Art seen: March 6

"Form & Fantasy'', The Alexandra Pottery Club (Central Stories Museum and Gallery, Alexandra)

Ideas have been sparking and kilns firing at the Alexandra Pottery Club since 1964, and the associate potters of the club continue to produce beautiful work half a century after their predecessors first came together to create and inspire.

The 75 pieces of the commemorative ''Form & Fantasy'' exhibition run the gamut from the glossily pretty to the texturally unsettling, stylishly functional to defiantly decorative, playful simplicity to polished sophistication.

The artists have worked in pursuit of their own themes, and their different styles are eclectic and effective.

It is always a pleasure to encounter the art of Danny Moorwood, whose distinctive lustre glaze shimmers through the colour spectrum, with a translucent marbling on the vessel surfaces like petrol in the sunlight.

Hilary Daughtry brings a touch of festive macabre with her homage to Mexico's Dia de los Muertos. The ''Day of the Dead'' traditionally sees the creation of colourful, skeletal figurines as memorial gifts.

From a distance, Daughtry's The Gathering (13 Pieces) appears to be a dancing circle of sweetly dressed dolls; under closer scrutiny, the expectation of painted porcelain faces is met instead by leering skulls and masks.

Diana Turnbull-Anderson's Tea/White Platter is anotherhighlight, simple, unpretentious tableware done superlatively well, while Lynne Wilson's Art Deco tablets are appealing and beautifully made.

---

"Willow on Clutha'', Nigel Wilson (Hullabaloo Art Space, Cromwell)

The autumnal hues of a chilly-looking riverbank contrast the moody waters of the Clutha in Nigel Wilson's latest collection.

"Willow on Clutha'', comprised of oil canvases and watercolours, presents a variety of views over the river, each appearing to capture a different angle, time of day, and perhaps mood of the artist.

Wilson, a finalist in last year's Arts Gold Awards, has a bold, vigorous painting style, regardless of which medium he happens to be using, which infuses his scenes with a definite sense of energy and life.

On the wall, the various tones come together to create a scene that is just abstracted enough that it becomes an experience of the landscape, rather than merely an illustration of it.

Wisps and blurs of paint, dabs and daubs of colour seem to enhance the impression of cold wind rustling the tree branches and weak sunlight rippling the water.

The closer the viewer gets to the canvas, the more each brushstroke stands out, leaving an impression of the artist's kinetic fervour in getting his vision down on paper.

Two of the watercolours are particularly striking. In one work, the sky and river are depicted predominantly in shades of grey, the trees have gone almost entirely over to red-tinged brown, and a mere fragment of blue sky reflects in a patch of water.

The sun rises a little more strongly behind the hills in the other, slicing through the river in a strip of light.

---

''Weeds'', Jo Ogier (OCTA Gallery, Cromwell)

As Andy Warhol immortalised the humble soup can, so too is printmaker Jo Ogier reimagining the everyday seed packet.

Her series ''Weeds'' mocks up packaging for imaginary, tongue-in-cheek manufacturers, including the ''Early Settlers Seed Company'' and the ''Coloniser Seed Company'', to turn a spotlight on the environmental impact of imported plants.

Each Victorian-inspired ''packet'' features a different species, named in period typeface and illustrated with Ogier's standard eye for meticulous detail and scientific accuracy.

Some homesick settlers brought plants, such as sweet briar, to their new land for reasons blatantly sentimental, while choices such as gorse were made in reference to a vastly different European setting.

Many of the species ran rampant when transplanted to the New Zealand soil, often to devastating effect on indigenous plant and animal life.

The artist includes an ironic tagline on each seed envelope, suggesting a selling point and a future issue of contention with that item on her self-proclaimed ''hit list''.

Spanish Heath, for instance, is ''Guaranteed to Spread'', Ivy ''Guaranteed to Smother''. The hand-coloured solar plate etchings of ''Weeds'' build on Ogier's considerable portfolio of environmentally conscious work.

Her technique is mature and skilful, her design aesthetic beautiful, and the pieces are a standout among an impressive company of former Dunedin School of Art students represented at Cromwell's OCTA gallery.

---

 

- Laura Elliot