Article

We're familiar with the concept of musicians coming together to showcase their work, but what about the professional visual artists; the sculptors, painters and photographers of the world?

Sixteen of Auckland's talented female artists have joined forces to create an exhibiting group called the DUST Collective, and are showcasing their work in two simultaneous exhibitions in Auckland during September.

The larger exhibition, ‘Dust 1.2', is on at Auckland University of Technology's St Paul Street Gallery Three and will showcase the work of 13 of the women from Thursday September 17. At the same time seven of the collective's artists are exhibiting at a show at Artstation gallery in Ponsonby in an exhibition entitled ‘Dust: Dispersion'.
Forming an art collective is a fresh, original concept, which sees the artists operating as musicians traditionally would - practising alone, performing solo for much of the time but coming together at times to exhibit as a group. All of the artists bring enthusiasm and passion to the DUST Collective and say they're excited to be exhibiting together.

"Our primary objective was to create a platform that would allow us to keep developing our work as individuals whilst at the same time enabling us to be part of an exhibiting group that encourages diversity and supports a range of practices," says DUST Collective member Elaine Conway.

The members of the DUST Collective work with a vast array of processes and materials, which many would describe as cutting edge and even controversial.

Conway gives exhibition-goers a sneak preview of what they can expect: "We have Juliette Laird who crochets fishing line into balls of expanded dust; Juliet Monaghan who invites her audience inside a wedding veil to experience the hopes and dreams of brides-to-be, Serene Thain who combs $2 dollar stores to find an array of colourful plastic objects to create intricate Lunar Park-like constructions and Jude Graveson who has stretched and dried animal gut to invite a look from inside," she says.
The women, all Visual Arts graduates of Auckland University of Technology, Elam and Manukau Institute of Technology, work in an assortment of media and benefit from each other's feedback and critiquing of their work. "We endeavour to challenge each others' concepts and ideas by giving feedback and critiques which extend our own individual art practice," says Conway.

The women thought of Dust as a title for their first exhibition but decided to give the name to the collective as it is an excellent analogy for how they operate.

"Dust disperses and accretes. It inhabits spaces, settles in odd corners and comes together in unexpected ways. It has a light touch, moving in and out of terrains, driven by and subject to external forces."

Dust: Dispersion will be open @ Artstation, Ponsonby, Monday to Thursday 9am-9pm, Friday 9am-5pm and Sat 10am-4pm with the preview on Tuesday September 8th 5-7pm. Dust 1.2 @ St Paul St's Gallery Three, 39 Symonds St will open Monday to Friday from 11am -5.30pm and Saturday and Sunday 11am-4pm. Preview night September 17th 5-7pm. Both shows close on the 26th September.

For further information please contact:

Elaine Conway Phone: 09 489 7358
Mobile: 0274 355 268

About the DUST Collective:

The DUST Collective is made up of 16 women, all Visual Arts graduates of Auckland University of Technology, Elam and Manukau Institute of Technology. The collective formed in mid 2007 to support the professional development of the group. The members work in a variety of media including sculpture, photography, painting, multimedia and video. They are: Kerry Aitken, Elaine Conway, Jude Graveson, Mel Hight, Juliette Laird, Carolyn Lawrence, Meiling Lee, Sandy Littlejohns-Clark, Marica Jurasovic McEwan, Juliet Monaghan, Deborah Moodie, Robin Ranga, Linda Roche, Serene Thain, Raewyn Whaley and Carolyn Williams.