"Garden" at Upper Riccarton Library

Upper Riccarton Library has brought a piece of Riccarton Bush indoors with a unique sculpture by Auckland artist Jeff Thomson.

Named "Garden", the 13-metre sculpture is made of more than 200 pieces of screen-printed, corrugated steel and second-hand corrugated iron and now hangs along the north wall inside the library. The individual pieces represent flowers, ferns and leaves and each was cut individually and screen printed in three to four colours. Intermixed are pieces of corrugated iron, also cut into plant and flower forms. The sculpture is 90cm high and, in some places, up to 30cm thick.

"I wanted to recreate all the different layers you get in a garden. It is almost a collage," Jeff said after he installed the sculpture on the library wall.

"Some of the pieces were inspired by a walk through Riccarton Bush like some of the ferns and mahoe leaves. Predominantly, I have used New Zealand natives, but there are some exotic plants as well."

The individual pieces were cut out of second-hand corrugated iron. Using the plasma cut technique Jeff was able to recreate the detail of the original leaves and flowers. The pieces were then screen printed in multiple colours.

After this, Jeff faced the challenge of putting all the pieces together to create the 13-metre sculpture. "The preparation of all the shapes, cutting them and the printing took a lot of time. I put together the pieces in about two and a half days, but the took me weeks to do all the cutting and printing."

Despite working in a big warehouse, Jeff did not have enough room to put the sculpture up on the wall while he was working on it. Instead, he worked on it in sections that were roughly joined together.

The sculpture was brought down to Christchurch in five large pieces to be joined together properly for the first time.

"I am very happy with the result. What is really interesting is that, when you look up through the aisles, you get to see these sections of the sculpture. There are so many different things to see. People who come to the library regularly will find new plant forms all the time."

The library received a grant from the Art in Public Places fund in 2004/2005 and was looking for a piece of art that would complement and enhance the new building. With its different layers and bright colours, Jeffs work appealed and the artist was asked to design something with a local aspect.

"It is wonderful," says Upper Riccarton community librarian Joan Simpson. "It is everything I wanted it to be for the library in terms of presence, colour and texture. It is interesting and understandable to the whole range of customers that visit our library. It brings colour and you can see different snippets depending on where you are in the library."

Jeff was born in Auckland in 1957. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland in 1981 and went on to become a Frances Hodgkins Fellow at the University of Otago in 1995. He was Tylee Cottage Artist in Residence at Sarjeant Art Gallery in Wanganui in 2000 and has exhibited regularly throughout New Zealand and Australia with several solo exhibitions in Germany since 1997.

He is well known for his use of corrugated iron, which includes the Beckenham Head, located on the junction of Colombo Street and Strickland Street. Other known sculptures include the corrugated iron HQ Holden station wagon at Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, Shells on Lambton Quay, Wellington and Blade at Northlands Shopping mall, Papanui. Jeff also has two works in the collection of the Christchurch Art Gallery and has created roof tops for shelters in the Port Hills and Horseshoe Lake.

Photos by Robyn Webster, Riccarton High School

Related links

• Art New Zealand published an interview with Jeff Thomson by Gregory OBrien
• Check out the Library Catalogue for more information on Jeff Thomson