The Oxford Dictionary online defines art as:
While it’s true that we can experience art anywhere, in anything we find beautiful or moving, I have a particular love of the fine arts. I am most passionate about sculpture and film, and am incredibly lucky to work with an arts organisation. I help organise NZ Sculpture OnShore, a biennial sculpture exhibition which raises funds for New Zealand Women’s Refuge. This stroke of luck means I am able to experience wonderful “expressions and applications of human creative skill” on an almost daily basis.
My role within the organization is to market the event; to bring as many people as possible through the gates to view and enjoy some of the best contemporary New Zealand sculpture. The equation is simple: more visitors = more money. More money means more that Women’s Refuge can do to help women and their children escape from abusive relationships and build new, better lives.
So far, we have donated $1.34 million dollars to the cause. We have funded a respite house, educational materials, special packs for children entering refuges – sometimes in the middle of the night with only the clothes on their backs – and most recently seed funding for a business that will help Refuge generate an on-going income.
Ok, this sounds like an ad and I suppose it is – it is shameless promotion of an event and a cause that I feel so passionately about I donate my time and talents to make it a success. But there is a point. The exhibition is held on a stunning cliff-top site overlooking the Hauraki Gulf and islands; the backdrop to the art is so beautiful that even without the sculptures, it is frequently represented in works of art.
People come and photograph the work and the setting. We commission – and are donated – many images from each exhibition which we share on FaceBook, our website, and in our brochures, posters, advertisements and articles.
In the processes of framing, shooting and sometimes editing an image, extra layers of “human creative skill and imagination” are added. And this can create a tension. Sometimes the most beautiful or artistic image of a work is not that which most clearly represents the work itself, but the one which captures light, movement, backdrop, or just a moment in time, that resonates with those who see it.
Sometimes the creation of one art form enhances another; sometimes not so much.
I’m thinking about this a great deal at the moment as we begin to develop the marketing collateral that will help us promote NZ Sculpture OnShore 2014. The event is about sculpture; but most of the channels I can use to bring visitors through the gates are two-dimensional. The promise of artistic beauty that I offer is as much in the photographer and graphic designer’s art as in the sculptors’. From the hundreds of images available, we need to find the few that marry these art forms into something greater than the sum of the parts.
So, no pressure then.
It has been fascinating seeing the myriad of responses to the Daily Post photo challenge theme “a work of art.” Here are some I particularly liked:
http://retireediary.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://unclespikes.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art-iv/
http://inognisenso.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://austerity101.wordpress.com/2014/05/18/weekly-photo-challenge-art/
http://metaphoricaleye.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art-1-2/
Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art
http://onefootineurope.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art
http://lrbritton.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://myfoododyssey.com/2014/05/19/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://zhouxingyu.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/weekly-photo-challenge-workofart/
http://emmieverlasting.com/2014/05/19/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art-2/
http://vsupertramp.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/an-artistic-bite/
http://walestowherever.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://elainemcnulty.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://funfamilyfeats.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://mithriluna.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://happyface313.com/2014/05/23/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art
http://collinesblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/kindergarten-art/
http://jeffsinonphotography.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://psychosomaticallyinlove.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art-iii/
http://psychosomaticallyinlove.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art-ii/
http://amcnabb.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://noframenogain.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://metaphoricaleye.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art-2/
http://2e0mca.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://freerangecow.com/2014/05/21/weekly-photo-challenge-art/
http://geriatrixfotogallerie.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/nici-de-saint-phalle/
http://lingeringvisions.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/weekly-photo-challenge-works-of-art/
http://anjaslittleworld.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/wpc-work-of-art/
Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art
http://lifeisgreat0.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
http://dawnwhitehand.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/weekly-photo-challenge-work-of-art/
Thank you : )
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You’re welcome; your jewellery is really beautiful. 🙂
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So sweet of you to say. Thank you very much.
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Thank you. Much appreciated. 😀
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You are welcome 🙂
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Reblogged this on blogagaini.
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Thanks for re-blogging. Domestic violence is an issue I feel very strongly about and I appreciate you spreading the word. 🙂
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I’m with you!
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🙂
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Thanks for visiting my blog! I’m honoured that you linked to my WPC post.
I walked an art trail on Waiheke Island last year but unfortunately I don’t remember the name of it. It wasn’t one of NZ Sculpture OnShore exhibitions, was it?
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Hi Anja. You’re welcome. I really liked your post, and was a bit envious. I’s love to try the Olympus Playground. The Waiheke Sculpture Trail is a different exhibition; but also in a lovely location. NZ Sculpture OnShore is on “the mainland” – near Devonport which is just across the harbour from the city centre (about a 10 minute ferry ride). Hopefully you will get back to NZ sometime (Novembers in even-numbered years are when we hold the exhibition). 🙂
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Gorgeous photos… Good day, Lor
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Thank you. My favourite is the close-up of the glass sculpture at the top, but I may be biased because my son took it!
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The Ocean Swell sculpture look really.. well Swell 🙂 Nice collection of art Su 🙂
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Thanks Martin. 🙂
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Thank you very much! I love the Ocean Swell sculpture!!
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🙂
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Such interesting pieces of art. Like you, I enjoy the first shot – even the photo itself could be termed a piece of art.
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Hi Colline, yes, I think the first shot is a work of art (and I am biased! My son took it and he is a very talented photographer who was doing ‘A’ Level Photography at the time.)
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