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2018 Molly Morpeth Canaday Award 3D
Award Winners announced Saturday 17th February
Major Award, Molly Morpeth Canaday Trust : Deborah Rundle, Employee of the Month Arts Whakatāne and Whakatāne Museum and Arts have announced the winners of the 2018 Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards for three-dimensional art. Auckland-based Deborah Rundle has won the Major Award celebrating the contemporary art of New Zealand was announced at the exhibition opening and ceremony at Whakatāne Museum and Galleries on 17 February.
"I am so thrilled, surprised and grateful that my work, Employee of the Month, has been chosen for the Major Award,” said winner Deborah Rundle, from her current studio at The British School at Rome, where she is currently the Wallace New Zealand Artist in Residence. "It's really affirming that the interests that motivated me to make the work have found such a receptive audience." 
Major Award, Molly Morpeth Canaday Trust : Deborah Rundle, Employee of the Month
A work that can be read in a number of ways: clever commentary on power structures; dry, tongue-in-cheek observations of everyday vying for position in various social and political hierarchies; or a poignant reference back to a momentous time in Aotearoa New Zealand’s labour relations history. This work resonated with me from the first time I saw it. Initially its irony made me laugh. Then its deeper concerns haunted me a little, recalling personal experiences from the 1970’s. It’s a work that talks about hierarchies, power structures, politics and control. While Employee of the Month could be described as a relatively simple work, made up of only 3 components, it speaks volumes in its relevance to attitudes towards employment and beyond. In my world, it is important to listen to this voice. Deborah Crowe, Judge 2018 
Akel Schulte Runner Up Award : Fran Allison, Your Basic Tee
When I look at this work I recall the horrific images of destruction that became news on 24 April 2013. Although not specifically about that event, reported as the deadliest garment factory accident in history, this intense work weighs heavily on me. As I admire its intricate construction and rhythm, its density overwhelms me. Simultaneously, I feel nauseous thinking about fast fashion’s obsession for newness and how much its disregard for the environment, textile products and its labour force pervades our world/s. A work for the body, commenting on an industry overrun with a lack of basic care – for others, for the environment, and for its workers. This collection of fragments from ‘basic T-shirts’ speaks to me about basic humanitarian issues. Deborah Crowe, Judge 2018 
Craigs Investment Partners Youth Art Award : Uma Tuffnell, A Good Duck
In this mesmerising work we see, hear and experience repetition, constants, demonstration of the laws of physics and beauty. It is a work that by its nature, softly flowing back and forth creates for us a space to think, question ourselves, and our systems; to consider how we relate to routine and/or change, or to what we see in front of us. My first response to this work was that the playful elements in this ‘set up’ intrigued me – a controlled fabrication providing a sense of a physical occurrence I might see somewhere outside the gallery. Spending time (one of the important ‘materials’ in this work) with the ebb and flow opened up some more questions. Deborah Crowe, Judge 2018 
Arts Whakatane Highly Commended Award : Josephine Cachemaille, Drawing Down Don
This work refers and is responsive to works from other practitioners. I see hybrid objects emergent from re-seeing, re-positioning and re-contextualising elements of practice, aesthetic, concept and process from Mikala Dwyer and Don Driver. One of the most engaging characteristics of Drawing Down Don through this artist’s lens is the work’s celebration of preoccupation. There is a sense of sorcery evident, exemplified by the material and conceptual tensions created when found and invented objects interact. Preoccupation in itself, alongside the methodology of assemblage, can provide a free and fluid platform of experimentation for artists. This work demonstrates that in abundance, and with exuberance. Deborah Crowe, Judge 2018 
Merit Award (Gordon Harris Ltd): Watene Akuhata, Painted Sticks Imposing in their verticality, vibrant patterning and treatment of cultural symbolism, these recycled rafters from a wharepuni stand before us proposing dialogue, bringing ideas together and asking questions. I see familiar and unfamiliar patterns and colour combinations forming a skin over native timber and sense that while these are firmly grounded, heavy works there is a transient, light-footed element at play here too. Deborah Crowe, Judge 2018 
Merit Award (Hon Anne Tolley MP and Society of Arts): Rowan Panther, Lei #2
While this intricate work sits delicately on the wall, my thinking wanders to its strength. Not only the inherent strength of muka as a vital filament utilised in many practical applications associated with object making in Māori material culture, but also of its symbolic significance. Working with this potent thread, this maker twists and knots strands to construct a complex web reminiscent of bobbin lace. Forms and patterns reflect cultural signifiers of relevance with the aim to produce a hybrid cultural tradition. Interlaced, looped and knotted, Lei #2 demonstrates consummate control of thread and speaks of the maker’s exploration of heritage. Deborah Crowe, Judge 
Merit Award (4 Arts Sake Gallery) : Sarah Hudson, Ngarara / Bacteria / Monster
This attractive and functional butter dish draws our attention to issues of loss; enforced loss of tradition, cultural practice and destruction of life and kai. This fairly quiet, small object evokes much bigger discussion about distribution of wealth, ruptures in development of material culture, and imbalance. Deborah Crowe, Judge 2018 
Peoples Choice Award (Law Creative): Chika Kishimoto Lindsay, Symbiosis, Wind, Water, Earth
Chosen by popular vote from the public. "I am interested in dialogues that happen between the sculptures and viewers; reflecting our intriguing relationships to nature" Chika Kishimoto Lindsay, Artist 2018 |
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Organiser
Arts Whakatane
Exhibition Partner
Whakatane Museum and Arts
Major Sponsor
Molly Morpeth Canaday Trust