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| "Vitamin Sea" (detail) by Toni Hartill |
This is a long overdue post about the PCANZ Thinking_Unfolding artists books exhibition for which, due to my love for the genre, I played an integral part in the planning and organising of, in my role as an executive of PCANZ.
Chair, Kathy Boyle, and I set about planning this as a selected exhibition for members of PCANZ, with a goal of endeavouring to bring the concept of artists books to a wider audience in New Zealand. There are many artists in NZ who create artists books, sometimes as a focus of their arts practice, but often as a part of their practice. Unlike overseas, where artists books are well exhibited and celebrated with annual exhibitions and awards, in NZ artists books fly well below the radar, are not commonly exhibited especially in high profile venues, and are rarely seen and appreciated by members of the public, let alone within the arts community.
Kathy and I hoped that Thinking_Unfolding would be an opportunity to encourage our printmaking community to engage and participate, and for the genre to be introduced to a new public audience.
To read about the Premier exhibition and awards, which were held at Aratoi Museum of Art + History, Masterton, Wairarapa, 2 November – 8 December 2019 please visit the PCANZ website. There you will find the award winners, the full brief, and an essay by the selector Paul Thompson of Wai-te-Ata Press. Keep on scrolling and you will find the complete catalogue of all of the entries complete with artist's statements and photographs.
December 2019 is some time ago now but, as we know, the year 2020 gave us the unexpected complication of a global pandemic and the subsequent planned exhibitions of Thinking_unfolding were postponed and then cancelled, then, after much wrangling by Kathy, finally rescheduled.
The new EXHIBITION SCHEDULE:
Current Exhibition:
10 December 2020 - 21 February 2021
My entries to Thinking_Unfolding
"Vitamin Sea ~ Fuel for Heart & Soul"
"Vitamin Sea" by Toni Hartill
"Vitamin Sea" by Toni Hartill
The making of Vitamin Sea by Toni Hartill
"Vitamin Sea II"
3D wall work
Linocut
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| "Vitamin Sea II" (detail) by Toni Hartill |
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| "Vitamin Sea II" (detail) by Toni Hartill |
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| "Vitamin Sea II" (detail) by Toni Hartill |
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| "Vitamin Sea II" (detail) by Toni Hartill |
"Forest Notes"
A large scale, pop-up artists' book made collaboratively
with printmaker Celia Walker.
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| "Forest Notes" by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill |
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| "Forest Notes" by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill |
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| "Forest Notes" by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill |
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| "Forest Notes" by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill |
Visit my earlier blog about the making of Forest Notes
and to see detailed photographs.
Toni Hartill and Celia Walker are amateur botanists, gatherers, and collaborators, with an eye for nature and an urge to collect and record their local environment. The botanical compendium Forest Notes is collated and repurposed from their work for the traveling print project Forest has the Blues. The pop-up book format serves as both a repository for their assembled pieces, a catalogue of sorts, and in its opened-out format as a tactile enticement, an invitation to explore the forest depths. From the forest floor to the canopy, our native bush conceals hidden treasures, but also creeping incursions. The sneaking invasions of pest plants and pathogens threaten the viability of our forest remnants, remnants that are vital for our native species.
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| "Forest Notes" (detail) by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill |
It seems so long ago, now, that we created these books for the premier exhibition but, now that the exhibitions have been rescheduled and are up and running it is a wonderful opportunity for new audiences to enjoy visiting the traveling show. Each time it is presented, new life will be breathed into the show as the works sit differently within each exhibition space.
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| "Forest Notes" (detail) by Celia Walker & Toni Hartill |
I'm hoping to be able to find online documentation of each of the coming exhibitions as I doubt I will have the opportunity to visit any of the galleries, which are all a fair distance from Auckland.
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| "Vitamin Sea" (detail) by Toni Hartill |
I'll be sure to share any links or updates
as and when they become available.
Thanks so much for visiting!
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