Fran Leitch

Fran Leitch 

click on the images to see full artwork and description 

 

Fran lives in Kawakawa with her husband and son, and exhibits regularly at Kaan Zamaan.

In 2000 Fran obtained her Bachelor of Archaeology at the University of Wales in Lampeter, U.K.  After moving to New Zealand in 2001 Fran studied at the Northland Polytechnic, graduating with her Bachelor of Applied Arts in 2006.  She has since also obtained her Masters in Applied Arts, and has exhibited her work widely in Northland and Auckland. Fran’s immersion in archaeology and museum display has created a strong influential base for her conceptualisation within the arts. The French philosopher Jean Baudirillard conceived object value systems as operating on different levels of function, exchange, symbolic exchange and sign exchange.  His ideas have greatly informed Fran’s work. Other artistic influences include Jacqueline Frazer, Lowry, Matisse, and jewellers Tomoko Havashi and Hans Stofer.

Fran’s new exhibition ” Containing the Minumental Self” opens July 6th.

Artist Statement for this new work:

This body of work is a close up examination of the notion that the self is a container which we navigate through during each day. It focuses on the minumental activities undertaken during the course of each day, and their associated routine and monotony. The work aims to open a window into the relationship between the domestic space and the ‘minumental self’

Brooch:A minumental space for catching dust bound together by 200 knots

Sterling silver, embroidery silk.

The bright surface of the sterling silver bound with the delicate silk thread is a work in progress; one which has not yet come to full fruition. Its function is to collect dust and map the wearer’s life through the residue it picks up. Dust by its nature constantly creeps into sacred arenas of private space, creating a veil that seduces with the promise of what lies beneath it. The form catches its’ prey in a surprise embrace whose clinging surface, like an invisible net, leaving no mark other than a delicate sheen of faint glitter, a signature of time. The knots which bind the space hold the residue from the maker’s hands, sweat, skin cells, forming a thin patina which remains after the making has finished, or moved away on to another work. 

Detail from drawing :

I love cleaning the sink 

Inspired by Louise Bourgeois’ ‘femme-maison’ (1940), ‘I love cleaning the sink’ locates the female in the domestic space (domus), forming an image of the housewife. When the female moves within the domestic space, she re-maps herself through the dialogue of her emotions and the space; thus the home becomes a place where minumental journeys take place. The chimney acts as a porous intrusion; leaking expressive intimate residue into the external world for all to see, turning the inside out. The privacy of the domestic space is challenged by this intrusion into the architectural body of the home, causing the inner life and inner consciousness to become exposed and revealed.

Hatpins:

The feminine aspect of the hat pin is something I wanted to play on, its decorative aspects more so than the function. The romantic ideas surrounding ladies and their hats/pins are one of an upper middle class, where domestic chores were done by another female. The heads of the pins depict scenes or maps which depict the chore of putting out the rubbish; all three pins form different aspects of this minumental act.  ‘Mapping the trip to the rubbish bin outside by the shed’; ‘must have climbed those stairs 100 times today’; and finally ‘pull the door to after me’ . 

There is some evidence that they were also used as weapons; in 1908, an English judge, fearing that the pins could be used as weapons in his court, ordered a group of suffragettes on trial to remove their hatpins and hats, an insulting request for women at the time. This sinister aspect also hangs over the pin’s function and the wearer; it is not just decorative, but challenges the female role as a caring, nurturing being. The owner could turn violent if provoked and use the jewellery as a weapon; the femme fatale putting out the rubbish.

Review by Mike Nettmann in the Northern News & the Bay Chronicle 14th July

Fran Leitch at Kaan Zamaan

“Containing The Minumental Self” is dazzling in its complex simplicity. In a series of impeccably crafted ‘hatpins’ and ‘brooches’ and in perfect harmony with six astounding drawings, Kawakawa artist Fran Leitch bravely exposes her sometimes fragile yet grounded world to those willing to take time and become fascinated by the wonder and finesse in each exquisite piece. Fran is an artist’s artist whose work is strongly influenced by the male and female gaze in its interpretation — an outstanding body of work and a positive ‘must see’

 

Comments are closed.