Caroline McQuarrie’s Like the Turf has just opened at the Left Bank Art Gallery in Greymouth Māwhera.
Caroline is an artist from the Coast who now lives in Wellington Pōneke. She was interviewed in 2023 as part of the Conversation and Cloth series and has returned to Māwhera to open this show, previously at the Forrester Gallery in Ōtākou Oamaru.
In the works on the gallery walls, the artist has printed and then stitched photographs of old mining communities in Cornwall and those in Aotearoa New Zealand that have Cornish connections. At a talk on Saturday afternoon in the gallery, she explained the process of creating the two large appliquéd banners, and the meticulous stitching of texts at the bottom of each picture as well as on panels within the banners themselves. It was a fascinating talk, enjoyed by a good audience who were willing to comment and question.
A nice touch in this exhibition is the inclusion of Caroline’s parents’ work: Bob is a potter and Barbara a textile maker. A piece of work from each of them at the entrance to the show is a recognition of that family connection.
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