Artist statement: “Pōhutukawa leaves from places starting with P. Walking the dogs I pause while they poo & pee. While waiting I wondered if I could weave the stunning Pōhutukawa leaves. Now I wait for the dogs & the dogs wait for me.”
Rhona started weaving paper when she was a child, and for many years now, entranced by leaves she finds on her walks, has evolved this into weaving leaves: physically cutting, putting them back together and scanning them using a high- quality scanner. It has been a long process identifying which leaves work: some fade too quickly or react poorly to being cut, some are just too boring with no trauma reflecting their life. Rainbow Creative have been very helpful with advice during this time as she has developed her printing process.
These days she can’t go past a Pōhutukawa tree without picking up leaves – but her challenge is to capture the moment, the colour, because they fade all too quickly.
Rhona’s winning work of two Pōhutukawa leaves captures just that moment, enhances them with a woven connection, before the colour fades, transforming them into a work of art.
In the future she would like to gift her images to local schools and preschools, as well as begin to sell her work.
2024 ART AWARDS | 2024 winners: Emma Hercus | Fran Zukowski | Rhona Orr | Bert van Dijk
ART AWARDS GALLERIES: 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020 • 2022 • 2024