Seeding the Cloud on Rosebank Road

Seeding the Cloud as part of the Rosebank: Artifacts of Place Exhibtion

Last weekend saw the initiation of an Artwalk/Sitework as part of the Auckland Festival.  As part of the everyday collective our project was setting up an interactive workshop based on the innovative project established by Australian Contemporary Jeweller Roseanne Bartley.  Bartley describes her Seeding the Cloud project as a Walking Work in Processattempting to activate a creative response to our urban surroundings, and in particular draw our attention to the burgeoning issue of waste plastic.

Having attended Bartley’s workshop and explored th environs of Ponsonby Road,  I felt this concept could easily transported to the Rosebank Road site which I was currently using as the basis for my graduating research work.   Our initial walk resulted in the beginnings of some interesting pieces…

Grace, Alice an Amy observing and collecting along Rosebank Road

Sorting found plastic

Grace begins the threading process

The beginnings of another interesting piece

The Rosebank Artwalk/Sitework projects intention is to provoke people to pause and consider the place that is Rosebank Peninsula .  My very small part of this project was to assist in bringing the Seeding the Cloud to the Rosebank Artwalk under the leadership of Isle Marie Erl.  Our inititive began by taking a space as part of Rosebank: artifacts of place exhibition held in the Snow White Gallery at Unitec.

Graduating Exhibition

Can’t believe it’s been 4 years but my graduation exhbition is  now up and running…

Genus: Rosebank

Jewellery by Dorothy de Lautour

Rosebank Road, just another small industrial pocket surrounded by mangroves, motorways and quiet suburbia, unexceptional and uncelebrated.  This body of work uses jewellery as its medium and is intended as a celebration of Rosebank Road Peninsula.  Genus: Rosebank references the natural order of a changing, reshaping and evolving environment by highlighting the evolution from an agricultural past to an industrial present.

Walter Benjamin, German literary critic and philosopher asserts,

In thousands of eyes, in thousands of objects, the city is reflected.  It is the task of the urban physiognomist to read the experiences of the metropolis through the many fragments offered by the city.  (Gilloch, 6)

With this in mind objects are recovered from the site and remade to reflect its current temperament and character.

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The Everyday Collective Laboratory: The Old North Shore

Two collaborative projects on Auckland’s North Shore were undertaken to illustrate that shared experience, especially in planning and design, will deliver results with much greater potential with the resulting exhibition held in Unitec’s Snow White Gallery.   One of the outcomes of this project was the discovery that three heritage sites and four heritage buildings could be linked to create a heritage walking trail  (Centennial/Memorial Ave)

The Everyday Collective laboratory

How can the practice of painting and drawing contribute to site analysis in Landscape Architecture?

This was the research question posed by Paul Woodruff, currently a lecturer in the Design and Visual Arts department at Unitec Institue of Technology in Auckland as he undertook his Masters Thesis – Master of Landscape Architecture.

The project investigates possible uses and applications of fine art to Landscape Architectural site analysis practice. It does this by actively promoting an inter-disciplinary apporoach when advocating for sites that are neglected or have forgotten narratives. Painted and drawn and crafted representations are employed to draw out these narratives from a site which further encourages community participation.

Woodruffe proposes that through colloaboration instead of specialization artists and artworks can connect history with the present day in an interesting and  thought provoking way which enriches our experience of landscape statesing “A shared experience usually carries more potential than a solitary one, and this is especially so when the experience is to be translated into planning or design. To illustrate this point two projects were undertaken on the North Shore of Auckland City, the first is Centennial Park in Campbell‟s Bay and deals with local history, the second at Kennedy Park also on the North Shore, explores boundary. In both cases it was move away from specialization as artist, historian, cartographer, photographer or landscape architect, it was the result of shared experience, collaboration, and as Gibson observes; “Information about the self accompanies information about the environment, and the two are inseparable.” (Gibson, 1979, p126).”

As an outcome of this collaboration there is now a Memorial Walkway that links these special previously uncelebrated places,  the everyday collective laboratory is continuing in its aims to use art as a way to document and celebrate lesser known parts of Auckland and is currently involved in investigating the Rosebank Road Peninsula.

Rosebank Road Project (Heart of the Whau)

This project is a collaborative between artists, residents, business association, historical society and others.  My intent is to create a contemporary series of jewellery pieces as part of this collaboration  that will enrich understanding of a chosen site,  in this instance Rosebank Road,  and the importance of preserving its historical and cultral values.

Amongst my aims is to research the historical and cultural values held regarding Rosebank Road and in what ways can they be reinterpreted. Central to my research are two on publications the first,  Heart of the Whau: The story of the Center of Avondale is written and compiled by Lisa J Truttman and is a central resource to my projec t and secondly Rosebank Peninsula Thematic Landscape Study 2008-2010. By Endangered Gardens have both provided me with a huge amount of invaluable factual and ancetodal information.  It is also important to mention the Timespanner blog, another wonderful online resource.