This exhibition brings together the practices of Jaime Jenkins and Janna van Hasselt, to broaden our thinking of ceramics beyond domestic functionality. These artists construct sculptural work from clay lead by other influences including architecture, nature, industry, and Fine Arts. Their structures, often diverging from everyday objects, offer a range of responses. We may observe tactile intricate forms, fragility, and tension of balance. These artists are presented solo in the galleries with contrasting elements, notably colour harmonies. The naturalistic tones of Jenkins’s works and the bright hues of van Hasselt are specific to their practices; and speak to different home environments of rural Tauranga and urban Ōtautahi.

Jaime Jenkins has a rural studio in the valley of the Ohauiti hills near Tauranga. These beautiful surroundings and her experiences in nature have shaped her practice, but not through literal inspiration. She draws from memories, while “being filled up by nature”.[1] These responses to the environment may transfer into the work, resulting in specific glazes (her ochres, greens and blues) and forms. Jenkins often explores the intersection between the functional and aesthetic in her practice. Some sculptural forms could be identified and possibly used as furniture. Jenkins has included bells in several works, ranging in scale and glaze. She is fascinated with their shape and sound and how they bring people together on special occasions. Her ceramic bells, often glazed in green or blue on ceramic chains, alter our usual perceptions. The bell becomes something else, a newly conceived object.

Janna van Hasselt, residing in Christchurch/Ōtautahi, began her career in printmaking and later focused on ceramic sculpture while studying in Chicago. The coloured patterns on ceramic surfaces in her work highlight her print studies experience. Some of the patterning resembles commercial applications, such as the Herringbone and Houndstooth fabric weaves. van Hasselt states that she uses bright colours to challenge the traditional earthy aesthetic of ceramics. The glazes utilise vivid colour, often in tandem with luminous walls or supports. Her recent focus is a series of large-scale wall-based installations at galleries and other public spaces. The latest iteration on display titled Chromafold has ribbons of porcelain, appearing squeezed from paint tubes, covering a wall of ultra-bright colour. Chromafold has a resemblance to domestic wallpaper, albeit fantastical. It was not made with such purpose in mind but rather as somewhere to be - a wonderful visual experience.

[1] Lucy Jackson, To go somewhere beautiful, Art News New Zealand Summer 2020, p.72