People in Jars and Bottles
People in Jars and Bottles.
2011
The inspiration for this series is a psychological exercise called - 'the wheel of trust'.
In this exercise you are asked to place your name in the centre of a series of circular rings on a sheet of paper. Then on the rings, you place people you know or have encountered in order of the level of your contact, trust or love - the closer to you the higher that level. Proximity can vary according to circumstance and time.
In this series, paintings of people in jars and bottles (listed below) represent the wheel of trust.
Each portrait painting talks about how close the people are to me. Where do they fall on my wheel of trust and love? Close family members, extended family members, friends, acquaintances, and people completely unknown to me, within my visual world. Where will they be placed on the circles which revolve around me? Also, how close are these people to the viewer and where do they fall within 'their' 'wheel of trust or wheel of love?
I have added the element of the jars and bottles, to represent a further dimension in the establishment of that trust. Like you might place an invisable barrier or protective covering around something, until you could observe it long enough to assess whether it should be avoided or embraced. And strings holding the jars and bottles pose the questions: Who or what is holding them and why? Will they continue to be held, or let go? Will they move positions on the wheel?
List of paintings:
The magazine girl in a jar was from a page in a glossy magazine page. She is unknown and therefore very distant to me.
Facebook girl in a jar was an image of a friend's young girl, whom I haven't met as yet as they live in Australia.
This painting delves into how we see so many images on social media sites now of who we only know scarcely.
Dave and Eddie. Dave was an electrician who I chatted to while we were building an extension on our house. Eddie owned a liquor store where we went to buy the odd tipple. Both are known to me only through the brief conversations we had together at the time but they are completely unknown to each other. I now haven't seen them for years.
Makareta and Pairama are known to me through marriage. Makareta is my sister-in-law. They were very excited about acquiring new tattoos or Ta Moko by the artist Gordon Toi, and wanted to show them off. They are close to me through whanau but as I only see them on occasion they are also distant to me. Since this painting was created, ironically the couple have moved in different directions and away from each other.
I recently asked Makareta if she would like the painting but she declined.
Jules Allen is a friend and work colleague. We also met at an art critique group once a month at the time. Jules is a performance artist. She uses lipstick within her work and the tissue paper-like background in the painting refers to the feelings she was going through at the time. I left the jar open as she is always moving and very excited about life, and perhaps because my relationship to her is still ongoing.
Sold
The Mad Butcher or rather Sir Peter Leitch. Peter owned a chain of butcher shops throughout New Zealand called 'The Mad Butcher'. and he is also well known for his great support of NZ Rugby League.
Some of the jars and bottles in my works are closed, and some are open as in the case of 'the Mad Butcher' painting. I could not see him in a closed jar. His phone being attached to his ear reinforces his constant connection to many a person in the community and outside of the glass jar and beyond our vision. The painting’s background and his logo-embroidered shirt reference his passion for rugby league. The jar looks as though it is swinging from a player’s neck, signifying a line of trust between supporter and player.
This painting is now in the possession of the Mad Butcher (Peter Leitch).
Nanette Cameron ran the highly-regarded ‘Nanette Cameron Interior Design School’ from ‘Te Tuhi’ Centre for the Arts. I knew her from working at the centre. I admired how she is full of life and always positive. I placed a swirling silver pattern in the painting's background, which appears and disappears as you walk past. This references the ever-changing trends in the design world - which she constantly and very cleverly kept up to date with.
I passed this painting on to Nanette Cameron's daughter Kirsty Cameron, when Nanette died in 2023.
Masked girl in a jar is an experimental work from my imagination.
Not for sale
A girl named Feelings, Is a separate painting to the rest and talks about trust and trapped feelings.
Sketches in my visual diary.
1 and 2. Somethings on the horizon & I feel we can't do much about it! These two sketches were done in my visual diary and are exploring world issues, climate change being talked about in the news but seemingly quite far away from us (over the horizon) and giving a feeling of not being able to do anything about it. Like a train we are all travelling in with no brakes, heading for a brick wall. Having a false sense of security in the glass jar. It also speaks of trust. Trusting people, situations, life.
3. Out there on a limb contemplating life.
2011
The inspiration for this series is a psychological exercise called - 'the wheel of trust'.
In this exercise you are asked to place your name in the centre of a series of circular rings on a sheet of paper. Then on the rings, you place people you know or have encountered in order of the level of your contact, trust or love - the closer to you the higher that level. Proximity can vary according to circumstance and time.
In this series, paintings of people in jars and bottles (listed below) represent the wheel of trust.
Each portrait painting talks about how close the people are to me. Where do they fall on my wheel of trust and love? Close family members, extended family members, friends, acquaintances, and people completely unknown to me, within my visual world. Where will they be placed on the circles which revolve around me? Also, how close are these people to the viewer and where do they fall within 'their' 'wheel of trust or wheel of love?
I have added the element of the jars and bottles, to represent a further dimension in the establishment of that trust. Like you might place an invisable barrier or protective covering around something, until you could observe it long enough to assess whether it should be avoided or embraced. And strings holding the jars and bottles pose the questions: Who or what is holding them and why? Will they continue to be held, or let go? Will they move positions on the wheel?
- I began the series of paintings, moving from the outside furtherest rings of the wheel, where the people are unknown to me, like an image of a girl from a magazine I read (Magazine girl in a Jar), or the girl on Facebook I haven't met before (Facebook girl in a Jar).
- Then to the next ring inwards towards me, of two men who didn't know each other at all (Dave and Eddie). I knew them only through short dealings with them by way of the business services they supplied, strangely in this case, home electrical services and a liquor store. Quick chats at the time and now they are not a part of my life.
- On the next circle inwards I would likely place three people; a extended family member (Makareta and her partner at the time - Pairama). I placed her here because I don't see her very much, as she lives further away. She was with her partner Pairama when I painted this but sadly now Pairama has moved out of her wheel of love and trust. Also on this circle would be a friend (Jules), who I was only just getting to know at the time and also a friend and work colleague of my husbands (Peter Leitch) who I only met on ocassion.
- Then onwards to the next circle I would place a work colleague (Nanette Cameron), who I shared a chat over our office desks and intereacted through the working week. And so on and so on, but I chose to stop the series there.
- The last two paintings listed below (Masked girl in a Jar and A girl named Feelings) were actually done at the beginning of the series and were more abstract in a sense, just paving the way and giving me ideas.
List of paintings:
The magazine girl in a jar was from a page in a glossy magazine page. She is unknown and therefore very distant to me.
Facebook girl in a jar was an image of a friend's young girl, whom I haven't met as yet as they live in Australia.
This painting delves into how we see so many images on social media sites now of who we only know scarcely.
Dave and Eddie. Dave was an electrician who I chatted to while we were building an extension on our house. Eddie owned a liquor store where we went to buy the odd tipple. Both are known to me only through the brief conversations we had together at the time but they are completely unknown to each other. I now haven't seen them for years.
Makareta and Pairama are known to me through marriage. Makareta is my sister-in-law. They were very excited about acquiring new tattoos or Ta Moko by the artist Gordon Toi, and wanted to show them off. They are close to me through whanau but as I only see them on occasion they are also distant to me. Since this painting was created, ironically the couple have moved in different directions and away from each other.
I recently asked Makareta if she would like the painting but she declined.
Jules Allen is a friend and work colleague. We also met at an art critique group once a month at the time. Jules is a performance artist. She uses lipstick within her work and the tissue paper-like background in the painting refers to the feelings she was going through at the time. I left the jar open as she is always moving and very excited about life, and perhaps because my relationship to her is still ongoing.
Sold
The Mad Butcher or rather Sir Peter Leitch. Peter owned a chain of butcher shops throughout New Zealand called 'The Mad Butcher'. and he is also well known for his great support of NZ Rugby League.
Some of the jars and bottles in my works are closed, and some are open as in the case of 'the Mad Butcher' painting. I could not see him in a closed jar. His phone being attached to his ear reinforces his constant connection to many a person in the community and outside of the glass jar and beyond our vision. The painting’s background and his logo-embroidered shirt reference his passion for rugby league. The jar looks as though it is swinging from a player’s neck, signifying a line of trust between supporter and player.
This painting is now in the possession of the Mad Butcher (Peter Leitch).
Nanette Cameron ran the highly-regarded ‘Nanette Cameron Interior Design School’ from ‘Te Tuhi’ Centre for the Arts. I knew her from working at the centre. I admired how she is full of life and always positive. I placed a swirling silver pattern in the painting's background, which appears and disappears as you walk past. This references the ever-changing trends in the design world - which she constantly and very cleverly kept up to date with.
I passed this painting on to Nanette Cameron's daughter Kirsty Cameron, when Nanette died in 2023.
Masked girl in a jar is an experimental work from my imagination.
Not for sale
A girl named Feelings, Is a separate painting to the rest and talks about trust and trapped feelings.
Sketches in my visual diary.
1 and 2. Somethings on the horizon & I feel we can't do much about it! These two sketches were done in my visual diary and are exploring world issues, climate change being talked about in the news but seemingly quite far away from us (over the horizon) and giving a feeling of not being able to do anything about it. Like a train we are all travelling in with no brakes, heading for a brick wall. Having a false sense of security in the glass jar. It also speaks of trust. Trusting people, situations, life.
3. Out there on a limb contemplating life.
To enquire about purchasing any of these artworks, please contact Megan