Foraged Mary Curtis 23 November – 21 December 2024
FORAGED
“The stones remember, if you know how to listen they will tell you many things”
Claude Kuwanijumi,
Hopi
This body of work is a quiet celebration of the biosphere. As I wander through life my eye is constantly drawn to the subtle changes I see, marking time, not by the calendar but by nature. My roots have always been firmly planted in the earth but now I am trying to walk more lightly on the land.
Foraging is an act of going place to place in search of things. My searches have been for shapes that intrigue and materials to use. Muka sourced and dyed from plants in my street, wood reclaimed from demolished buildings or fallen trees and objects found in second hand shops.
Like most jewellers I have a magpie’s instinct to collect and arrange things that I find. Rather than buy new material for this show I also ‘foraged’ though my hoardings rediscovering and using materials found within.
The pieces made are impressions of treasures found and seen rather than true representations.
A number of the works became sets, requiring the wearer to select and connect pieces to make a work that fits that moment of wearing.
1. Box of Seeds $2000
Earring set – two 9ct gold hooks with interchangeable earring units.
Materials: 9ct gold, stg silver, woods; kōwhai, kauri, lignum vitae, puriri, rimu, pohutukawa, horoeka (lancewood), ebony, rewarewa; Found box, muka string, hooks stg silver. 510 x 260 x 20mm
Images: Anton Maurer
2. Leaf Stone Moon Set
$2000
Necklace set, muka dyed with bark, stg silver, oxidised stg silver copper, puriri 240 x 240 x 10mm (as per above image, not worn)
Images: Anton Maurer
240 x 240 x 24mm (as per above image).
Images: Anton Maurer
3. Shell and Seed Set
$6000
Necklace set, muka dyed with oxalis flowers and rust stained muka, 4g 24ct gold, stg silver, oyster shell, Pohutukawa.
4. Paired Necklace/Wall Hanging $900
Oxidised stg siver, muka, found wooden object
L570 (worn) x 80 x 30mm
Images: Anton Maurer
5. Night and Day Necklace $1200
Oxidised stg silver, raw muka and muka dyed with mint leaves, silk
L400 (worn) x 120 x 12mm
Images: Anton Maurer
6. Sunset Necklace $1300 stg siver, muka dyed with mint oxalis flowers and rusted harakeke leaves L250 (worn) x 120 x 15mm. Images: Anton Maurer
7. Objects to Thread
$750 oxidised stg silver, lignum vitae, kōwhai, stg silver, acorn shell, rimu, river stone 280 x 55 x 35mm (as per above image)
Images: Anton Maurer
8. Cultivate Necklace
$1200
Oxidised stg silver, Kōwhai, raw muka and muka dyed with eucalyptus leaves; L845(end to end) x W85 x D10mm
9. Root Systems Necklace $1200
Muka dyed with mint leaves and oxalis flowers, Kōwhai bead
L900 (end to end) x D16mm
10. Seed to Leaf Necklace, 2024 $1200
Oxidised Stg silver, Pohutukawa, raw muka, muka dyed with oxalis flowers; wall hook: Stg silver, Pohutukawa; L535 x W45 x D20mm; on wall D124mm
11. Woven Bangle, 2024
$1200
Oxidised stg Silver; wall mount: found wooden bowl, stg silver, muka stained red by leaf rust; bangle: 100 x 90 x 15mm, internal 60 x 73mm; wall mount: L310 x W125 x D45mm
Mary Curtis
Curtis began making jewellery in 1986, after completing a trade certificate in the craft. Her practice demonstrates a keen sensitivity to the visual dialogues that unfold between objects, whether on public display or at home. Small ‘conversations’ of contrast or similarity arise between these works, with their wide range of textures, shapes and weights. Her display arrangements see pieces divided into lines and clusters, using space to highlight qualities of distinction, and sameness, within the body of the collection. The forms sit or hang with a sense of liveliness and mobility; a feeling that stems perhaps from Curtis’ continual arranging and rearranging of these forms in her workspace.
Curtis has worked in jewellery education for over 28 years, including as a senior lecturer at Manukau Institute of Technology and at Hungry Creek Art and Design School. Her work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally, with recent group exhibitions including: solo exhibition Metadecorative, at Objectspace, Tāmaki in 2010, Wunderrūma, 2014 – 15, which toured Galarie Handwerk (Munich, Germany), The Dowse Art Museum, and the Auckland Art Gallery; Ornamento, Contemporary New Zealand Jewellery, 2016, at the Whakatane Museum and Arts, and Wundermeke, 2015, at Fingers gallery, Auckland.
Curtis’ work is held in the collections of The Dowse Art Museum, and the Auckland Museum.