Outdoor Works – Samantha Lissette

2013

Cast bronze

Artworks foundry

photos by Andre Van De Ven

Atta Mediae

Abstracted Leaf Cutter Ants

Permanent home at Riverhaven Artland Sculpture Park, Clevedon

The Ants permanent home, within their own landscape of anthills, resides in the beautiful Clevedon sculpture park, Riverhaven Artland.

Born as a sight specific response to the Auckland Botanic Gardens 2013/14 exhibition Sculpture in the Gardens, Atta Mediae is a work primarily heralding industry and the merits of hard work. Along side this are ideas around team work and working toward a single unified goal or outcome.

Any successful team pulls on the strengths of its individuals. This idea of individuality is reflected in the unique designs sculpted into each Ants armory. The Ants bodies are put together more like armour than exoskeletons, though the two are reflective of each other as an exoskeleton performs the same function as armour. The armour also signifies the uniform; a device used to represent unity, identity and shared purpose.

The leaves impart a soft, organic aspect to the piece and signify the yin or feminine principal, thereby engendering a harmonic balance between themselves and the hard, masculine, robotic nature of the ants. Seen as a whole, the rhythm of the soft and hard elements combine to reflect the balance of life as it marches ever forward to greater achievements.

2007

Cast bronze

Progressive Casting Foundry

Photo by Samantha Lissette

Master Samsa

Abstracted hybrid Bird Beetle

Exhibited in Growth Industry 2007, the precursor to Sculpture in the Gardens, at the Auckland Botanic Gardens.

2008

Cast bronze

Artworks foundry

The Long Embrace

Abstracted leaf forms with Kowhai

Permanent Public Sculpture, Ayrlies Gardens, Auckland

The ‘Long Embrace‘ was made for the Inaugural ‘Sculpture in the Gardens’ at the Auckland Botanic Gardens.

This is the large version of the ‘Short Embrace’, a medal in the 2004 MANZ exhibition. It, in turn, came from another medal, ‘Katybird‘, I did for a 2002 MANZ exhibition in which I explored ideas around the relationship to forms within nature; specifically forest dwellers; and in turn their anatomical relationship to the flora around them. This medal featured a native Tui on a branch on the obverse, and a Katydid cricket on the reverse.

This piece was bought by the sponsors, the McConnell Family, and now resides at the celebrated Ayrlies Gardens.

2018

Cast bronze

Artworks foundry

Fugitive Landscapes

Katydid & Bees

Made for 2018 NZSOS Woman’s Refuge Exhibition.

This work speaks to the shifting ecosystems, crisis among species for survival and the need for adaptation.

It can also be seen as a metaphor for our own inner growth and renewal; dealing with change or upheaval or crisis; healing and allowance.

I recreated my original ‘Katydid‘ 2002, using her alien and yet somehow feminine form, curling inward like an embrace.

Most of my bronzes are black, because there is no distraction to the form and it adds a solidity and foundation. The gold, by contrast lifts and lightens details.

2009

Cast bronze

Artworks foundry

photos by Andre Van De Ven

Koi Climber

Amalgamated Koi fish & leaf forms

This work was originally made as an archway for 2010 NZSOS Women’s Refuge Exhibition.

It is an abstracted play on form and movement showing correlations between the way in which Koi move through water and the way similarly shaped botanical forms(such as leaves) move in the wind. The work looks at similarities found in nature which are the same in principle across elements and structures.