Sunny Collings first felt the allure of sculpture on a visit to the Musée Rodin when she was 21. Housed in a grand, 18th-century residence on Paris’s Left Bank, the museum celebrates the life and achievements of France’s most famous sculptor, Auguste Rodin.
Behind the house, the collection spills out onto a magnificent garden, offering an oasis of sculpture and greenery in the centre of the city. “I was just completely captivated,” says Collings. “I hadn’t really thought about sculpture before that.”
Decades later, those seeds of inspiration have developed into a thriving sculpture park in Central Otago, hidden away in the Queensberry Hills. When she saw the 15ha property for sale in 2015, Collings felt drawn to the location. The elevated position provides sublime views of the Southern Alps and the upper Clutha/Mata-Au River. But the view also encompasses land near Lake Hāwea where Collings’ great-grandparents once had a farm at Lagoon Valley. She consulted her partner, Selena Henry, and the pair made an offer.
The property is on former farmland subdivided over the years for rural living. Since previous owners had already built a comfortable home on the land, Collings and Henry decided to renovate some of the remaining agricultural structures. A steel-frame shed was transformed into a communal space for visitors and art.
“We wanted to keep the aesthetic of the interior more barn-like, with rough-sawn wood rather than Gib, and also a more industrial look with the steel beams exposed,” Henry says. The couple populated the surrounding landscape with large, sculptural works from their own private collection, including Terry Stringer’s imposing Temple of Poetry. For several years, it was their escape from busy lives in Wellington, but soon an idea formed for a more public-facing endeavour. The Poison Creek Sculpture Project was born.
Shift in perspective
The appreciation of sculpture in a natural setting is an ancient practice. But the sculpture park as we know it today – the outdoor presentation of large or monumental works made by a variety of artists, displayed either in a public space or along a walking path – really developed in the second half of the 20th century.
Unlike seeing artwork in the usual white gallery box, the experience of sculpture in a carefully chosen natural setting inevitably changes our understanding of the work. The viewer studies the contours of the object against the curves and shapes of the landscape, or reflects on the juxtaposition of sculpted wood, stone or metal among trees and mountains that provide these materials.
New Zealand has several well-known sculpture parks, particularly in the North Island: Gibbs Farm near Kaipara Harbour and, within Auckland’s sprawling boundaries, Brick Bay, Sculptureum to the north, and the Connells Bay Sculpture Park on Waiheke Island. The Poison Creek Sculpture Project is a lively addition to the South Island’s opportunities to see significant sculptural works in a remarkable outdoor setting.
The project takes its name from Poison Creek, which runs along one of the property’s borders. In the 19th century, small settlements between the South Island lake district and Alexandra, such as Luggate and Queensberry, provided resting points for travellers and gold miners. Homesteads were established on the hillsides. Local lore suggests the stream’s disquieting name was a warning to farmers and beekeepers about the presence of toxic tutu in the area. These days, the creek’s pure mountain waters trickle into the Mata-Au, providing sustenance to farmland and a neighbouring vineyard along the way.
The grounds opened to the public in December 2020 – not a propitious time for a new arts venture. But artists, struggling to have their work seen when so many galleries were closed because of Covid, were “willing to take a punt”, says Collings, and “to share their work with us”. Locals appreciated having a safe and engaging outdoor space to bring their families and dogs.
The sculpture park has opened each succeeding summer and each season the number of works on display has grown. Some sculptures are part of the permanent collection and have become familiar sights to returning visitors; others are on loan from artists or for sale. The 2023-24 season, titled Alchemy, offers a sculpture walk that takes in 29 outdoor works and two dozen works displayed in the renovated shed.
Road to wonders
A visit to Poison Creek is a deliberate choice. As you leave State Highway 6, the view expands as a twisting road to the property takes you 4km uphill (one wonders how a truck carrying a 3-4m-high metal sculpture manages). The exposed, elevated site is susceptible to changing conditions and visitors will want to bring sunscreen, hats, and jackets.
Public opening dates are limited to the warmer months, although it is reportedly stunning in snow or in the low light of a crisp winter day. “It’s a commitment to engage with this environment, whether as a visitor or as kaitiaki,” says Collings.
Visitors who take the trouble are rewarded with an invigorating walk, breathtaking views, and memorable sculptural creations among the glacial remnants of slopes, valleys, ridges and knolls. The high-country flora is also remarkable, and primarily made up of regenerating kānuka among tussock herb fields.
The walk from the parking area passes Ta’ahine Ua by Telly Tuita, one of Poison Creek’s 2023 artists-in-residence. Ta’ahine Ua – Tongan for “two women” – comprises two groupings of kānuka branches, one painted in red, the other yellow. They are several metres apart and almost hidden from each other, but each enhances the other. Tuita took his inspiration from Collings and Henry in making the work. Henry is more heard than seen, rumbling across the property on a lawn mower, making sure the grounds are presentable for the weekend opening. Collings stays nearer their home, attending to phone calls and last-minute paperwork. It’s clear the evolution of the sculpture park is a joint effort.
Tuita’s work can be interpreted in a complementary way, too: the different lives Henry and Collings each live in Wellington, where their careers are based, and Central Otago. Collings is a former dean of the University of Otago’s Wellington campus and chief executive of the Health Research Council. Henry is a senior graphic designer at the Ministry for Primary Industries. Their stints in Central Otago require a shift in character from their metropolitan mahi.
No place for city cats
“There’s a lot less forgiveness in the Central Otago environment,” says Collings. “Where we are, you’re basically responsible for your own services, except electricity if you’re on the grid.” And there are two parts of their Wellington life that are definitely not transferable. “We have two kitties in Wellington,” says Henry. “They would not cope very well with the wild environment and feral cats at Poison Creek. They are city kitties and prefer their luxuries.”
All the works on display come from sculptors living and working in Aotearoa. Sculptures by such established artists as Stringer and Tanya Ashken mingle with works by emerging practitioners, or those with more regional reputations. Although a few pieces might be called monumental, most are on a human scale.
The current exhibition features a winning mix of crowd pleasers, such as Ben Foster’s aluminium canine Zac and Steuart Welch’s big, corten-steel forms, as well as more cerebral installations. “Usually, the artists will come to the property and actually choose a location where they would like their art to be placed,” Henry says. As she speaks, landscapers are putting the finishing touches on the season’s stand-out addition, Gill Gatfield’s totemic The Snake Charmer, a geometric, black granite work set in concentric circles of native plantings.
The word “project” in the placename hints at the owners’ shared ambitions for the area. Poison Creek welcomes visitors from all over the world but Collings and Henry also wanted to make something special for local art lovers.
In the months before that first season, they organised onsite classes in stone masonry, when locals and enthusiasts from further afield created a schist enclosure for The Sniper’s Prayer, Stephen Mulqueen’s sombre meditation on faith and war, in which a series of metal crosshairs gradually transform into a Celtic cross. The classes spread the word about Poison Creek and helped build a sense of community. The couple also host visitors in accommodation removed from the sculpture area.
Cultural shift
The project also has environmental ambitions. The owners are eradicating mustelids and reducing the rabbit population, allowing birds and native bush to thrive. Working within water-rationing limits, Henry and Collings have planted tī kōuka, kōwhai, beech and tōtara among the already present kānuka. Korimako (bellbirds) are now a familiar sight and the occasional tūī makes an appearance.
As you travel around Central Otago, there is a sense the Southern Lakes District is turning a cultural corner. Such regular events as the Bannockburn Festival and the Wānaka Festival of Colour are increasingly important for the region’s social calendar. After eight years of earthquake strengthening and extensive renovations, Arrowtown’s impressive Lakes District Museum re-opened in December 2022. Perhaps the most exciting recent development is Te Atamira, a lively cultural space for art, music, and dance that launched in Frankton in 2022.
The Poison Creek couple welcome such initiatives. They have previously hosted events for the Bannockburn Festival and they are equally interested in what Collings calls “the grassrootsy sort”, the creative efforts of individuals.
“That’s more likely to define whatever the art scene gets to be known for.” They’re also interested in the way their sculpture project affects visitors. Collings hopes that they feel “something of the experience I suppose that I had, that first time I engaged with sculpture.”
See poisoncreek.nz for opening times. Visitors are advised to bring a hat, good shoes, sunscreen and water.