Carterton ceramic artist Lisa Donaldson got her first taste of ‘production pottery’ when she created 40 unique platters for the Martinborough Contemporary Art Auction held at the weekend, a fundraiser for the Ruamahunga Health Trust and the Martinborough Community Centre project.
The commission from one of the organisers, Catherine de Groot, took her over two months to complete and was her first experience of back-to-back kiln firing. The platters are also her largest pieces so far, at 35cm square.
“It was a big challenge,” she says. As the finger food started disappearing, Lisa’s platters were revealed and by the end of the night 25 of the 40 had been sold. The event raised around $75,000.
Lisa, who has a background in geochemistry, says she draws inspiration from family holidays tramping in national parks and the Tararuas. “Ideas come from the natural surroundings, from what is right underneath my feet and what can be seen from a distance.” She loves the planned and ‘accidental’ possibilities of glazes, and used these to full effect on her platters to evoke mountain ranges, eroded land masses and lakes.
Her work is currently on display at Aratoi as part of the ‘Elements’ exhibition, which showcases work by members of NZ Potters Inc from the lower North Island.
It’s all happened rather quickly for this relative newcomer who took up ceramics just six years ago. She got part way through a distance learning diploma on the subject before concluding that there was “only so much you can do online” and taking this very physical art mode into the real world. She took classes at the Wellington Pottery Club, and invested in her own kiln. Next on the list is a trip to Takaka for a workshop with local potter Paul Winspear, which she has organized with six other artists. Lisa will also be selling her work at the forthcoming Night Market in Martinborough.
Exhibitions at Aratoi: Elements Exhibition: NZ Potters Inc, until 21 June; Selections from The Rutherford Trust Collection, until 16 August; Masterton Modern, until 31 May; Settling the Land: Order Out of Chaos, until 16 Aug; Wairarapa Whakaputa Mohio: Settling the Land, until 31 Dec.
Two of Lisa’s platters on display at Aratoi, and others in use at the Art Auction.
Photos: Celia Jasper Photography.
Those looking for a snapshot of New Zealand art history will find one in the current exhibition at Aratoi, which opened on Friday.
Around 40 works from the Rutherford Trust Collection (which numbers 140 in total) are on display. They range from still life to landscape, realism to abstraction, covering all the decades from the 1930s to 2000s, and some of the key strands in our art history. Rita Angus’ work reflects the drive of ‘regionalism’ to show distinctly New Zealand subject matter, while artists like Milan Mrkusich and Geoff Thornley connected with international abstraction.
Other ‘big names’ of New Zealand art are there, such as Colin McCahon, Frances Hodgkins, Gretchen Albrecht, Philippa Blair, John Drawbridge and Gordon Walters – alongside interesting lesser known artists.
Of course, this is no objective survey. Like all collections, hovering just below the surface are the personal preferences, aspirations and political agendas of the individual collector or collecting organization – which can be guessed at or teased out by the viewer, or put on the back burner in favour of simply enjoying the work.
In this case, the Collection was built up by a powerful player, the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand. Sir Selwyn Cushing presided over ECNZ at the time and at the opening described how arts advisor Lynn Corner began purchasing works from the late 1980s onwards, with a starting budget of $500,000,
One of the guiding principles was made clear, Sir Selwyn commenting in 1996 that “the purpose of the [Rutherford] Trust is to form a collection which reflects the development of contemporary New Zealand art, where excellence of achievement, rather than fashion, is the key criterion.”
In the early days, the mainly paintings formed a backdrop for staff in the offices and boardrooms, and likely made a strong impression on those visiting these spaces.
Now, the Collection is on permanent loan to one of the country’s major contemporary collectors – the Auckland-based James Wallace Art Trust - with Aratoi administering around a third of the works.
This is an exhibition with many implied ‘conversations’ – both between the works themselves in terms of colour, technique and subject matter, and around the sphere of collecting itself.