Temporary Sculpture Installation

From 2005 to 2009, Connells Bay Sculpture Park called for submissions from artists for a Temporary Sculpture Installation. Read about the selected works, all ephemeral in nature, which are detailed below.

This programme is currently being reviewed and we look forward to sharing news of a new exciting initiative for 2011.

2010 Temporary Sculpture Installation

Proposals for the 2010 Temporary Sculpture Installation will be due by 31st May 2010.
Please click here for the proposal requirements.

2009 Temporary Sculpture Installation

Jeff Thomson
Jeff Thomson has built his sculptural career around the use of corrugated iron.

Hay Stack
Hay, chicken wire mesh, timber, corrugated plastic.

Following on from Thomson?s Artist in Residence at the Chateau de Paris in the South of France in 2008 (www.padies.com) the artist has created imaginary forms and when placed as one, take on the feel of an open Hay Stack structure. The hay shapes are made using wire netting layers with hay placed between the layers. They are then put through various industrial moldings and include a variety of corrugated shapes, ridge caps, down pipes, ridging, sphere shapes, weather boarding etc.

Quoting Sue Gardiner in Artnews (Autumn 2010) “This work may have its art historical precedent in Monet?s orderly Haystacks, but embraces instead the slightly more shambolic and much-loved New Zealand farm aesthetic. ”

2008 Temporary Sculpture Installation

Brit Bunkley

Brit Bunkley is the head of sculpture and a lecturer in digital media at the Quay School of the Arts, Wanganui UCOL in Wanganui.

Primitive Accumulation

Gnomes

Bunkley's work is referencing the terminology of economics relating to kick-starting economies. He is making a specific reference to the way that China has modernized in the latter part of the 20th century. Primitive Accumulation is a gift box of brightly coloured garden gnomes. Bunkley regards the garden gnome as rather an absurd item, an image of absurdity itself. It is also a colourful and Christmassy item, rather like a little Santa Claus. His gnomes are symbols of commerce and of our contemporary "throwaway" society and they have an impact on the environment in more ways than one just as this work does.

2007 Temporary Sculpture Installation

Nic Moon

Nic Moon graduated with an MFA from RMIT University Melbourne in 2002 and a BFA Canterbury University 1990. Nic Moons work employs developments of the modern industrial age.

Out of the Ashes
Net/found objects/wire

Moon made six delicate shelter structures designed to protect and nurture native seedlings which referenced the regeneration of native bush currently being undertaken at Connells Bay. These structures, threaded with fishing net over stainless steel frames to reference Maori cloaks and Victorian hooped skirts, were adorned with fishing lures, seashells, shearing combs, sheep dog whistles, fleeces and bullets and acknowledged the people who had been before and their survival within the ecosystems of Connells Bay.

2006 Temporary Sculpture Installation

Gaye Jurisich

Gaye Jurisich graduated with a Diploma of Teaching from University of Waikato School of Education. Her practice has focused on developing site-specific works for outdoor environments. She has works in public and private collections in the United States, Britain and New Zealand.

The Long Lei
Lei of artificial flowers, chicken wire, timber, plastic ties

The Long Lei was a spectacular addition to the Connells Bay collection during the summer of 2006/2007. In making this temporary installation piece, Gaye Jurisich used over 3000 lei of brightly coloured artificial flowers. Each lei was individually hand-wrapped around chicken wire on a long wooden frame. Out of these she created a huge temporary flower bed, 14 metres long, 2.3 metres wide.

2005 Temporary Sculpture Installation

Sue Pickernell and Bern Dell

Sue Pickernell was born in the Hawke?s Bay in 1960 and educated in Rotorua. She holds a Veterinary Science degree from Massey University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design. Bern Dell was born in 1955 and with a background as a professional musician and sound engineer; he is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design. The artists seek to use industrial or commercially available materials in ways that bring out a whimsical ad hoc element and explore themes relating to human inventiveness.

Watershed
Perspex, steel, copper

Pickernell and Dell created a perspex waterway elevated on a scaffold of steel and copper. Their work referenced the abundance of spring water at Connells bay contrasted with the water supply issues that generally exist on Waiheke Island. Light, sound and movement are all ephemeral ad hoc elements were well suited to the artists? exploration of the environment, the weather and the passage of time.