"There is always a bit of artistic angst, though, it doesn't all come easy. There are a lot of rejects along the way."
Three of the sculptures in the exhibition were meant to be props in her photography, but she ended up "liking them for their own sake", Gardner said.
A star made from twigs and marshmallows and a gold-painted manure ball are now works in their own right.
Another, Air And Water, hangs from the Sarjeant's ceiling.
Amanita, featuring Gardner's experimentation with a patterned background. Photo / Supplied
"When the person in charge of keeping the gallery clean found out there would be marshmallows and manure, she was like 'oh God'," Gardner said.
"Those marshmallows were hanging in my studio for quite some time, and no ants were ever interested. I had to assure her that everything was going to be fine."
An interesting part of the Patillo experience was having Sarjeant curator and public programmes manager Greg Donson co-curate the exhibition, Gardner said.
Being prolific but indecisive could be "a crazy combination".
"I knew I would have difficulty choosing the works, and I knew there would be a lot, so we had three long sessions with wonderful discussions.
"He picked some things that I probably wouldn't have. Now, it makes me look at them differently and reconsider. You can always learn more about your own work from that process."
Gardner herself makes an appearance in all the photographic works bar one.
"There are various disguises, and in a couple I have a painted face. I'm hiding in some others, one way or another.
"One, Hello Hans, has a big sheet of cardboard in it, and I'm behind it sticking my finger through a hole in it. I had to let everybody at the opening know it was my index finger poking through, I wasn't flipping the bird at anybody.
"It's a reference to the old story of Hans Brinker, who sticks his finger into the hole in the dyke and prevents the sea from flooding everything."
While some of the works were "obliquely autobiographical" and a couple dealt with climate change, she liked to keep the meanings of her pieces fairly ambiguous, Gardner said.
As well as the Sarjeant exhibition, she and her husband, Brit Bunkley, had two public outdoor sculptures on the go last year.
"I worked a lot on my photography, but then there were these collaborative projects as well," Gardner said.
"In November we had one due at the Auckland Botanic Garden and at this very moment we are on Waiheke Island finishing our installation for Sculpture on the Gulf.
"Things have been pretty busy, but I'm excited to start a new body of work with my photography."
This Is The Rabbit Hole will be showing at Sarjeant on the Quay until May 8, before moving to the Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History in Masterton.
Gardner will speak about her work at the Sarjeant on Saturday, March 12, from 3pm to 4pm.
