Christine Hellyer considers herself a "good gleaner".
Considering some of her latest works use stones gleaned from riverbeds in the South Island nearly 40 years ago, she’s probably right.
"They’ve been waiting since 1981, these South Island stones, and they’ve finally found a purpose."
Stones are just some of the many things Hellyer has collected over the years and stowed away in her studio.
"I try to keep order so I know where everything is. I’m afraid I’ve taken over half the garage and some parts of under the house as well," she admits.
It is all inspiration for the textile and bronze sculptor known for her work related to the domestication and socialisation of the found landscape.
In her latest exhibition at St Clair’s Fe29, Hellyer, who is now in her 70s, has combined old, re-purposed and new works in the autobiographical "Pretty Tools & Silly Weapons". Most of the works were created in 2015, and have been exhibited once — in 2015 in the "IN + OUT" exhibition at Pah Homestead in Auckland.
Her recent works came about partly because of the publications around the centenary of Colin McCahon’s birth last year and the mention of the approximately 1700 works he made.
"I thought I’ve made more than 1700 works — I’m going to make a work about making 1700 works."
So she made six works — Claims — each representing a time in McCahon’s work and featuring 2000 signed, miniature paintings on paper tags representing her life’s work. To date, Hellyer’s sculptures, drawings and paintings total 2199.
"They were fun to make. It’s good to have fun. Because I do drawings and use those materials in my drawings and because I like ink and paint and I like writing, I wanted to use luggage tags as a little format for the equivalent of a painting. I wanted to use those materials as they were materials I had in my studio anyway."
She also likes to use textiles, so she added ribbons.
"I like the way they look like seascapes or skyscapes."
Textiles have been a constant in Hellyer’s life since she was a child and she finds they "catch the light nicely".
Her grandmother worked in a textile factory for a while and her mother inherited a box of fabric from her.
"In the back of the wardrobe was this box of offcuts of velvet. I loved to take out and feel them. My mother had a textile collection and I’m afraid I have a textile collection, too."
She has gone on to collect kimonos and tea cosies — a collection that developed while living in Scotland.
Hellyer became more interested in fibre over the years as it and paper became a more accepted form of art and museums began showing more.
"I used to write letters to the Auckland Museum asking where their weaving was."
In Whisk/Whip, she uses hibiscus and coconut fibres from recycled grass skirts dyed red and black and has attached copper fungi, lead octopus or mangroves or bronze ferns.
Her small sculptures are made from pieces of punga and poplar bronzed.
"They’re little bits I’ve collected on walks in parks and beaches and river edges. I just meander about looking for things.
"It’s a bit of a mission of mine to turn flora into fauna — I think we are a bit short on animals, but we have some interesting plants. Some things are from my garden as well."
While they took her fancy when she first picked them up, it takes a while for her to work out "what they are telling me".
"I sometimes add some wax to make them more interesting. You sort of get to know what you are looking for. The beach I found most of the things on is a beach I grew up on in New Plymouth and my father grew up on as well."
Proud paddlers made from South Island schist, copper and leather and are decorated with red silk tassels.
"They look like weapons but they are tools; that’s what people used to use to shape clay."
In other pieces, she has coated wood fungus with copper and bronzed arum lilly stalks from her garden.
"It’s rubbish out of
the garden converted
into sculpture."
The feathers from her Perky Pens piece were originally exhibited individually, but Hellyer "suddenly" realised they should be tied together with many paper tags.
Dyed red, the feathers have been tied together with hundreds of similarly coloured paper tags. It is a piece influenced by her fascination with 18th-century enlightenment in New Zealand and the quills used by the naturalists on Captain Cook’s second voyage to write about what they found.
A lot of the rights and wrongs of the 18th century was in the paperwork, what was written at the time, she says.
The script she used to write on the tags was copied from Captain Cooks wife’s letters.
"She’s a hero of mine. His writing was much more florid, her’s was much more everyday and reasonable."
Hellyer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a keen gardener, and over the years has enjoyed making life-sized sculptures for gardens.
Being awarded the inaugural Adam Award for a significant contribution to New Zealand Art allowed her to make her first large outdoor bronzes.
"I love gardens, but I don’t like to make works that are heavy in the landscape. I like to make them light and delicate so they are part of the landscape, not quite so dominant."
