jenna packer
DESCRIPTION
Anchored / 13 October - 7 November 2012 / Exhibition Catalogue / Milford Galleries Dunedin / www.milfordgalleries.co.nzTRANSCRIPT
13 October - 7 November 2012
Milford Galleries Dunedin18 Dowling Street (03) 477 7727 [email protected]
www.milfordgalleries.co.nz
JENNA PACKERAnchored
1. The Mission (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 560 x 712 x 32 mm
2. Walking the Right of Way (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 913 x 1115 x 33 mm
3. Far Flung (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 558 x 712 x 38 mm
4. Customs and Excise at Wickliffe Pier (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 910 x 1115 x 33 mm
5. Harpooned (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 560 x 711 x 36 mm
6. Pompallier's Dream (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 913 x 1115 x 33 mm
7. Port Chalmers (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 912 x 1218 x 35 mm
8. Port Line (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 910 x 1216 x 34 mm
9. May Day (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 912 x 1216 x 34 mm
10. Arcadia (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 913 x 1113 x 33 mm
11. Wreck on Wharf and Jetty (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 910 x 1218 x 34 mm
12. The Camp (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 905 x 1196 x 34 mm
13. Saltmarsh Hangar (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 913 x 1220 x 34 mm
14. Low Tide (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 555 x 713 x 36 mm
Jenna Packer paints delicately detailed works that appear at first to be
historical observations, but upon closer inspection there emerges an
alternative colonial history that contains mystery, humour, contradiction and
wonderful elements of farce. Although the works have the authority of very
particular locations and are strikingly familiar, they are also an amalgam of
disparate events and in that way become increasingly strange and dream-
like.
The varying passages of time has always been an intrinsic element in Packer’s
paintings and in this new body of work the layered narratives reach into
depression-era NZ – we view desolate wharves, ruined houses, steam trains,
waka and wayward balloons. Collectively these speak of a particular time
but also to the transitory nature of it. An air of melancholy arises and yet we
know it will pass. Packer in works such as The Camp reveals life and time to be
tenuous, existence impermanent and structure skeletal. Yet there exists
purpose and constant human endeavour in each work.
Stories are being told in scenes and vignettes within each work. Clothing
speaks to differing times, persuasions and jobs. Washing hangs from zeppelin
girders, the hopeful splendour of a blue and gold Montgolfier balloon rises to
the heavens, jewelled dragonflies alter space and scale. Packer is now firmly
established as a considerable painter of social narratives with a unique
stylistic voice and vision.
All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition
E X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S T
1 The Mission (2012) 4,000
2 Walking the Right of Way (2012) 6,000
3 Far Flung (2012) 4,000
4 Customs and Excise at Wickliffe Pier (2012) 6,000
5 Harpooned (2012) 4,000
6 Pompallier's Dream (2012) 6,000
7 Port Chalmers (2012) 6,000
8 Port Line (2012) 6,000
9 May Day (2012) 6,000
10 Arcadia (2012) 6,000
11 Wreck on Wharf and Jetty (2011) 6,000
12 The Camp (2011) 6,000
13 Saltmarsh Hangar (2011) 6,000
14 Low Tide (2011) 4,000
Jenna Packer 2012 CV Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz
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JENNA PACKER lives Waitati
The Mission (2012)
Jenna Packer paints metaphorical and alternate histories commenting on journeys of discovery, evolution, the survival instinct of escape, fragility and the endless possibilities of life. "Jenna Packer's startling art is unlike that of any other artist active in New Zealand. Her busy, excellently composed scenes depict images of an alternative timeless, time-filled Otago, its coastlines plied with vessels from throughout history and imagination... She gives viewers the feeling of "saudade", that peculiar wistful longing for things that never were but could have been, and lets our minds wander and wonder at this history that may have resulted." (1) Jenna Packer draws on a lifelong interest in history and the telling of it, and in image making. "I am looking at the past in order to find some clues to what is happening, what to expect and how to live it. This is not just in painting but reading, conversations, thoughts. I keep returning to the period of the 1930’s and to the exodus of people across Europe at the onset on WWII. I want to affirm the fragility and the possibility of life, but the dark shadows which have been in the background – (sometimes as zeppelins or parachutes) keep encroaching further into the pictures." (2) Jenna Packer is a graduate from the Ilam School of Fine Arts. A painter, printmaker and illustrator she has exhibited in New Zealand, France and Japan.
(1) James Dignan, "Art Seen", Otago Daily Times, November 2010 (2) Jenna Packer, Artist Statement, 2009
Jenna Packer 2012 CV Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz
P a g e | 2
JENNA PACKER lives Waitati
EDUCATION
1996-97 3 months total) La Rouelle Studio (printmaking), France 1996 (July) The Slade School of Art (Fresco), London 1995 Otago Polytechnic School of Couture (Couture), Dunedin
1992 (March – May) Glasgow Print Workshop (printmaking), Glasgow 1989 BA (History) (First-Class Honours), University of Canterbury, Christchurch 1988 Bachelor Fine Arts, Ilam School of Art, Christchurch
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 Provisioning, Milford Galleries Dunedin 2009 A History of Flight, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2008 Plant, Gallery on Blueskin, Waitati 2007 The Island, Solander, Wellington 2006 The Island, Milnes Court Gallery, Port Chalmers 1995 Imprints, Ground Essence, Dunedin 1994 Moroccan Notebook, Ground Essence, Dunedin
Etchings (solo), Ground Essence, Dunedin
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012 The Surreal, Milford Galleries Dunedin 2009 Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown 2008 Etched in Memory, PaperGraphica, Christchurch
Opening, Gallery on Blueskin, Waitati
2007 The Paper Show, The Artists’ Room, Dunedin Spring Exhibition, Anderson’s Park Art Gallery, Invercargill
The Knowne Worlde Illuminated, Salisbury House Art Gallery, Dunedin Impressed Atatoi, Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton
2006 ‘10’, The Print-makers’ Studio, Dunedin 1997 Féte de Papier, Maison de Josianne, Génolac, France
1995 Three Printmakers, Salamander Gallery, Christchurch Fishing for Camels in the Bush, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin Arthouse Members Show, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin
1994 Exposure II (Invited Dunedin Artists), Applied Art NZ, Christchurch Nakhodka – Dunedin – Otaru, Sister Cities Art Exhibition, Otaru, Japan Five Printmakers, Left Bank Art Gallery, Greymouth
Women Show, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin 1990 Printmakers Exhibition, Aigantigue Art Gallery, Timaru
Prints: Jenna Packer and Neave Fraser-Davies, CSA Gallery, Christchurch
COLLECTIONS
Work held in private collections in NZ, Australia, UK, Canada, France and Italy.
Quadrille (2010)