Fibre artist wins inaugural Wellington Regional Arts Review

18 May, 2012
Upper Hutt fibre artist, Katherine Morrison has won the inaugural Wellington Regional Arts Review. Her winning work, Bedding, was one of more than 150 entries received from Wellington, the Hutt Valley, Kapiti and Wairarapa.

Review organiser, Natalie Friend, says the judges, Aaron Lister and Julie Catchpole, were drawn to the winning work which is made from humble materials blanket, cotton and sheeting, from the beginning. Thousands of hand stitches have been used to create a subtle, abstract two dimensional map-like surface.

Ms Morrison will be presented with the award at the opening of the Review exhibition at 7pm, tonight (Friday 18 May), along with the two merit award winners: recent graduate, Ritchie Adamson and Upper Hutt artist, Tania Willis (see page 3 for more details about the prize winners and the judges comments).

Submissions to the Review, which included paintings, photography, drawings and sculpture, were received from a mix of established artists, up and coming artists, students and first timers. The judges were interested that a lot of works demonstrated using traditional 1

techniques in a contemporary way. Overall the standard was very high and the best works were well resolved and well made. They chose works which showed originality and had taken a different approach, Ms Friend says.

Mr Lister, curator of New Zealand art at Wellingtons City gallery and Ms Catchpole, director of Nelsons Suter Gallery, have selected a cross section of 61 works to be displayed at Expressions, Upper Hutt from 18 May to 1 July.

The works submitted are reflective of the region and the types of artists practicing here. There is a lot of work depicting the landscape, which is not surprising, as landscape predominates in New Zealand art. The judges have selected a very representative range of the submissions for the final exhibition, Ms Friend says.

Ms Friend, Mr Lister, Ms Catchpole and Dominion Post visual arts critic, Mark Amery will discuss their favourite works at a floor talk at the gallery on Sunday 27 May.

The Peoples Choice Award will be announced at the end of the exhibition on Sunday 1 July. The public can vote for their favourite work for this award either at the exhibition, or on the Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre Facebook page. The Peoples Choice winner will win an Artist in Feature Exhibition at Expressions in 2013.

For more information Ms Friend can be contacted at Expressions, Upper Hutt, phone (04)5272168 from 10.30 am until the opening of the Review at 7pm today, Friday 18 May. The three winning artists will be at Expressions with her today at midday.

Also see www.expressions.org.nz 2

Winners and Judges

Winner ($1000) Katherine Morrison Bedding Woollen blanket, cotton and sheeting 2011 thousands of hand stitches have been used to create a subtle, abstract two dimensional maplike surface. The Judges said: This work using a blanket is totally original and the judges were interested in the way Morrison used needle and thread to draw lines which marked the surface of the blanket. She created a two dimensional sculptural relief surface, with thousands of hand stitches transforming rough material into a map-like surface.

Merit Award ($200) Ritchie Adamson Man Wearing Underpants on Head (Soiled) 2012 The Judges said: This oil on board image is quite compelling. It is a well rendered portrait, reinvigorating the historical genre of portraiture with its neo-classical idealised forms, and flipping it on its head to give it a contemporary feel.

Merit Award ($200) Tania Willis 53.3329267-6.2123635 Pencil, ink on graph paper 2012 The Judges said: This work intrigued the judges who were impressed by the control and constraint taken to create an abstract image. Using gridded maths paper and coloured pencils, the artist created a handmade art work which looked like a digital artwork with flat rectangular pathways and surprisingly organic forms in the background. Williss work has also recently been selected for the Wallace Art Awards.