In and of the Earth: Painting Encounters with Pukekura

“The American artist Roni Horn, in describing her ongoing attachment to, and representation of, Iceland, replaces the noun, “place”, with the verb, “to place”, which suggests a reciprocal relationship:  “The view is not separate from the viewer”.[i]  At Pukekura Park, Ngāmotu, Amanda Watson, of Aotearoa New Zealand, has consolidated a form of painting that is distinctive, even novel, something she has made her own.  But it is also about connection and entanglement with things beyond herself.  The artist hikes into tracts of native bush, taking lengths of canvas, setting them up on the ground, between trees, over rocks, pouring inks onto them to capture the contours and textures of the site, and typically taking them back to the studio to overlay further moments of memory and perception in largely abstracted, gestural marks and washes.”

Edward Hanfling [in Pukekura en-plein-air: The paintings of Amanda Watson, in the environment and in context, in Vital Union, 2024.]

Residency

17 October 2022- 21 April 2023

Pukekura Park, Ngāmotu New Plymouth, New Zealand

Pukeura Park in is the heart of Ngāmotu. Every year it hosts the Festival of Lights, a celebration that Amanda Watson remembers fondly while growing up in New Plymouth. Taranaki area feels a lot like home to her, and so it was with a sense of significance that she returned to the area to spend time painting in the park. Over several weeks Amanda explored uncultivated forest areas through painting.

Before the work began, and again at the end, a group met in preparation to acknowledge the whenua [land] and tangata whenua [people of the land] of the Taranaki area, Ngāti Te Whiti hapū and Te Atiawa iwi.  These were meaningful times for Amanda and the work. There is a large puriri tree which had this wonderful light that seemed to illuminate its bark, and there we received words of acknowledgment from Damon Ritai [Ngāti Te Whiti]. Each morning during the coming months Amanda would visit this puriri as a way of marking the beginning of a day of painting.

Through this time in Pukekura Amanda has encountered nuances in the ecology and has been surprisingly affected when witnessing the interaction between painting materials and the environment. The act of painting surrounded by the sounds, scents, and tactile feel of the place, being captivated by swooping birds, gusts of wind, and shifting shadows from the sun are all occasions that have contributed to forming the painting. Through this Amanda has begun to see these places with new wonder and to sense a deep mystery about the place.

Exhibition

In and of the Earth

4-9 September 2023, Ramp Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand

Articles

Edward Hanfling

“Pukekura en plein air: The paintings of Amanda Watson in the environment and in context”

Published in In and of the Earth, p24-28. 2023

Zara Stanhope

“Affective Witness”

Published in In and of the Earth, p4-5

Amanda Watson

“In and of the earth: seeing the real in site-responsive painting.”

Published in the Journal of Visual Art Practice, 24(1–2), 117–145. 2025 https://doi.org/10.1080/14702029.2025.2508026