Artist inspired by tragic tale of former mayor

Ceramic artist Katerina Smoldyreva has four weeks to complete something she has never attempted before - to build a horse.

Not a small ceramic horse that you can hold in your hand but a horse big enough for a child to ride and the work is inspired by the story of former Whanganui mayor Charles Ewing Mackay.

"I wanted to make a monument and from my research into Mackay's life, I learned that he did so much for the cultural life of the city but had to leave in disgrace and then died tragically in Berlin."

Mackay, who was Whanganui's mayor during the first years of the 20th century oversaw the building of the Sarjeant Gallery and the Dublin St Bridge.

A scandal over his sexuality and a charge of attempted murder in 1920 saw him deposed, imprisoned and then deported.

Mackay has been receiving something of a civic redemption in recent years and Smoldyreva says she is very moved by his story and wanted to pay tribute.

Based in New Plymouth, she is the current artist in residence at the art centre in Glasgow St and says she is using her four weeks in Whanganui to create her "distorted monument" and pay homage to Mackay.

"I have been thinking of those European monuments with the heroic figures on their raring horses but my horse is falling.

"He might jump back up again or he might go down."

Around the studio are a number of sample works or sketches which, the artist says, are sculptures in their own right as well as her development of ideas for the large work.

Some of the horses have riders in the process of falling and others are in the process of falling themselves.
"I'm using is a mix of stoneware clay from Ireland and some that my friend Andy Bassett gave me.

"The clay belonged to his potter wife who passed away and it is a serendipitous story because Andy grew up in this house here at 85 Glasgow St."

Smoldyreva says she has not yet decided on what sort of finish she use on her large sculpture and how she will fire it.

"I will have to deconstruct it for firing and then join the pieces back together again."

The sculpture and its miniature counterparts will be displayed in an exhibition at Gallery 85 during September.