30 March - 27 April
Alice Fennessy
Small Treasure
Small Treasure, 2023
Dye (plant-based and synthetic) on silk with custom pine frame
Sold
I found you a small treasure at the op shop,
A porcelain swan with a hollow in it’s centre,
So you can place other treasures inside.
This year has been broken,
Harsh and jagged,
Yet you smooth the sharpness from it’s edges,
Brighter, softer, still.
The surface of the swan shifts colour,
As we track under the sun,
Clouds of gentle glaze,
A glow from the outside in,
Filling my days with gold.
High Summer Fading
Dye hand painted on silk
A series of wallhangings holding soft moments from a summer of evening swims and quiet walks.
All Sold
Alice Fennessy is an artist from Te Papaioea. She uses drawing to convey themes such as intimacy, domestic life, and interior worlds. Her work is currently intertwined with motherhood as she raises her two young children. She finds herself endlessly fascinated by the juxtapositions or dualities thrown up by pregnancy and motherhood, how these experiences can be simultaneously beautiful and ugly, ordinary and other, tender and excruciating. Her work explores these spaces through materials and compositions; disparate images from fleeting moments drawn together in stark tones on surfaces such as paper, silk, or aluminum. Her work aims to be sensitive and vulnerable, casting light on experiences of life often disregarded.
She studied a Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours at Massey University CoCA, and also works as a gallery educator and art teacher.