Alchemy is a glance into an artist’s studio where the intimate relationship with materials is revealed. In the beginning before work is dreamed of there is a finely crafted dialog between the artist and their tools in order to provide words for the stories they are about to tell. Greenfield and Meharry collaborate to create work that acknowledges the materials that they work with. This is a practice where earth plays an integral role and the transformation of it through process provides meaning to underpin the emergence of shape, colour, form in their own studios.

Here the artists explore location in order to collect materials that directly reflect the stories that can be told. The Ashburton Area and the lands of Kāti Huirapa ki Arowhenua situated on the Kā Pākihi-whakatekateka-a Waitaha (the Canterbury Plains) between the Rivers of Rakaia and the Rangitata provide the materials that are unique to this area and that carry on a tradition of story telling inspired by the land. The work presented here provides a glimpse into a palate that is created from the materials that we stand on, that we see every day and the dust that we breathe which trigger an understanding of the place where we live.

Artists Greenfield & Meharry are passionate about local earth materials and the way that they can be transformed as a tool to create new narratives around our physical connections to materials and surface within an arts practice.  They have undertaken an ongoing investigation of materials found around the South Island and in particular, for this project have focused on the Ashburton district.