Both Tim Wraight and Ché Vincent live in the Motueka region in the top of the South Island, an area of diverse landscapes and environments from which to draw inspiration for their work.

Tim Wraight

Tim’s carved wooden work for Changing Stories exhibition explores the traditions associated with the reverence given to relics and remains, using the cultural practices of making intricate containers that different cultures fashion to hold these precious objects, Maori wakahuia (treasure boxes) and wakatupapaku (bone boxes) and European reliquaries which held the bones of saints, are the starting point for these pieces. Found remains of creatures and objects from the natural environment in his home area. Tim has constructed stories around fictional and whimsical; taking an object and giving it a new narrative and honouring its previous existence.

Ché Vincent

Ché’s work for this exhibition is formed by his passion for botany and natural processes; exploring the patterns created by plant forms by the way water changes and repeats a flow pattern by decay and renewal. He uses recycled copper panels through a process of serendipitous experimentation. Ché has developed a fluid and intuitive approach and has developed methods of melting, beating, bending, and fusing copper into organic forms. Copper is a lovely metal to work with; malleable and enduring with a beautiful cast of warm colours.