80 million years of separation, space gallery, whanganui

She is one of a group of eight artists exhibiting in Space Gallery's

80 Million Years of Separation exhibition, a celebration of Bushy Park

Sanctuary's uniqueness.

The other artists are Katherine Claypole, Deb Frederikse, Sophie Klerk,

Lindsay Marsh, Catherine Macdonald, Fiona McGowan and Felicity Priest.
The title of the exhibition is derived from the understanding that

New Zealand was separated from the great land mass known as Gondwanaland

about 80 million years ago.
 
Bushy Park, they say, provides an "inland, island of beauty and wonder

where indigenous flora and fauna thrive".
Stegmann's works depict her visions of Bushy Park as an ark with jars

containing natural dyes made from plants and bark that grow at the sanctuary.
A Rimu branch bears "samples" of fabrics coloured with the dyes contained

in plastic bags printed with plant designs.
On the other side of the gallery is Katherine Claypole's hand-stitched

By a Thread which features a plaster hand holding vintage mesh fabric

with a little bird protected inside.
Fiona McGowan is a potter and painter who has chosen to work her

contributions in clay.
While other artists have made special trips to the park, McGowan is

a regular visitor as a Bushy Park volunteer.
Her familiarity is evident in her works For the Love of Trees where

the patterns of bark and lichen and the diversity of colours are

rendered with the crafting and glazing of each piece.

Lindsay Marsh has depicted the vines that grow at Bushy park with her

 woodcut and collage works.
Marsh said she is delighted with how well the prints have worked on

harakeke paper made by Marilyn Vreede.
The exhibition is completed with Felicity Priest's large oil on canvas

panelled work Tawa, Deb Frederikse's charcoal on paper series Sky Garden,

Sophie Klerk's mixed media, bird-themed Folio works and Catherine Macdonald's

Man vs Nature photo series.
the following installation shot by Sarah Willams more info on their website:

Space Gallery