JENNA PACKER

JENNA PACKER Anchored

13 October - 7 November 2012

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Milford Galleries Dunedin 18 Dowling Street (03) 477 7727 info@milfordhouse.co.nz

1. The Mission (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 560 x 712 x 32 mm

2. Walking the Right of Way (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 913 x 1115 x 33 mm

3. Far Flung (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 558 x 712 x 38 mm

4. Customs and Excise at Wickliffe Pier (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 910 x 1115 x 33 mm

5. Harpooned (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 560 x 711 x 36 mm

6. Pompallier's Dream (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 913 x 1115 x 33 mm

7. Port Chalmers (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 912 x 1218 x 35 mm

8. Port Line (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 910 x 1216 x 34 mm

9. May Day (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 912 x 1216 x 34 mm

10. Arcadia (2012), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 913 x 1113 x 33 mm

11. Wreck on Wharf and Jetty (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 910 x 1218 x 34 mm

12. The Camp (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 905 x 1196 x 34 mm

13. Saltmarsh Hangar (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 913 x 1220 x 34 mm

14. Low Tide (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 555 x 713 x 36 mm

Jenna Packer paints delicately detailed works that appear at first to be historical observations, but upon closer inspection there emerges an alternative colonial history that contains mystery, humour, contradiction and wonderful elements of farce. Although the works have the authority of very particular locations and are strikingly familiar, they are also an amalgam of disparate events and in that way become increasingly strange and dreamlike.

The varying passages of time has always been an intrinsic element in Packer’s paintings and in this new body of work the layered narratives reach into depression-era NZ – we view desolate wharves, ruined houses, steam trains, waka and wayward balloons. Collectively these speak of a particular time but also to the transitory nature of it. An air of melancholy arises and yet we know it will pass. Packer in works such as The Camp reveals life and time to be tenuous, existence impermanent and structure skeletal. Yet there exists purpose and constant human endeavour in each work.

Stories are being told in scenes and vignettes within each work. Clothing speaks to differing times, persuasions and jobs. Washing hangs from zeppelin girders, the hopeful splendour of a blue and gold Montgolfier balloon rises to the heavens, jewelled dragonflies alter space and scale. Packer is now firmly established as a considerable painter of social narratives with a unique stylistic voice and vision.

EXHIBITION PRICELIST 1

The Mission (2012)

4,000

2

Walking the Right of Way (2012)

6,000

3

Far Flung (2012)

4,000

4

Customs and Excise at Wickliffe Pier (2012)

6,000

5

Harpooned (2012)

4,000

6

Pompallier's Dream (2012)

6,000

7

Port Chalmers (2012)

6,000

8

Port Line (2012)

6,000

9

May Day (2012)

6,000

10

Arcadia (2012)

6,000

11

Wreck on Wharf and Jetty (2011)

6,000

12

The Camp (2011)

6,000

13

Saltmarsh Hangar (2011)

6,000

14

Low Tide (2011)

4,000

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

JENNA PACKER lives Waitati

The Mission (2012)

Jenna Packer paints metaphorical and alternate histories commenting on journeys of discovery, evolution, the survival instinct of escape, fragility and the endless possibilities of life.

"Jenna Packer's startling art is unlike that of any other artist active in New Zealand. Her busy, excellently composed scenes depict images of an alternative timeless, time-filled Otago, its coastlines plied with vessels from throughout history and imagination... She gives viewers the feeling of "saudade", that peculiar wistful longing for things that never were but could have been, and lets our minds wander and wonder at this history that may have resulted." (1) Jenna Packer draws on a lifelong interest in history and the telling of it, and in image making. "I am looking at the past in order to find some clues to what is happening, what to expect and how to live it. This is not just in painting but reading, conversations, thoughts. I keep returning to the period of the 1930’s and to the exodus of people across Europe at the onset on WWII. I want to affirm the fragility and the possibility of life, but the dark shadows which have been in the background – (sometimes as zeppelins or parachutes) keep encroaching further into the pictures." (2) Jenna Packer is a graduate from the Ilam School of Fine Arts. A painter, printmaker and illustrator she has exhibited in New Zealand, France and Japan.

(1) (2)

James Dignan, "Art Seen", Otago Daily Times, November 2010 Jenna Packer, Artist Statement, 2009

Jenna Packer 2012 CV P a g e |1

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

JENNA PACKER lives Waitati EDUCATION 1996-97 1996 1995 1992 1989 1988

3 months total) La Rouelle Studio (printmaking), France (July) The Slade School of Art (Fresco), London Otago Polytechnic School of Couture (Couture), Dunedin (March – May) Glasgow Print Workshop (printmaking), Glasgow BA (History) (First-Class Honours), University of Canterbury, Christchurch Bachelor Fine Arts, Ilam School of Art, Christchurch

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 1995 1994

Provisioning, Milford Galleries Dunedin A History of Flight, Milford Galleries Dunedin Plant, Gallery on Blueskin, Waitati The Island, Solander, Wellington The Island, Milnes Court Gallery, Port Chalmers Imprints, Ground Essence, Dunedin Moroccan Notebook, Ground Essence, Dunedin Etchings (solo), Ground Essence, Dunedin

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012 2009 2008 2007

2006 1997 1995

1994

1990

The Surreal, Milford Galleries Dunedin Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown Etched in Memory, PaperGraphica, Christchurch Opening, Gallery on Blueskin, Waitati The Paper Show, The Artists’ Room, Dunedin Spring Exhibition, Anderson’s Park Art Gallery, Invercargill The Knowne Worlde Illuminated, Salisbury House Art Gallery, Dunedin Impressed Atatoi, Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton ‘10’, The Print-makers’ Studio, Dunedin Féte de Papier, Maison de Josianne, Génolac, France Three Printmakers, Salamander Gallery, Christchurch Fishing for Camels in the Bush, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin Arthouse Members Show, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin Exposure II (Invited Dunedin Artists), Applied Art NZ, Christchurch Nakhodka – Dunedin – Otaru, Sister Cities Art Exhibition, Otaru, Japan Five Printmakers, Left Bank Art Gallery, Greymouth Women Show, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin Printmakers Exhibition, Aigantigue Art Gallery, Timaru Prints: Jenna Packer and Neave Fraser-Davies, CSA Gallery, Christchurch

COLLECTIONS Work held in private collections in NZ, Australia, UK, Canada, France and Italy.

Quadrille (2010) Jenna Packer 2012 CV P a g e |2

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz