Vanished Delft: Handmade Material Culture

Left to right:
Tui Vase, 2004 by Denys Watkins & Bronwynne Cornish, Bottle Opener, 2013 by Nate Savill, Handle Candleholder, 2016 by Warwick Freeman, Pakohe Bangle, 2017 by Craig Mcintosh, Solar Wind Ring, 2015 by James Rawlinson, Cucumber fan, 2016 by Daphne Simons, and Basil's got it covered, 2010 by Corrina Hoseason
Photograph by Sam Hartnett.

Media Release: 13 March 2017 – for immediate release

Vanished Delft: Handmade Material Culture at The Pah Homestead

Exhibition dates: 14 March to 14 May 2017
Opening Event: 14 March, 6pm
at the Pah Homestead, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre

Vanished Delft: Handmade Material Culture at The Pah Homestead is an exhibition of contemporary object making within rooms that were once home to one of New Zealand’s most extravagant collections of furniture and fittings, the palatial residence known as ‘Williamson’s Castle’. Today, this late 19th Century Italianate mansion is again home to a collection: the Wallace Trust’s extensive holdings of contemporary New Zealand art.

For the period of the exhibition, the finely carved marble mantelpieces of the Ballroom and Drawing Room will be populated with domestic accoutrements. The Wallace Trust’s Collection of Arts and Crafts furniture will be pressed into service to plinth an extensive display of handmade material culture of a contemporary kind, exhibiting a renewed interest in applied arts, usefulness, and in some cases, uselessness.

Curator Anna Miles says, “In addition to championing the importance of design and craftsmanship in the face of increasing industrialisation, the Arts and Crafts movement pursued a social programme. I am interested in contemplating the contemporary role of object making and its social consequences.”

The exhibition encompasses embroidery, carpets, ceramics, curtains, cocktail chairs, cabinets, doorstops, plastic mats, teapots, tea towels and an eiderdown.

This exhibition will be presented as part of the Auckland Arts Festival 2017.

Exhibition Talk We will present a curator’s talk with Anna Miles during the course of the exhibition, and will advise a confirmed date soon.

ENDS

Link on Arts Trust website to exhibition

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