Striking a Happy Medium

For these works  Liz has moved her close observational skills, her deft carving and painting techniques to bring about a playful manipulation of scale with everyday objects.

In ‘Striking a Happy Medium’, a collection of upscaled matchsticks and their accompanying box, she toys with the venerated practice of including a matchbox in photographs to give the viewer a safe and recognisable basepoint for scale within an image. With no other object to compare with, this work undermines that safety.

Again, with ‘Mismatched Perceptions’, the massive upscaling of the ubiquitous matchstick Liz invites the viewer to re-evaluate their relationship to these objects which are used daily by millions of people. The matchsticks being ‘life-sized’ demand a conversation on an equal footing.

Mismatched Perceptions

Auckland Botanic Gardens . Manurewa

Inviting the viewer to have an ‘equal’ conversation with my art, and by proxy, with nature itself.

Pohutukawa Leaves

Statements Gallery .  Napier

‘Vessels for Life’ conjurs for me an image or form encapsulating potential, abundance and vitality.

Seeds themselves are, for me, the ultimate vessel for life. Seeds are “where it all starts”, a complete store of all the information needed to engender growth toward full realisation of the individual.

By choosing the seed of the Sunflower (Helianthus annus) for this series I tap into the wealth of meaning with an instantly recognisable object, at once iconic and ubiquitous. A perfect nascent form of nature that carries it’s own barcode. With the Honesty (Lunaris annua) pods I bring to the fore childhood memories, of ‘pretend’ money and a play on it’s name a word not often allied with money.

Honesty Pods 40cm - 110cm $950 & $2200

Sunflower Seeds . scale x 27 $580 & $720

Sunflower Seeds . scale x 20 $395 each

Lotus Slice with Seeds . $2500

Lotus Detail

Village Arts Gallery Kohukohu .

An exhibition of Liz McAuliffe’s close relationship with nature.

Village Arts Gallery Kohukohu .

See more images under  ’Featured Works’ page … Tamaki Estuary series.

Pine with iron filings, Acid, Zinc, Copper, Graphite, Silver.

In her carving Liz McAuliffe is known for manipulating scale to bring attention to nature and all its complexity.

With the use of iron, zinc, copper, graphite and acid she has intensified the visual experience and has highlighted the metal pollutant content now in the estuary. The glimpse of intense mangrove green is recognising the seed of hope still present in this vital estuary.

Mangroves, although not dearly loved by many, play an important part in the ecosystems of harbours – sheltering young fish, stabilising land and forming a buffer zone to absorb flood waters.

These pieces are available for sale individually

Cockle shells and small Mangrove roots  ..  $190 each  (approx 10 – 16cm)

Mangrove Leaves, Nut Shell and  medium Mangrove roots .. $275, $295, $320 respectively  (approx 26 – 32cm)

Mangrove pods .. $350 each (approx 17 – 19cm)

Large Mangrove roots .. $375 – $475 each (approx 46 – 51cm)

In these works I am exploring some of my past works and am re-introducing them as a conversation .. They are a play with reality .. manipulating and highlighting certain aspects.

Are they a conversation between man and nature … man and machine … two aspects of nature? Or all .. ?

In a conversation where does one start and the other finish .. ?

What of one’s background does one bring to one’s conversations .. ?

How much of our conversations have hidden meanings .. not spoken and not shown .. ?

What we take away from a conversation is centred very much around what we took into the conversation ..

Within ‘Conversations’ there will be several series … at present there is the Lotus series and the Kawakawa series …

Medium : various … Kauri . Rimu . Pine . Salingna
Size : various … 6″x1″ – 12″x2″ … Length 1800cm – 2600cm
Price : start from $1400

Village Arts Gallery Kohukohu .

I have been invited as one of the 30 artists to participate in this exhibition.

See below for an image of my ukulele.

My ukulele titled 'This is not a native animal' has a loose connection to my 'New Works' series that I made in 2008. It is painted with powdered chalk paint and is SOLD.

Wine Country Gallery Exhibition …

Held at Elephant Hill Winery . Hawke’s Bay

Opening Jan. 29th 5.30