Opening: 11am 12th April
The Weather Dancers exhibition is informed by the Japanese dance theatre Body Weather Laboratory, in which movement is inspired by close observation of weather and place. Artist and performer Claire Deighton studied this form of dance, and uses a similar process when painting, translating physical sensation into colour and texture in her work.
The Weather Dancers series is painted on large recycled kauri and rimu boards and includes acrylic paint, local clay and bitumen.
“Recycled timbers are a metaphor for the human body, each having its own history, connected to but separate from the others. In the application and transformation of the surface medium, the pieces become a dynamic interface between internal and external environment.”
Claire says that living in the Hokianga definitely helps her process.
“The elements are more apparent to me here – heat in the summer time, wet (and mud) in the winter, and the constant rhythm of the tides are the best muse I could hope for.”
Go and see The Weather Dancers at Village Arts, Kohukohu. The exhibition, the gallery and the village of Kohukohu are well worth the visit.