‘Is it this?’ Essay by Alice Tappendem

In 2021, Alice and I started talking about the work I was making. She visited my studio while the works were still in process, still deciding who they were. She wrote this piece to accompany my exhibition at Orex, Auckland. Is it this? Alice Tappenden Gold curtains frame the studio doorway. Pulling them aside, I…

Images- Orex gallery, Auckland

You can see the gallery site here This work has taken a lot of energy to make, at a time when it feels like there isn’t much energy to tap into in the world. I now have a studio at home, and te taiao – nature, has been where my energy has come from. I…

I’m glad you’re here, just the way you are

Exhibition – 27th June – 18th July Toi Poneke Gallery, Wellington Sometimes art making feels like an act of self-acceptance. What are these tangled, drippy, complex, funny things? They are you, and me, and what’s between us. They push and pull, unravel and stick together. They are proud and stand up. They are tired, and…

Big drawings

I’m thinking about all the ways I have gone BIG over my art making career. From simple but wildly energetic line caves in deep, rich, black charcoal, to complex delicate webs hanging in space.

Putting the feeling on the outside

Small spaces for expression and jewellery to say how you feel and keep people distant and close at the same time. I wrote this, and made these pieces, in the beginning times of Covid, last year. But as it rolls on, it still feels relevant to share, and to make wearable pieces for the outside, when the inside feels all of the things.

Spaces to talk

I keep thinking about making bigger things again lately. This time I’d like to build spaces that we can have conversations inside of. The spaces and made with what we have, stuck together, home made, using skills gathered together and taught by our friends, strangers, parents. There are bits that don’t fit together that well,…

I’m gonna share more

I write all the time. I’ve always written alongside my art practice. I have a folder of writing that I shuffle around, and work on, and edit… and leave in the folder. Well, enough! I am gonna share more. I’ll put things here, and on my other blog – siantorringtonartclasses.com. My main motivation is that…

Getting closer- listening in

It is 3 weeks into Covid 19 lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand. And I am thinking, as I often do, about the places that art can occupy. And what it’s for. There is a lot of amazing things happening online: galleries showing how people wear their favourite jewellery, or tours of galleries, or artist studios….