This entry was first posted in April 2016, but was deleted by mistake and is now re-posted
Northlanders
have been enjoying a wonderful exhibition at Kaan Zamaan Gallery in
Kerikeri. I have blogged before about the stained-glass of Kathy
Shaw-Urlich, the British-born woman of Maori descent who now lives at
Whatuwhiwhi in the Far North. Kathy trained in the mediaeval skills of stained
glass painting. She draws on imagery from her Maori heritage as well as her
European background and uses those wonderful skills to produce amazing work
(see my previous blog entries in 2012 and 2013 http://newzealandglass.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/kathy-shaw-urlichs-tokerau-matariki.html,
http://newzealandglass.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/new-glass-for-whakapara-marae.html).
Kathy
was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 and has been undergoing a range of
treatment for the disease. The panels which are the centre-piece of this
exhibition were created in a ten week period of respite from treatment prior to
starting a strenuous course of chemotherapy which is currently underway (Kathy,
our thoughts are with you). The artist tells us that the ideas behind the works
had been developing throughout her treatment.
The
title work for the exhibition, Easter Rising (above) offers a nod to the
Irish Easter rising of 1916 and her father's Dublin ancestors. The range
of rich imagery reflects Easter goodies, and Easter hares in the fields of the
Northern spring. In a central reference to her bid for recovery, a phoenix
rises before a Cross, around which are gathered the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene
and Saint John the Beloved, as they would appear in mediaeval glass. Another
mediaeval emblem is the White Hart of Hertford, Kathy's birthplace, one of
which she saw on Easter Monday 1997.
Many
layers of ideas and symbols are present in all the works in the exhibition,
reflecting Kathy's bicultural heritage and her thoughts about her own past,
present and future. These are explored in the explanatory labels for the
works.
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Red Monkey Knife Edge
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Hanging On for Dear Life
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2016
is the Chinese year of the Red Monkey. This work also references the
fierce red chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, while Hanging on for Dear Life
includes a ladder to Heaven, eventually, across the Great Water.
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Pounamu Whenua
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St Michel and the Dragon
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In
these works Kathy explores the heritage of both her mother and her husband in
Te Wai Pounamu, and her own experiences in Celtic Brittany.
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Maria All Mothers
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Anaheranui Rawhaera
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The
Blue Madonna is adorned with flowers and stars, and with the holy dove God's
hand blesses. The healing Archangel Raphael blesses a woman in prayer, who
attains an angel's wing.
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Kahu 1
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Kahu 2
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The
Kahu diptych references the hunter-like Orion, with feather cloak for
protection and flight, and Te Wahine o Te Moana, who joins Orion in the
heavens.
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Anaheranui Rawhaera
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The
Green Healing Archangel Raphael, with Jesus suffering on the cross, His breast
scars like barbed wire, prayers of supplication, and healing green plants spiky
aloe and kawakawa, prolific in the Far North. Revelation 22: 2
references the Tree of Life, with its leaves for the healing of all nations,
the central motif in the window by Wilhelmina Geddes in Belfast, which I
discussed in my blog on William Wheeler (see http://newzealandglass.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/and-now-its-irish-in-belfast-and-te.html).
That window, which Kathy drew to my attention, has been important to her for
many years, all the more so now, with its message of hope of healing for all.
Acknowledgement: I'm grateful to Kathy
Shaw-Urlich and to Julia Reinholt of Kaan Zamaan Gallery in Kerikeri for
permission to photograph these works and reproduce them here.
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