Welding a view of NZ rural life

The art of sculpture takes many forms and directions. For a Franz Josef sculptor it includes preparing her materials by driving over them in a four-wheel-drive. Nigel Benson meets Hannah Kidd.

Hannah Kidd is sporting a decent-sized burn on her right wrist when we meet in the Octagon. It's a war wound from her art.

Kidd (28) is the latest in a great tradition of New Zealand No 8 wire artists, creating works from well-used materials which have been discarded and forgotten.

Her first Dunedin exhibition in Milford Gallery, "The Locals'', is also a fascinating commentary on New Zealand rural life, from the rustic corrugated iron she uses to clothe her creatures, to the back-country methods she uses to create her art.

Her works also reflect prevailing attitudes in New Zealand towns.

A sculpture of a woman hanging out washing while a goat tries to nibble at the sheets, Who the hell are you?, was inspired by the look Kidd got from a local when she moved to Franz Josef from Methven.

"Recently, I moved from one small town to another. In the first town I was a local, in the second town I was not. Small-town New Zealand can be a tricky place. They are inclusive and exclusive. The pace is slow, like a daytime soap opera,'' she says.

"People become very comfortable in the town's cocoon. It is the centre of their universe. Anything new starts a ripple of uncertainty and disturbs the well-constructed dynamics.

"There is a period newcomers need to weather through, like being in quarantine, where you have to prove yourself safe not to infect the local population. But once you make it and once you're welcomed, there is no safer place.''

Christchurch-born Kidd (28) attended the Otago Polytechnic School of Art from 1998 to 2001.

"It's my first Dunedin exhibition since I left art school and I'm really looking forward to it,'' she says.

"These sculptures are experiences of my new beginning. They are flashes of things I've seen, episodes I've encountered and events I've imagined.''

Happy Camper is a representation of the first salmon her husband, Richard, caught in Lake Mapourika.

"She made it a bit bigger than it really was,'' Richard admits with a grin.

Richard is a helicopter pilot at Franz Josef and the couple are expecting their first child in October.

After Kidd graduated from art school in Dunedin, the couple moved to Methven.

"While I was there I got a job with an agricultural engineer, so I could learn how to weld,'' she says.

"I learned to weld making cabbage stakes. I must have made thousands of them.''

Kidd now uses those skills to create life-sized sculptures from steel rod and corrugated iron, which make rustic observations of people and their surroundings.

"Originally, I was welding the framework and then using a lot of fibreglass. But, I wanted to try something different, because I wasn't getting the effect I wanted. I started experimenting with chicken wire and anything else that was lying around,'' she recalls.

"We had a lot of old tin lying around, but that wasn't really cutting the mustard. So, I started using corrugated tin. It's easy to source and cheap. All the stuff I use has been on a house or fence for years and you know it's going to last,'' she says. "We used the Land Cruiser to drive over the tin to flatten it out.''

Her method of operation is equally pragmatic. "The tools I use are really simple: A welder, boltcutters and tin-snips. The beauty is, I can work from anywhere. I just need a workshop."

Kidd often uses animal studies as a vehicle to examine the human condition.

A series last year, "The Gentlemen's Club'', featured sculptures of large game trophy animals, while other exhibitions have studied road kill and taxidermy.

"Often, they're not anatomically correct, it's just the attitude they have,'' she says.

"When I start, I imagine it in my head. I usually get what I'm after. The trouble is, after I imagine it, I feel like I have to make it. It's a two-stage process. I make the framework and then cut up the tin with boltcutters and it fits like a jigsaw. The framework is what I call 'the thinking bit'. When I'm putting on the tin I'm usually thinking about the next thing.

"I've always been tempted to do one just with the framework. But they're not substantial enough. There's not enough soul.''

Art isn't all welding irons and boltcutters for Kidd. "I'm also working on ceramics and tapestries. I bought a whole lot of tapestries on Trade Me and I've been making them into cushions for an exhibition in Christchurch.''

Kidd has been a regular contributor to the annual Sculpture in Central Otago, held at Olssen's Garden Vineyard in Bannockburn, and has exhibited widely in New Zealand and internationally, with shows in Australia and Austria.