Behold is a group exhibition of works in sculpture, installation, painting and medal art, offering a reflection on the literary expressions written in and about our capital city. Visitors had the privilege of encountering a diverse spectrum of visual responses to poetry, prose, haiku and lyrics, all paying homage to the captivating essence of Te Whanganui-a-Tara and its environs.
Birdseyeblossom and ‘heart’ are part of an ongoing collaboration between Anton Hart (artist) and Jenny Bornholdt (poet). Exploring how language and sculptural forms can work together, they have developed the idea of ‘standing songs’—totems to the art forms the two love and have lived their respective lives in and around.
Anton perfected the practice of using black bonded sand to print 3D sculptures in his exhibition Profile of an Artist at Bowen Galleries in 2022.
Keen to explore the medium further, he began experimenting with standing forms based on the idea of totem poles. Language sidled into his project and he asked Jenny to be involved. She came up with phrases, three words at most, some of which felt like short poems. A maximum of 14 letters was imposed to stop the totems became too tall and possibly unstable. The resulting Standing Songs were exhibited at Bowen Galleries in 2023.
Birdseyeblossom was one of the original works. Going bigger was a challenge, so Anton explored materials that could handle the intricacy of reproducing language as well as holding form, ideally outdoors. Bronze, with its strength, durability and patina, was the material of choice.
Birdseye Blossom - Bronze
This big!
Weighing up the heart
‘Heart’ followed on from those stand-alone works. Taken from a longer poem, the lines hold their meaning in any combination and so the forms can be arranged at will.
