'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

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Monday 9 May 2016

Trip to Wellington Art

When I was doing my Art & Design diploma we went on a bus trip to Wellington. 

On our return we were asked to create a work about some aspect of Wellington that we had experienced.  There were no other guidelines and it could be any media.
It's no secret that I generally find cities quite difficult to visit for long.  The impact of such a volume of concrete and glass, people and straight lines, is quite overwhelming.  I chose to depict something of this, and contrast it with the scale of a line of school-uniformed children on a school trip to Te Papa.
I drew tiny views of buildings, tramlines, windows, paving, concrete, glass, metal, etc. from the zillions of photos I had taken on the trip.
I drew them with graphite on squares of thick paper, then arranged them in a grid, with care taken to contrast and composition based on tone and line as well as subject matter, and from where (in the field of vision) the subject matter was found.

Then I punched holes in the sides of the paper, inserted metal grommets, and wired the hole thing together.

Recently I framed it up and entered a competition with it and won! a fortnight's display in a local gallery.  Which was pretty neat. 


Trip to Wellington 2011. Katherine Steeds. 80cm x 60 cm. Graphite on paper with grommets and wire.

Trip to Wellington - detail
  And here's a wee video tour of it:

6 comments:

  1. A well deserved prize; I hope you've put a hefty price on it!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Cro. It has $845 on it.

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    2. No commision charged if It sells.

      Delete
  2. I spent some time trying to work out if I could recognise any of the buildings (pretty pointless really) but the overall idea I like because it makes me think. Like you I can't cope with cities for very long.

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    Replies
    1. There's the beehive and some fellow on a horse sculpture third from the left at the top ...
      I'm glad it did something. The saddest an artist can be is when their art elicits no interest at all.

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  3. Well done! Downright fascinating....

    ReplyDelete

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