Sculpture in the Park 2009

Big Idea:

Press release 4#

Gaye Jurisich and Sharonagh Montrose

Exciting, innovative, bold…Sculpture in the Park at the Sculpture Park @ Waitakaruru curated by Rob Garrett.

Many new works are being created for this year’s summer exhibition at the Park. The line–up is impressive and varied.

I am profiling the progress of some these works in the coming weeks as we approach November 22nd (the official opening of the exhibition).

This week we’re looking at the work of Gaye Jurisich and Sharonagh Montrose, different works, different locations and I will leave the artist’s to explain their concepts largely in their own words. The photo is of a detail of the inner workings of Sharonagh Montrose’s work.

Sharonagh Montrose

‘Another Brief History of Time’

Sharonagh’ s work is an in scale, large metronome, with a stainless steel base or housing, measuring 860ml at its base and 660ml at its height, which is 650ml. The metronomic indicator extends to a height of 2 meters above the base and has a triangular weight that can be moved up or down to speed up or slow down the temporal indication. The internal mechanics are operated by means of electromagnetic devices that drive the indicator in perpetual motion, albeit in a ponderous fashion, which is the result of scaling up time in a sense.

The title of the work refers to Professor Steven Hawking’s discussion of time and its relationship to our understanding of reality. The work is conceptually interested in current perceptions of time in an age of digital precision and that relationship to time as either continuous flow or a succession of discrete moment. It is a work that wonders at precision and miss–takes, determinism and margins for error and proposes error as a joyful release from an over-imposing causal correctness.

This is a kinetic work that will surprise and delight.

Gaye Jurisich

”Batgirl’

Pink Bats plastic, cable and tensioning system.  

The wind is roaring outside, and the first stage of the manufacture of my work called Batgirl, for the 2009 Sculpture in the Park, at Waitakaruru Sculpture Park and Arboretum, is careering around and making a fantastic noise. She is a gorgeous, shocking pink beauty, alive with some invisible life source that would make Batman proud. I begin by attaching the cable that the ribbons hang from between my two sheds and then climb up and down the ladder to reach the cable and loop on the strips. I calculate the strips out by an arm length measure method and once I have a manageable bunch in my hands, I climb my sturdy ladder, put them on and let them fly. Not terribly technical really. The tech side goes into the suspension items, pulleys, cable, swages, calculations of wind velocity and breaking strain capabilities on the items used. My lifting equipment is usually man and womanpower, but as I pawed over a costly, shiny, new, silver, winch system today, I thought one-day baby, one day. For this particular work, the trees that will carry the load are about 20 metres apart and the wind will be continuous, but from variable directions, so I try to cut the ribbons so that they have enough weight to fly up and fall down again before going over the suspension line. The pulleys are there to save the day, if I need to bring the work down and untangle them. I’m looking forward to seeing her released and start a life of her own.

‘Bat girl’ will be on show at Waitakaruru arboretum from November 22nd.

www.sculpturepark.co.nz

www.timholman.com

www.aaronmcconchie.com

www.wallaceartstrust.org.nz

www.robgarrettcfa.com

www.harkness.co.nz