Between then and now – Adrienne Millwood
“I wonder whether with a slight adjustment of perspective it could be cherished as a sensation on its own terms, since it is as inherent to the human condition as blue is to distance? If you can look across the distance without wanting to close it up, if you can own your longing in the same way that you own the beauty of that blue that can never be possessed.”
– Rebecca Solnit, The Blue of Distance
Between now and then represents a pensive departure for Adrienne Millwood. These works come from a self-described ‘in-between’ period in which the artist gave her practice time to breath. This culminates here in a cohesive exhibition of work that is conceptually and autobiographically driven. Moves both literal, through travelling from Vanuatu as a child and more recently from Christchurch to Wellington, and mental, though maturing from a post-art school mode of making into a slower way of making, drive the works. Different mediums are utilised throughout, lending the viewer different insights into Millwood’s moving ideas and practice.
Crossfades of time and place are expressed through soft tones, rounded edges and found objects. Each work is connected but feels complete as individual pieces. This is achieved through the use of framing lines, Polaroid borders and refined presentation. They are further tied together through hues that are not only aesthetically pleasing but imbue the collection with an affective calmness.
Time based processes are essential to Millwood’s exploration of durational making. In the enlarged Polaroid prints she manipulates pigment and exposure, while in her paintings she works with layers – stepping off each as they lead toward the final works. These works demonstrate the power of the artist’s ability to carefully consider the meaning of making and the elegancy achieved in giving oneself space and time to create.
“This exhibition is the gathering of many moments of time. And of between times. Of being in the transient place and of coming home. When home is not a place but a heart’s longing satisfied.”
– Adrienne Millwood, 2018
Adrienne Millwood is an artist and art educator currently based in Lower Hutt (Awakairangi). She graduated with BFA (Hons) from The University of Canterbury in 2012 and studied Anthropology and Education prior to this. She is the winner of a number of awards including the Canterbury Arts & Heritage Trust Travel Award for 2014-15 and the University of Canterbury Ethel Susan Jones Fine Arts Travelling Scholarship in 2014 and 2015. Millwood has exhibited nationally and internationally with her work held in private and public collections, including the University of Canterbury and James Wallace Trust
Collection.
