Marsden’s Artist In Residence Programme: The Ultimate Creative Masterclass

Mix a professional creative artist with impressionable students eager to learn and the results can be quite transformative – the ultimate outcome of the Samuel Marsden Collegiate School Artist in Residence programme. Marsden established its Artist in Residence Programme in 1999 and continues each year to build a legacy of strong associations with professional practising artists and designers.

This year’s Marsden Artist in Residence is multi-disciplinary artist and printmaker, Marci Tackett. Highly accomplished and with a wealth of experience in teaching and artistic practice, Marci was born in Denver, Colorado, and has lived and worked in New Zealand since 2006. She has received numerous awards and artist residencies in both New Zealand and the USA, including the Annual Fellowship Award from Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California, and the Merit Grant Recipient for a residency at the Vermont Studio Center. Marci’s work has been displayed in exhibitions around the world and in 2019, 2020 and 2022 she was a finalist for the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award. In addition to her impressive artistic accomplishments, Marci also teaches at The Learning Connexion in Lower Hutt, where she has developed and expanded her interdisciplinary art practice.

Marci commenced her six-week residency at Marsden in April. In residence, she has held workshops for Marsden students, as well as students from other area schools, while developing a body of work for her exhibition ‘C.M.Y. Cake’, which is being held at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington from 23 June - 9 July.

Marci’s work with students revolved around multiple disciplines within printmaking. She introduced polyester plate lithography and monotype using stencils and masks. Students developed projects using layering to build colour-rich imagery, and learned how to think like printmakers, often unravelling the hidden processes of traditional industrial colour separations.

“I’ve enjoyed working with the lovely students and staff at Marsden. I felt very welcome and accepted from the start. It was fun to teach new techniques to expand engagement with printmaking across many levels of learners. I’m also looking forward to sharing an exhibition space with the students, as I think the connections between what they have learned and what I do will be exciting. It’s been a great opportunity for me to push myself and to get to know wonderful humans of all ages."

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