Only 15 minutes drive from Wellington’s CBD, the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt is a world class gallery space and has recently opened an exhibition called Knitted and Knotted…
Art from Craft – a review of Knitted and Knotted at the Dowse Art Gallery
Only 15 minutes drive from Wellington’s CBD, the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt is a world class gallery space and has recently opened an exhibition called Knitted and Knotted.
The common thread running through the show is that the artists use the tools and techniques of craft, but subvert them to tell stories and ask questions about themes as diverse as religion, culture, identity and commerce.
As you walk into the exhibition space, the first work you encounter is an otherworldly piece by Jacquelyn Greenbank, pictured below.
Inspired by Swedish textile objects and her friend’s grandmother who made UFOs out of everyday household items, Lady Boras is a knitted nautical tableaux sailing just on the right side of kitsch, complete with delicate frilled jellyfish (if only they were all this soft and harmless) and a tasselled miniature galleon nestled on a lacy plinth.
By complete contrast, the work to the right is a bold rainbow hued collection of crocheted circles marching along the wall. Created by Ani O’Neill, There’s no Place Like Home is an exuberant celebration of colour that has an almost painterly quality, and gives new life to a traditional craft technique. The artist is from a Pacific Island background and initially created the work for the 1998 Sydney Biennale.
The standout piece of the show is Jesus Spells by Megan Hansen-Knarhoi. Fashioned out of hundreds of metres of French knitted cord – the kind that young children make when they first learn to knit but on a huge scale – painstakingly wound around thousands of nails to create a powerful portrait of Jesus, and alongside him a large collection of crochet multicoloured crosses. The image of Jesus has the iconic feeling of Alberto Korda’s portrait of Che Guevara, with his eyes set up and away from the viewer.
It would have been fantastic to see the piece in a larger setting, it felt a little cramped next to the slightly distracting window with a blind drawn over it, but with so many large scale works in the wonderful Dowse I assume space is always at a premium.
Other works included Erica van Zon’s hand hooked rug inspired by Rothko’s Chapel painting series, Liyen Chong’s small scale human hair embroidery works (definitely not a piece for the chaetophobics among us), and Shelley Norton’s jewellery crafted from plastic bags that challenges our notion of what we find precious.
What struck me with all of these pieces is there is no faking it or cutting corners when creating art using craft techniques. Each stitch, each hook, each knit and purl must be done by hand with an expert eye for detail. Knitted and Knotted is a celebration of a rather humble form of artistic expression, but one which produces surprising, profound and delightful results.
Knitted and Knotted is showing at the Dowse Art Museum, 45 Laings Rd, Lower Hutt until the 20th November. Entry is free to the Gallery. For further information refer to www.dowse.org.nz
Photography John Lake
By Rose Jackson 5 October 2011
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