Elisabeth Vullings
11 November - 08 December
Gehaakte Gordijntjes - Crocheted Curtains examines how the 21 houses Elisabeth grew up in shaped her understanding of 'home' and her identity as a Dutch New Zealander. Using architectural constructs based on fragments of memory, experience, and migration; the gallery transforms into an abstract house, inviting contemplation of the sense of home we all carry within.
“If there are Gehaakte Gordijntjes in the window, you’ll know Dutchies live there”
*Phrase heard as a child – source unknown.
I was born in Tokoroa in 1982, just 6 months after my parents immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands with my three older siblings. My mother was just 24 at the time. Popular within the Dutch culture, my mother always hand-crocheted curtains and these became familiar home accessories within the many houses I grew up in. These curtains embodied ‘gezelligheid – coziness’ and were an inadvertent symbol of our Dutch heritage.
My exhibition Gehaakte Gordijntjes – Crocheted Curtains examines how the 21 houses I grew up in (both in New Zealand and the Netherlands) influenced my understanding of ‘home’ and helped to shape my identity as a Dutch - New Zealander. Included are mixed media artworks created over the past 7 years, exploring architectural concepts based on memory, tradition, experience, and migration. Using recycled house materials, the exhibition weaves between painting, drawing and installation; intersecting the past, present, and future. Exhibited collectively these works transform the gallery into an abstract house, an assemblage of doors, windows, curtains, tiles.…. interior elements which invite contemplation of the sense of home we all carry within.
The title of the exhibition is taken directly from one of my art works, Gehaakte Gordijntjes – Crocheted Curtains which represents a significant experience in my childhood.
‘In 1989, when I was 7 years old, my mother, feeling homesick, returned to the Netherlands with my 3 siblings and I, to determine whether she had made the right decision in leaving her homeland. We left behind my father, friends, and our distinctly NZ rural lifestyle. After spending one year in the Netherlands; attending the local school, re/connecting with extended family, and absorbing the Dutch culture; we returned to New Zealand. This journey bought joy, excitement, grief, growth, and transformation. Upon reflection it was an experience that would have greatly impacted our future had my mother not reunited with my father and chosen New Zealand as our home.’
– Elisabeth Vullings
The artwork uses one of my mother’s hand crocheted curtains as a template, to meticulously etch the cotton detail onto a painted glass window. The window is exhibited slightly ajar, creating a cast shadow which represents both the shadow of the past and our potential future, based on the life choices we make.
The earliest work in the exhibition, Shifting House (2016), is a mixed media painting which incorporates a diagrammatic timeline using 21 house plans, sourced from my past. This inspired many later works which explore the home/identity relationship and use a similar architectural style. The final work in the exhibition, Renovating (2023), introduces cyanotype printing, a photographic process discovered in 1842 that was used to create architectural blueprints. Drawings are ‘blueprinted’ on to recycled white sheets and arranged to look like wall tiles, the distinctive blue and white colours referencing Dutch Delft tiles. The finished work remains in a state of ‘renovation’ - half tiled and incomplete, evoking memories of the past which inform and inspire our future.
Elisabeth Vullings is an established Kāpiti artist. She is self-taught and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Interior Architecture and a Master’s degree in Fine Arts. Through her studio practice, she explores architectural themes that draw on historical narratives. Elisabeth has been regularly shortlisted for art awards and achieved a Highly Commended in the Parkin Drawing Prize, 2020 - her entry piece, 1:1 Door is exhibited as part of the upcoming exhibition.
Gehaakte Gordijntjes – Crocheted Curtains open from 11 November at Toi Pōneke Gallery, 61 Abel Smith Street.
https://elisabethvullings.co.nz/
other exhibitions
binnenkijken - look inside - guided tour.
Saturday 25 Nov
Come ‘binnekijken’ and join the artist Elisabeth Vullings for a ‘look inside’ her exhibition – Gehaakte Gordijntjes - Crocheted Curtains.
Memory House - drawing workshop
Sunday 3 Dec
Join the artist Elisabeth Vullings to create a layered compositional drawing using tracing paper and architectural templates.
