Matthew McIntyre Wilson―Seven Stars
Matthew McIntyre Wilson―Seven Stars
June 14 - July 20, 2008
Matthew McIntyre Wilson―Seven Stars features the work of Wellington artist Matthew McIntyre Wilson. It coincides with Matariki (the Māori New Year), the rising of the Matariki star constellation, the remembrance of whakapapa and the regeneration of stories at the start of another seasonal cycle. Seven Stars is structured in clusters within the gallery space, relating to the seven stars in the Matariki constellation (also called the Pleiades or Seven Sisters). The exhibition includes intricate pattern drawings for the final woven designs, working samples and raw materials along with jewellery made by the artist.
The artist works with copper and silver, weaving kete, hinaki (eel traps), wall panels, belts and armbands. The pieces vary in scale; traditionally Matthew McIntyre Wilson has often worked in very fine kete, some of which are included here alongside the ‘human-sized’ belts and a large wall panel. Star-like within the dark gallery, the works seem to watch over the room; one literal translation of Matariki―‘tiny eyes’―comes to mind. Matariki is traditionally marked by the rising of the constellation in a pre-dawn sky, and the sighting of the next new moon. The clarity and lustre of the stars signals the new season’s warmth and productivity. In his jewellery practice, McIntyre works every day with metallic glint and iridescence, meticulously coaxing form from the heated ductile metal.
In many ways the works on display invoke the recollection and retelling of stories. Seven Stars features many pieces loaned from Wellington and further afield. Gathering this family of works together has involved investigative conversations and, in some cases, acts of translation as detailed physical descriptions of the work became increasingly essential in negotiating the locations of some twenty pieces, all untitled. Works sold or gifted continue to propagate their own stories, many of which remain private until a reunion like this. This gathering of works will be the first chance the artist has had to see many pieces since they left the studio. Within the works themselves, broader narratives associated with particular weaving styles and patterns are brought together. Revisiting traditional forms in the hinaki and kete whakapuareare, and in some weaving patterns, older narratives are brought into contact with contemporary practice and a conversation ensues.
Many of the forms in Seven Stars are based on functional objects. Hinaki are used to trap eels, kete whakapuareare for the harvesting of kaimoana and kete kumera for food gathering. These are everyday items, reworked in scale and medium. More commonly they would be woven in harakeke (flax), the natural fibre both pliant and durable. In McIntyre Wilson’s work the social history of the kete, and the increasing consciousness of katiakitanga (environmental responsibility) is brought to bear through a gilded medium more often associated with luxury. Unlike the harakeke kete, this material has been passed through fire, and the works sit poised in the place between old and new stories.
Matthew McIntyre Wilson (Taranaki, Ngamahanga, Titahi) was born in 1973 in Hastings. He studied jewellery at Whitireia Polytechnic, gaining a Certificate of Craft and Design in 1992, and later at Hawkes Bay Polytechnic, toward a Diploma of Visual Art and Design (Jewellery) in 1996. He has exhibited at Avid, Wellington; Pataka Porirua Museum of Arts and Cultures; The Dowse, Lower Hutt; and as part of the Precious: Seven Wellington Jewellers exhibition (2003) and also Manawa Taki: the Pulsing Heart (2005), both at Michael Hirschfeld Gallery. The artist currently lives and works in Khandallah, and teaches at Whitireia Polytechnic.