CAROLYN MENZIES
My work often incorporates unusual and diverse materials and a fascination with processes of transformation. I'm currently making with steel. If steel is a hallmark of modern sculpture then my use of steel wool and mesh gently subverts this legacy. My steel is a domesticated house steel - strong and abrasive but also delicate, soft. While the work has an ordered beauty the materials themselves are repellent with the idea of touch - creates an uneasy attraction.
Sculpture and domesticity collide to create intricate curling and coiling steel forms that emerge from the walls and ceiling. The coil suggests an energy contained - this feeling of restraint heighted by the use of weighs in places. In other works the coils appear loose and open, like a seedpods, releasing an exuberance of unfurled steel.
Born in New Zealand, I studied sculpture at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts. A travel grant from Creative New Zealand allowed me to travel to the UK where I completed my MA at Central Saint Martins, London, in 2001. I have exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.
I live in Melbourne, Australia with my partner and two children.
EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Of Slender Means, Linden Project Space, Linden New Art, St Kilda, Melbourne
2020 Steelo, Members Vitrine, Craft Victoria, Melbourne
2019 Immaterial, Gallery 1, Unitec, Auckland
2019 Morphogenesis, Tinning Street Presents, Brunswick, Melbourne
2018 Adhere, Gaffa Gallery, Sydney
2017 Embedded, Angela Robarts-Bird Gallery, Gasworks Art Park, Melbourne
2017 If I Knew Now What I Knew Then, Arcade, Footscray
2016 Lucid Blooms, Trocadero Art Space, Footscray
2015 Pre-emptive Nostalgia, Angela Robarts-Bird Gallery, Gasworks Art Park
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1999 Ultrasight, Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North
1999 Pulse, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
1997 Sleep, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
1995 Tides of the Heart, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
1995 Surfacing, Vavasour Godkin Gallery, Auckland
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Design Fringe, Linden New Art Gallery, St Kilda
2022 The Off Season, Assembly Point Vitrines, Southbank
2021 Leftover Love, Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne
2021 Immerse 2021, City of Knox (site-specific art exhibition)
2021 Albert Park Art Walk, Albert Park, Melbourne
2019 Deakin Contemporary Small Sculpture Award 2019, Deakin University
2018 From Nature 18, Gasworks Art Park
2017 Women for Women: Making Space, The Artist Guild, The District, Docklands
2017 From Nature 17 - outdoor organic sculpture exhibition, Gasworks Art Park
2017 Sweet FA, Trocadero Arts Building, Footscray
2016 From Nature - outdoor organic sculpture exhibition, Gasworks Art Park, Melbourne
2016 Linden Postcard Show 2016, Linden New Art, St Kilda, Melbourne
2015 Art After Dark, Smart Artz Gallery, Melbourne & Ambush Gallery, Sydney
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2002 Light Sensitive, Century Gallery, ACAVA, London
1998 Embody, Robert McDougall Art Annex, Christchurch
1997 Water, Water Everywhere, Hawke’s Bay Museum, Napier
1996 Pins and Needles, Suter Art Gallery, Nelson
1995 Inside the Solid, Robert McDougall Art Annex, Christchurch
1995 Praxis, South Island Art Projects
1995 Occupation, Site-specific art exhibi9on, Christchurch Arts Center
1994 By Invitation Only, South Island Art Projects
1994 Little Jewels, AMBA, NZ Festival of the Arts, Wellington
1994 Group Show, Vasasour Godkin Gallery, Auckland
1993 T’arting Up Town, Christchurch Community Arts Council Project
1993 Nature TaToo, High Street, Gallery, Christchurch
QUALIFICATIONS
Education
2001 Master of Fine Art, Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, London
1991 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, NZ
Awards and Scholarships
2021 Artist Residence, Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne
2020 City of Port Phillip, Love My Place Funding (to curate Albert Park Art Walk)
1996 Travel Grant, Creative New Zealand
1993 Crown Jewels, Sculpture Residency, Queen Mary Hospital, Hamner Springs, NZ
1991 Ethel Rose Overton, University of Canterbury
1991 Rosemary Johnson Muller, University of Canterbury
Publications, Reviews and Essays
2020 Craft Conversations, Carolyn Menzies, Craft Victoria
2019 Gina Ferguson, Senior Lecturer, Curator Gallery One, Unitec, Immaterial show catalogue
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2001 Jennifer Hay, ‘Life Flow’, The Christchurch Press, November 14, p37
1999 Robyn Ussher, ‘Take Pick from Plenty’, The Christchurch Press, May 26, p19
1998 Priscilla Pihs, ‘Contemporary New Zealand Sculpture’, David Bateman Ltd, Auckland, p39
1996 Jonathan Bywater, ‘ Pins and Needles’, The Suter Gallery, Nelson, pgs 5-6
1995 Justin Paton, ‘Carolyn Menzies, Kristy Gorman, Andrea Gerbic’, Art New Zealand, vol 4