NMIT art student wins Sculpture Award

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology art student, Mica Hubertus Mick has won the Sculpture Award at the 2009 12th Biannual Pounamu/Jade and Hard Stone Competition.

 Mica won the award for his impressive piece named, ‘A river of life flows through time and space’. The competition was judged by the highly respected artist, John Edgar, who commented that Mica’s piece was, ‘A careful and sensual fitting together of five distinctive elements that rewards viewer’s interaction with a very satisfying visual, special and tactile response.’

 Mica says the creation of the award winning work took him a month to complete.

 “It involved research and brainstorming to create the design idea before collecting rocks from the beach to make a model and test the design for specific difficulties.

Finally, special devices were created to carve the sculpture with the necessary precision in hard stone. Five elements and four different stones had to be fitted together in colour and shape.”

While gathering creative ideas from a number of avenues, Mica says the major source of inspiration for this sculpture was from prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi.

 “With these influences in mind I endeavor to communicate through selective visual explorations such as deep or playful narratives, mysterious abstractions, or simply, the beauty I find in the world around me.”

Mica has been in the creative industry for over 20 years and is currently studying towards his Bachelor of Visual Arts and Diploma in Graphics and Multimedia at NMIT. This award, Mica says, has given him artistic recognition.

“During my career I have created carved objects, jewellery, sculpture, installations, large scale photography, multimedia pieces and paintings. But for this competition I wanted to create something different and I think that is what won it for me. I was breaking the mould of traditional carving concepts by coming up with an original idea.”

Graeme Cornwell, NMIT’s Programme Leader for Visual Arts and Design, says this award is fantastic for Mica and for NMIT. 

“Having students like Mica gaining recognition for their work is very encouraging for aspiring artists and his knowledge will enhance the general culture of the class.”

Graeme Cornwell says the Nelson Region and NMIT is a vibrant and inspiring place to create and study art.

“We have a large proportion of artists, artisans and designers graduating from our programme. Students like Mica want to solidify their experience by updating and learning new skills and techniques, while adding a qualification to their already impressive repertoires.”