand grayling was abundant in the early colonial period but by the 1860’s (around when our house was built) the population was declining. The last known specimen was caught in the late 1920’approx. Possibly deforestation and competition with introduced trout contributed to its extinction.
It seems to me that although it’s natural for species to ‘fight it out’ for survival over time, wherever people go, the devastation they create brings on certain demise for many creatures a whole lot faster. |
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Charting gravity waves, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, inkjet, laser, silver-tone thread, pencil) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
I found inspiration in Micronesian stick charts used for navigating ocean swells and island locations. Curved midribs of coconut fronds are lashed together, at the intersections are shells for islands and curved threads represent the wave crests of the ocean’s surface. A swell is a series of waves that grow along the interface between water and air. Quite poetic science really, I think.
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Canopy, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, inkjet, silver-tone thread) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
These pieces are part of an over-arching theme — ideas about being an explorer in a previously undiscovered environment, more than that, what it is to be a woman filling those shoes. 'Canopy' is a result of my imagination looking up through trees I've never seen before, unnamed and not catalogued. What would it feel like to do that?
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Primordial, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, laser, inkjet, silver-tone thread) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
I brought together an image of a quick-study painting made last year done in inks, which I photographed, printed it on archival paper and layered more printed elements over the top. The elements are created from my monotype prints, photographed and printed on acid-free tracing paper. I’m really enjoying how light and textures come together through these materials to create a sense of new growth — new beginnings breaking through.
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Borne on the trade winds, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, laser, silver-tone thread) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
Thinking about how plants, insects and animals have made their way around the globe and how humanity has exploited these natural Earth ‘currents’ for its own gain.
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Adrift but not lost, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, laser, silver-tone thread) Fabriano HP paper 190mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
Featuring the moon, silver thread and more floating shapes reminiscent of leaves, boats or feathers. I had in mind the notion of being stranded at sea but being able to use knowledge of the heavenly bodies' movements to find a location and direction.
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Migration, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, laser, silver-tone thread, pencil) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
Migration is the large-scale movement of species from one environment to another. I was thinking about schools of fish or birds travelling this way. But I also had in mind the human desire to travel and explore this planet and out into the stars.
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By the stars, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, laser, silver-tone thread) Fabriano HP paper 130mm wide | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
A finished piece using recent investigations into new materials. I’m still thinking about why we collect and the impact this practice can have on our environment (both positive and negative). The Explorer’s desire to navigate - finding new worlds, plants, animals and insects - collecting samples along the way.
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Taken by the wind, 2018
Mixed media (tracing paper, charcoal) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 300 x 300 framed SOLD |
I created this for a drawing exhibition. I took up the challenge to make something that could fit the description of a 'drawing' but still fit alongside the work I have already been making. I loved the idea of these translucent 'petals' floating away like flowers, leaves or seeds. I used a compass to score lines, like a count of days, into the petals and then used charcoal to add tone and accent the indentations.
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This a a bespoke piece that I created for donation. It went to an auction that raises funds for the Helensville Woman and Family Centre.
........ My sweet Nikau Heart Forest is your family Look up to the sun ........ My sweet Nikau heart, 2018 Mixed media (inkjet, acrylic, silver leaf, archival tracing paper) Fabriano HP paper 180mm | 290 x 335 framed SOLD |