‘Lightweight’ set to impact

Otago Polytechnic Media Release For Immediate Release

‘Lightweight’ set to impact

The individual pieces of this month’s ‘Lightweight’ exhibition of Australasian textiles may each weight less than 500 grams, but their collective impact is likely to leave a unique impression on Dunedin art-lovers.

Works from staff and students of Otago Polytechnic School of Art’s Textiles department will be shown alongside those from the School of Art, Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra in Salisbury House Gallery.

“The public will never have seen so many different, contemporary textile works in one place,” explains Christine Keller, Head of Textiles at Otago Polytechnic.

“There are simply not many schools that offer textiles anymore. At the School of Art we still have lecturers that are practicing; it’s very special to have maintained that hands-on approach and I think it’s something Dunedin audiences will appreciate.”

The diversity of works alone is expected to be intriguing with pieces ranging from those driven by techniques that are ‘mastered’ and those driven by concepts.

Indeed, the New Zealand artists exhibiting range from a Maori Master Weaver (Roka Cameron) who is currently completing her Master of Fine Arts, to Bachelor of Fine Arts student Jeanette Pearce, who will present her artistic interpretation of ‘viral-spread’ in a series of petri dishes.

Artists from Canberra include Julie Ryder, Valerie Kirk and Jennifer Robertson. New Zealand artists include Jay Hutchinson, Victoria Bell and Jenny Bain.

Keller predicts that audiences may notice a difference in the textile cultures of the two countries, perhaps influenced by the wider range of commercial opportunities available to graduates in Australia.

The works will be similar to the extent that they all weigh little and will transport easily – essential for an exhibition that will travel to Canberra in October.

“In this show no work over 500 grams has been accepted; they all had to be lightweight,” says Keller. “Nevertheless we, as makers of this exhibition would like to state that the impact of these works goes way beyond their physical weight.”

Lightweight runs from August 25 – 30 at Salisbury House Gallery, 5 Smith Street Dunedin.

ENDS

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