The Language of Wood features Taupō artists Angela Zajonskowski, Jodie Appleton, and Sally-Ann Davies who explore the creative possibilities and stories held within timber.
For the artists behind The Language of Wood, the exhibition grew from a shared connection.
“Sally noticed the link between our work,” says Appleton. “Each language we use came together to form one conversation.”
That conversation includes sculptural woodturning, pyrography and layered woodcut prints. Their chosen artform incorporates both precision and unpredictability.
Zajonskowski works with swamp kauri, revealing colours and patterns formed over thousands of years beneath the earth.
“Once it’s been sitting in a swamp, all these colours come through it, like it’s been marinating. This piece has been marinating for two and a half thousand years!”
“It’s the excitement of seeing what you get,” says Davies. “I always have an idea, but the image turns out quite different than I anticipated.”
Across the exhibition runs a shared message of care for the land.
“It’s a celebration of the whenua,” says Appleton. “You need to get out onto the land, appreciate it, and protect it.”
They exhibit more than artwork, it’s where the material and the process itself still matter.
The Language of Wood will be on display at Taupō Museum from 15 August to 21 September.
