Ngā mihi to all those who joined us for Karen Sewell’s artist led workshop on the 29th June 2024.

Hikaru Dorodango offered a meditative journey through the art of making.

The workshop provided a multi-sensory experience, incorporating sound and scent elements alongside clay work, all aimed at fostering a sense of renewal and grounding for participants. Attendees were guided to select a handful of clay, settle at the work surface, and free their minds of distractions. They then engaged in the tactile task of molding a clay ball between their palms, pressing, rolling, and shaping it.

Through slowing down and engaging with this seemingly simple process, everyday actions were transformed into moments of meditation and transcendence. As each participant completed their sphere, the invitation was to add it to the table, contributing to an organic arrangement that carried the essence of every individual involved. Makers were invited to select a colored pigment which Karen would add later when dry then seal it also, so the piece could later be collected and kept as a reminder of the experience.

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Karen Sewell | b. 1969 MFA (Hons), Whitecliffe College of Art and Design | Te Whare Takiura o Wikiriwhi

Karen Sewell is a visual artist who works across media including sculpture, installation, photography, painting, scent, sound and light. She lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, New Zealand. Sewell is interested in the intersection of art with spiritual experience, in particular, human experiences of the numinous. Sewell graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (with Honours) in 2016 from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design.

She was a finalist and award winner in the Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Awards in 2024, the recipient of the Premier Award in the Trusts Art Awards in 2011 and has been selected as a finalist in multiple awards including the Glaister Ennor Graduate Awards in 2016. Sewell has exhibited work across New Zealand and internationally with a highlight being Luminary I Luminare in Personal Structures biennial exhibition at Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Italy, a collateral of the Venice Biennale.

3 Sisters, 3 Kings (earth from where I was born) This sculptural installation is new work produced specifically for this exhibition. It has developed from several earlier and new strands of research that have included, astronomical research, Greek mythology and folk lore surrounding the Orion constellation, the ancient Japanese art form Hikaru dorodango, to the essence of plants with their physical and psychological benefits. The exhibition encompasses elements of sound, scent, sculptural works, and photography, all exploring the connections between the tangible and intangible, the abstract and the spiritual, and the diverse realms of sensory experience. The artwork endeavours to evoke the unfathomable mystery and beauty of cosmic phenomena, serving as a potential threshold into the realm of the numinous.

This iteration is interwoven with the artist's personal history and collective narrative. 3 Sisters, 3 Kings references the three stars at the center of the Orion constellation, commonly known as Orion's belt. This celestial feature has been revered throughout history as a celestial bridge, connecting the sky's northern and southern hemispheres. For Sewell, who herself is one of three sisters, it serves as a metaphorical meeting place, symbolising the convergence of her and her children's families, which span dual hemispheres and encompass diverse cultural heritages.