Claudia Pond Eyley: A Brief Survey of 40 Years of Drawing
Auckland, August 2011, Satellite Gallery’s The Vernacular Lounge is proud to present the first ever survey of 40 years of NZ Cultural Icon
Claudia Pond-Eyley’s drawings, 3 – 20 September 2011.
Selecting from amongst 900 works - this exhibition reflects the variety of subjects over these decades (includes drawing
from nature, landscape, still life and the human figure).
Among the works are drawings that inspired and were the resource material for many of the well-known public commissions
that she has engaged in:
The Stokes Road, Mt. Eden, 20 meter mural, a test piece for street art in 1980; The High Court panels in Waterloo
Quadrant, based on the history of the land of Auckland- Tamaki Makaurau; Auckland University panels for the Arts
Commerce Building; a collaborative mural with Pat Hanly; Stained glass windows in the Chapel at Lady Alum Home in
Milford; and 11 windows at St. Mary’s Cathedral Church in Parnell, created with Glassworks in hand blown glass from
Lyon, France.
“A friend told me of the Buddhist monks that meditate seated before a water-iris, backed with a gold screen. They
continue to meditate as the bud opens, blossoms and then dies. I was so taken by this that I dedicated a summer to
drawing from nature, whether a purchased bouquet, the landscape of the Waitakere Ranges or a still life of natural
objects. The momentum of using a single media built and built a significant body of work.
“As a visual artist the act of drawing has always facilitated a meditative mood of exploration in nature, observation of
still life, structures and the human figure. Drawings are also immediate, and often the original, initial, working idea
of other material I create,” she mentions, alluding to the spontaneous and un-contrived element of her drawings.
I am privileged to show these works as part of The Depot’s “Cultural Icons” project for this exhibition at the Satellite
Gallery.”
Claudia Pond-Eyley: A Brief Survey of 40 Years of Drawing
3 - 20 September 2011
Tuesday-Friday 11am-4pm, Saturday 11am-3pm
Opening: Friday 2 September 5.30pm
Satellite Gallery
Cnr St Benedicts St + Newton Rd
Newton, Auckland
ENDS