Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

'An Impossible Bouquet' is on display at Sarjeant Gallery

Whanganui Chronicle
19 Feb, 2021 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Byatt's sugar bouquet features 22 botanically correct specimens. Photo / Supplied

Byatt's sugar bouquet features 22 botanically correct specimens. Photo / Supplied

2020 Pattillo Whanganui Arts Review Open Award winner Tracy Byatt's new exhibition opens today, showcasing her work in an unlikely medium - sugar.

Winning the 2020 Open Award came with the opportunity to take on the 2021 Pattillo Project - a solo artist show case exhibition at the Sarjeant Gallery.

Sarjeant Relationships Officer Jaki Arthur said Arts Review principal sponsor Anne Pattillo asked the gallery to think about how to make the Arts Review work harder for the artists of our region.

"We know our art community is incredibly vibrant and talented, and we thought 'how can we uplift the winning artist onto the national stage?'

"That's when the Pattillo Project was born," Arthur said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Byatt's Pattillo Project exhibition, 'An Impossible Bouquet', opens at the Sarjeant on the Quay, melding her fascination with botany, botanical illustration, nature and art history.

"Sugar as an art medium was first documented during the European Renaissance, where it was used to sculpt extremely grand and ornate centrepieces for royal banquets, particularly in Italy," Byatt said.

"Sugar at that time was extremely rare and expensive, so it was a symbol of wealth and status.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Due to its fragility and difficulty in handling, the finest artists of the time were commissioned to create these pieces. Da Vinci is said to have created some of these sugar sculptures."

Tracy Byatt says was intrigued by the idea of working with an "essentially unchanged material". Photo / Supplied
Tracy Byatt says was intrigued by the idea of working with an "essentially unchanged material". Photo / Supplied

Byatt said she was intrigued by the idea of working in an "essentially unchanged material" that was once so highly prized and expensive, "yet we hardly give a bag of sugar a second thought".

"It almost feels like I am able to reach back and touch the past, with sugar art being the constant while the world around us has changed beyond recognition , and I feel not always for the better."

The title, 'An Impossible Bouquet', refers to the "impossible collection" of flower species in the exhibition's centrepiece - a bouquet Byatt created over the past year.

Discover more

New HamiltonJet hybrid boat tech hits Whanganui waters

19 Feb 04:00 PM

'People would never believe what we've done': Ex-cop pens second book

19 Feb 04:00 PM

Design a zine: Get creative at Whanganui Zine Festival

19 Feb 04:00 PM

Rangitīkei Civil Defence fundraising for new drone

19 Feb 04:00 PM

"Seasons and blooming schedules of these flowers meant that before jet planes, genetic modification and hot houses, these flowers would never have been able to exist at the same time," Byatt said.

The bouquet contains 22 botanically correct specimens including foxgloves, delphiniums and hollyhocks, which were made over two seasons.

Also included is a yellow rose.

"It is documented that the Dutch painter Jan van Huysum made a client wait for an entire year until a particular yellow rose came back into bloom again so that he could finish painting it," Byatt said.

"I can relate to that."

Alongside An Impossible Bouquet are several floral studies from the Sarjeant Collection which have inspired her, including a mid-17th century flower study by the Dutch painter Jan Baptiste.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

10 Jul 11:09 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Community group seeks to manage historic reserve

10 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Chaos as Ruapehu council rejects officials' advice on water

10 Jul 03:15 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

10 Jul 11:09 PM

Kahukura Gill was not inside the car, which was found in the Whanganui River on July 2.

Community group seeks to manage historic reserve

Community group seeks to manage historic reserve

10 Jul 06:00 PM
Chaos as Ruapehu council rejects officials' advice on water

Chaos as Ruapehu council rejects officials' advice on water

10 Jul 03:15 AM
Strong winds bring weather warning and watches

Strong winds bring weather warning and watches

10 Jul 03:00 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP