Dreamt Impressions At Solander Gallery

Dreamt Impressions At Solander Gallery

Opening at 5:30 pm on Thursday 5 March at Solander is Taa Moemoea - Dreamt Impressions, an exhibition of works on paper from three contemporary Maori printmakers.

Featuring etchings, relief prints and 3-dimensional works from Alexis Neal, woven monoprints from Vanessa Edwards, and woodcuts from Cerisse Palalagi, the exhibition explores cultural identity, memory, layers of knowledge and personal histories.  Alexis Neal will be showing elegant etched and relief prints representing the interior walls of the whare nui, or house of knowledge, as well as 3-dimensional printed and woven works in the form of paper flower bouquets that bring a kind of permanence to fleeting moments.   Vanessa Edwards' distinctive new one-off works on hand-woven paper explore animal instinct and themes of life and death, and were inspired by an impulse to play with layering, colour, texture and imagery. Cerisse Palalagi's series of new woodcuts have a strong graphic element inspired by traditional Maori motifs.

Alexis Neal is an Auckland printmaker with an interdisciplinary practice combining components of print, sewn feather canvases, weaving and installation works to address Maori traditional whakapapa in a contemporary context.  Alexis has a BFA in Printmaking and a Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Art Printmaking from Elam School of Fine Art (where she has since worked as a senior tutor) and a Masters degree in Printmaking and Mixed Media from the Slade School of Fine Arts in London.

Wanganui artist Vanessa Edwards is of Maori and European descent and uses her artwork as a means to explore this heritage.  By combining the two longstanding customs of Maori weaving and European printmaking, Vanessa recontextualises these traditions in a contemporary environment.  Vanessa has a Bachelor of Arts in Printmaking from Wanganui's Quay School of the Arts.

Cerisse Palalagi is an Auckland-based printmaker and a graduate of the Elam School of Fine Art currently studying towards a Master of Visual Arts at Auckland University of Technology.  Cerisse enjoys creating bright and uplifting prints that play around with unconventional colours fused with Maori design and patterns, drawing on her Niuean and Maori ancestory. Cerisse was one of 12 visual artists in the NZ delegation at the 10th Pacific Arts Festival last year in Pago Pago, American Samoa.

With thanks to Murdoch James for the opening function wine.

By the way, we are kicking off our workshop programme with the following classes - contact the gallery or see our website for details:

* Sunday 23 March: Hardcover Bookbinding with Vincent Drane.

* Sunday 17 May: Drypoint: Scratching the Surface of Printmaking with Basia Smolnicki.

What: Taa Moemoea - Dreamt Impressions: Alexis Neal, Cerisse Palalagi and Vanessa Edwards.

When: Opening function 5.30 - 7pm Thursday 5 March. Exhibition runs until 11 April.

Where: Solander: works on paper, 218 Willis St, Te Aro, Wellington, 6011

Website: solandergallery.co.nz 

'Tricky Tiki' (detail) Monoprint on woven paper by Vanessa Edwards, 2008

Many Happy Returns, Relief print and etching by Alexis Neal, 2007.

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