Arwen is a New Zealand-born artist, raised in the beautiful ranges, forests, and beaches of the West Coast of Auckland.
Her recent artwork on canvas utilises a unique mix of media—dressmaking patterns, graphite, charcoal, metallic foil and paint. Through this unique multi-media approach Arwen references landscape and oceanic forms while exploring intersections, crossovers, and parallels between historical and modern European and Pacific Island culture and themes of identity, often from a feminine perspective.
To communicate the curiosity she has for the human motivation and experience of exploration, navigation and migration across the South Pacific, she uses the printed markings on dressmaking patterns as a reference to cartography.
Sourcing and using second-hand materials and creating poetry are part of her creative process and art-making ethos. The collages evolve naturally into combinations of craft and pattern which reflect her historical European ancestry and place of birth in the South Pacific.
Arwen tells a really interesting story of her creative journey from Elam Art School in Auckland and her focus on photography to her current mixed media work and the approach she uses to sourcing and incorporating found materials into her work.
Recent collage explorations
