Cataloguing Blue: Works from the University of Waikato Art Collection
Catalogue essay by Lynda Wilson. Curated by Steph Chalmers
Monday 27 February – Friday 28 April 2017
Calder & Lawson Gallery, Academy of Performing Arts, University of Waikato
Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm
In 1789, the Swiss physicist, Horace-Bénédict de Saussure developed a scale, known as a cyanometer, for measuring the blueness of the sky.
Cataloguing Blue is an exhibition that utilised this 18th Century device to measure the blueness of artworks in the University of Waikato Art Collection to determine their suitability for inclusion.
Naturally, it was a very scientific process, requiring this quaint historical instrument, a longish arm to hold the device, and pure subjectivity on the curator’s part
After all, there is blue, and then there is blue – and when it comes to describing a particular hue, there are many shades of ambiguity.
Featuring artwork by Sandy Adsett, Jude Broughan, Ida Carey, Karl Chitham, Arthur Dagley, Tom Field, Susan Flight, Jennie De Groot, Jae Hoon Lee, Gudde Moller, Stanley Palmer, PJ Paterson, Meliors Simms, Michael Smither, Amanda Watson, Ans Westra & Wayne Youle, and Lynda Wilson.
LYNDA WILSON, Appointed, 2015, Found object, mixed media, on balsa wood shelf, 2015/15/1
PJ PATERSON, Whitewater (1/3), 2012, Digital collage photograph, 2013/2/1
AMANDA WATSON, Nestled, 2016, Oil, acrylic pigment, compressed graphite, ink on canvas, 2016/1/1