Gallery Melange owners Kiri, Mike and Liz Clark. Photo / Judith Lacy
Gallery Melange owners Kiri, Mike and Liz Clark. Photo / Judith Lacy
Enter Palmerston North's newest gallery and your eyes will likely dart to each shelf and back again. There's so much fine detail to take in with Liz Clark's works.
She has opened Gallery Melange with her son Mike and daughter-in-law Kiri in time for Christmas shopping.
"We wanted to createa space full of interest and colour, which would lift the spirit and gladden the heart," Liz says.
She describes her crafting philosophy as refurbish, repurpose, reimagine.
Liz says her pieces show capability, dexterity, imagination and patience. However, she would far rather be endowed with the skills to create beautiful paintings.
Liz moved to New Zealand in 2004 and loves to visit the beach. Her patient and thoughtful collecting of shells can be seen in her works.
What nature can't provide, secondhand shops often can. "The secondhand shops love me because of all the bling I buy from op shops," Liz says.
A close-up of part of Liz Clark's Ode to Plastic vase. Photo / Judith Lacy
Kiri calls her mother-in-law a jackdaw as she is always collecting.
"She has an amazing knack for balance and colour and making things stand out," Kiri says of Liz.
"Everything has a use," Liz says. "Everything that I look at I think yeah, I could do something with that."
The demand for craft in New Zealand is different from her former home. Liz says there is a belief if an item is handcrafted it should be cheap, which means craftspeople don't get the recognition they deserve.
She thinks Kiwis don't appreciate what has gone into a piece of craft, as here everything is readily available in shops and what isn't can be bought online. Craftspeople still have to buy materials and need credit for their imagination and time, she says.
Kiri is creating a pottery series inspired by how tiny things can make a difference. She considers herself a beginner: "There's so much to learn in the craft area."
The Clarks say Gallery Melange is about transforming everyday items.
"As a dancer needs a stage, a painter needs a canvas, a creator needs an outlet," they say.
"We are ordinary people in a world full of ordinary things and we like to take ordinary things and put them together in such a way that they are extraordinary."
+ INFO Gallery Melange is open by appointment - ring 022 3456 200. It is also open 10am-3pm on December 11 and 18. The gallery is at 7 Belfast Pl, Roslyn - there is limited on-street parking.
