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Communicating vessels : inspired by the life and work of Ithell Colquhoun

Contributor(s): Publication details: Wellington, NZ : Photospace Gallery, ©2021Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Introduction / Amy Hale -- I saw water / Hayley Theyers -- Bloodstone Maiden / Kate Rampling -- The Taro as Colour / Mary MacGregor-Reid.
Summary: The word ‘unseen’ means to exist through a shroud of mystery and obscurity. The work of Surrealist and Occultist Ithell Colquhoun represents the unseen due to her preoccupation with the realms of the mental and spiritual. This is most evident within her occult practice (the word literally meaning ‘hidden’), as well as themes in her practice regarding communication of divine wisdom and earthly connection. Colquhoun was defiant and idealistic in her work and life; largely removing her from Surrealist dialogue. However, she is being rediscovered by contemporary audiences and newly observed through a feminist, surrealist and abstract paradigm. Hayley Theyers was especially drawn to La Cathedrale Engloutie and with a meditative, dreamlike approach, explored its landscapes, contemplated its ruins and followed its runes. Working with water as a visual device allowed her to create the flowing, dreamlike tableaux commonly found within her practice. Hayley’s process is intuitive and open to transformation in post-production; much the same way a painter composes an artwork. She explores the unseen by depicting dream-states in literal form; that murky haze upon which we awake and remember moments of half-forgotten reveries. Hayley states ‘I found myself inside the island, floating to infinity and engulfed by the liquid medium of dreams.’ Artist statement
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Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Special Collection Special Collection Whitecliffe Library Staff office Special Collection NZ&P N 7406 COM (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Special Collection-Library Use Only 0013952

Published on the opening of the exhibition Communicating Vessels at Photospace Gallery, Wellington, NZ, 7 May - 26 June 2021.

Art and writing by Mary MacGregor-Reid, Hayley Theyers and Kate Rampling with an introduction by Colquhoun biographer Amy Hale.

Introduction / Amy Hale -- I saw water / Hayley Theyers -- Bloodstone Maiden / Kate Rampling -- The Taro as Colour / Mary MacGregor-Reid.

The word ‘unseen’ means to exist through a shroud of mystery and obscurity. The work of Surrealist and Occultist Ithell Colquhoun represents the unseen due to her preoccupation with the realms of the mental and spiritual. This is most evident within her occult practice (the word literally meaning ‘hidden’), as well as themes in her practice regarding communication of divine wisdom and earthly connection. Colquhoun was defiant and idealistic in her work and life; largely removing her from Surrealist dialogue. However, she is being rediscovered by contemporary audiences and newly observed through a feminist, surrealist and abstract paradigm.

Hayley Theyers was especially drawn to La Cathedrale Engloutie and with a meditative, dreamlike approach, explored its landscapes, contemplated its ruins and followed its runes. Working with water as a visual device allowed her to create the flowing, dreamlike tableaux commonly found within her practice. Hayley’s process is intuitive and open to transformation in post-production; much the same way a painter composes an artwork. She explores the unseen by depicting dream-states in literal form; that murky haze upon which we awake and remember moments of half-forgotten reveries. Hayley states ‘I found myself inside the island, floating to infinity and engulfed by the liquid medium of dreams.’

Artist statement

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