JULIA HOLDERNESS

Botanical Pursuits

12 August - 15 September 2024
Julia Holderness View from the Garden Studio, 2024 Collage with watercolour, paper, decorated matboard and Florence Weir fabric 470 x 450 mm
Julia Holderness
View from the Garden Studio, 2024
Collage with watercolour, paper, decorated matboard and Florence Weir fabric
470 x 450 mm
In her solo exhibition at Sanderson Contemporary, Julia Holderness refers to the garden, landscape and still life across a range of mediums and forms. Exhibiting in the company of her longtime art historical conduit Florence Weir, there is also research into Bloomsbury group painter and gardener Vanessa Bell and Welsh plantswoman Kitty Lloyd Jones, a pioneer for the professional female garden designer.

In her solo exhibition at Sanderson Contemporary, Julia Holderness refers to the garden, landscape and still life across a range of mediums and forms. Exhibiting in the company of her longtime art historical conduit Florence Weir, there is also research into Bloomsbury group painter and gardener Vanessa Bell and Welsh plantswoman Kitty Lloyd Jones, a pioneer for the professional female garden designer.
 
For Weir in London, garden pursuits were experienced through her friendships, travel, residencies and various design briefs. Presenting fragments of Weir’s designs for botanical inspired fabrics, tiles and garden ornaments, Holderness introduces multiple narratives for Weir's long standing interest in horticulture. Alongside this partial archive, Holderness creates her own paintings, collages, textiles and ceramic works that combine and reference Weir’s, Bell’s and Lloyd Jones’ work: a relationship of exchange and influence. Florence Weir’s fabrication is embodied by Holderness: by positioning herself as artistic fabricator, collaborator and commissioner, Holderness creates ambiguity between herself and Weir’s work.
 
Exploring the role of the garden and the cultivated landscape in the creative and social lives of women, Holderness continues her investigation into women’s aesthetic histories and modernism. From real and imagined gardens, this series also offers Holderness a way to pursue and design her own botanical fancies and pursuits.

Holderness lives and works in Otautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury in 2002 and an Honours in Visual Arts at AUT University, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in 2015. In 2022 the artist completed a Visual Arts PhD in practice-led research at AUT University. Her thesis titled ‘Ever Present Archiving: methodologies for art histories through invention, fabrication and social practice’ explores archives and their construction of art-historical narratives.

Central to Holderness’ practice is an interest in the history of art and the place of women practitioners within it. She explores how archives might allow us to engage with their work, as well as the current moment. The artist’s work is led by research into the modernist period and guided by the lens of the late artist-designer Florence Weir, a fabricated figure and nom de plume. Holderness’ research and work has been acknowledged as a significant contribution to New Zealand feminist art historiography.
 

Holderness was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Doctoral Scholarship in 2019 and won the Glaister Ennor Graduate Art Award in 2016. Projects include Return to Villa Margaux, The National, Otautahi Christchurch (2024);  Living Room, Sir Miles Warren Gallery, Objectspace Otautahi Christchurch (2023); Schemes for Vibrant Living at Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery, AUT (2022); The Studio, Dunedin Public Art Gallery (2021); Florence & Florence: Other Textile Histories, Ilam Campus Gallery (2018) and Gallery 91, SCAPE Public Art (2017).
 
Botanical Pursuits runs concurrently with Modern Women: Flight of Time, an exhibition Holderness is taking part in at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, curated by Julia Waite (10 Aug 2024 - 23 Feb 2025).

 

For a catalogue please email info@sanderson.co.nz

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