2013 - Sprout

Sprout, Auckland Botanic Gardens, November 2013 - February 2014

Huakaiwaka Visitor Centre, Sculpture in the Gardens.

Curated by Frances Battersby

Guest Artists: Rebecca Heap and Garry Nash

SPROUT is an exhibition of small sculptures and paintings referring to the medallic tradition in various ways, including consideration of the circle, obverse/reverse, the hand-held, and works that are particularly perceptible to the sense of touch. It is the third exhibition of Medal Artists NZ (established 1989) at the Auckland Botanic Gardens in conjunction with Sculpture in the Gardens. Artists are from various disciplines, and places as far as London, Paris and Invercargill.

SPROUT is our engine of enquiry into systems of growth and nature. It is an investigation into complexities of scale, time, and potential through the mediums of bronze, stone, plastic and paint. Artists have been inspired by a quote from 'The Innocents Abroad' by Mark Twain. 'The seeds had sprouted, the tender insignificant sprouts had hardened, they grew larger and larger and by and by a steady but imperceptible pressure forced the great stones apart...'. For some artists SPROUT returns man into the picture. Analogies are drawn between the sprouts of a plant and the human capacity for development. Some works express the way we are flourishing, others the way we are systematically being reduced. SPROUT also expresses concerns about current environmental issues; seed copyright and habitat decline.

The works are unique works of art or small multiple editions.