The second wave of artists to take up residence in Kakanui have left — after time spent researching and experimenting in the emerging coastal haven for the arts.

Jeweller and sculptor Dr Areta Wilkinson (Kāi Tahu) and photographer Mark Adams were announced as artists in residence in July by Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi.

The established artists, who produce solo work but who have also collaborated together for more than a decade, were based out at a cottage in picturesque surroundings on the North Otago coast in recent weeks.

The artists may have left but there is more to come — an exhibition in May next year at the Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi.

However it was “very much” a research trip rather than about making art during the residency, the artists said.

The space had provided them with space to do that.

The residency was an incubator for ideas, Wilkinson said.

It would help inform their practice.

They split their time on the residency into two parts and been able to access “wonderful” places from the cottage.

Alongside exploring the local area, there were trips to sites and locations across the Waitaki district, including up the Waitaki Valley and further afield towards Timaru.

There were visits to the Waitaki Museum & Archive Te Whare Taoka o Waitaki, the Vanished World Centre and the University of Otago Geology Museum.

And there were trips to varied and storied ana whakairo (rock art) sites, an example — alongside moa, other extinct bird bones, stone tools and fossils — of the taoka they work with.

Wilkinson is a founding member of the Paemanu: Ngāi Tahu Visual Arts rōpū (group) and her work explores whakapaipai, concepts of personal adornment and embellishment.

Meanwhile, Adams’ work includes photographic studies of Samoan tatau (tattooing) and whakairo Māori (carving).

Together they have “deep dived” into anthropological and natural history collections around the world, including a long-term residency at Cambridge University, in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, between 2009 and 2017.

The residency at the university led to them first experimenting with shadows created by photograms.

The Kakanui residency also offered the time for experimentation and a “deep dive”.

The residency was made possible by Chris Barnes with support from the Friends of the Forrester Gallery.

The artists’ work, including their shadow photograms, has most recently been featured in Bird Land: Te Kāhui Manu, a landmark exhibition which runs at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū until February.