Acquiescence
Wendy Fairclough, Artist
This is one of the
Glass
in our collection.
It was made in
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
in 2009.
See full details
Object Detail
About the Work
Acquiescence
means
reluctant
acceptance.
Having lived in Australia for most of her adult life, Fairclough is now connected to both Aotearoa and Australia with equal degrees of push and pull between where she feels most at home. Her early work explored the romanticised longing of the migrant for home. However, in her major work Acquiescence (2009), inspiration came closer to home in the reality of the 'millennium drought' from 2001-2009, the worst drought on record for south east Australia. During that time Fairclough recalls the once vast Murray River all but dried up by the time it came to meet the sea in South Australia.
In Acquiescence Fairclough brings together a selection of large blown glass vessels in ghost like pale blue grey, all of which are potential water catchers. These vessels are much like those that Fairclough imagined European settlers would have placed outside in the hope of capturing rain in their arid new landscape. In the work the objects are stacked in a corner, along with a step ladder and broom, the artist comments on this as ''packing away the longing for the drought to break as the reluctant realisation dawns that this is not a drought-this change in our earth's climate is here to stay."
- Greg Donson, Curator & Public Programmes Manager, Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui. Label text for exhibition 'Wendy Fairclough: Common Ground' post Tylee residency exhibition and a survey 2007-2014, shown at the Sarjeant Gallery 2017-2018 and subsequently toured to three venues 2018-2020: The Suter Art Gallery, Objectspace, and Pataka Art + Museum.
Photo Credit: Grant Hancock
Having lived in Australia for most of her adult life, Fairclough is now connected to both Aotearoa and Australia with equal degrees of push and pull between where she feels most at home. Her early work explored the romanticised longing of the migrant for home. However, in her major work Acquiescence (2009), inspiration came closer to home in the reality of the 'millennium drought' from 2001-2009, the worst drought on record for south east Australia. During that time Fairclough recalls the once vast Murray River all but dried up by the time it came to meet the sea in South Australia.
In Acquiescence Fairclough brings together a selection of large blown glass vessels in ghost like pale blue grey, all of which are potential water catchers. These vessels are much like those that Fairclough imagined European settlers would have placed outside in the hope of capturing rain in their arid new landscape. In the work the objects are stacked in a corner, along with a step ladder and broom, the artist comments on this as ''packing away the longing for the drought to break as the reluctant realisation dawns that this is not a drought-this change in our earth's climate is here to stay."
- Greg Donson, Curator & Public Programmes Manager, Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui. Label text for exhibition 'Wendy Fairclough: Common Ground' post Tylee residency exhibition and a survey 2007-2014, shown at the Sarjeant Gallery 2017-2018 and subsequently toured to three venues 2018-2020: The Suter Art Gallery, Objectspace, and Pataka Art + Museum.
Photo Credit: Grant Hancock
Measurements
Installed 1020 x 2000 x 1500 mm
Media
hand-blown glass, sandblasted, acrylic bucket handles, found objects and acrylic paint
Description
Installation comprising of a variety of buckets, jugs, pots, funnels and bowls all made from hand blown glass arranged on the floor stacked within each other, on top of each other, and on their sides in a grouping around a step ladder and a standing broom. The glass is a grey/blue colour and the step ladder and broom are painted the same colour as the glass. There are a total of 26 items within the installation including 24 hand blown glass pieces and four buckets with acrylic handles.
Credit Line
Collection of the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui. Gift of the Friends of the Sarjeant Gallery, made possible with the generous assistance of the artist, 2020
Collection Type
Permanent collection
Acquisition Date
08 Mar 2021
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Accession Number:
2021/13/1