Living and practicing on the picturesque Mahurangi Peninsular, north of Tamaki-Makaurau (Auckland,NZ), Shayna Quinn-Bowyer creates art that explores place, time & balance. With a background working in design and lecturing at RMIT, and Swinburne University in Melbourne, she is passionate about fostering creative practices. 

Shayna's art practice is an exploration of materials. A merging of subtly gestural paintings; laced with movement through light, depth, and softly undulating colour. Overlaid by carefully considered compositions of natural materials including wool, cotton, silk, glass, clay, precious and semi-precious gems, and metals. These elements are hand-applied through traditional techniques passed down to the artist through family lines.

Shayna's explorations of time and place are from a micro and macro perspective. Drawing early inspiration from the book "How the Universe Got Its Spot" by Dr Jana Levin, the concept of how to map and visualize the 'shape of the universe', with its challenges of the flux of time, and place from our perspective as a starting point. The landscape of canvas, with lightly undulating colours; both bursting with organic movement on close inspection and continuous in tone when viewed as a whole; reflects a universe of vast empty space which on closer inspection is alive with vibrancy. Her use of paper with ragged ill-defined edges, multiple layers of painted compositions, and painting beyond the curvature of the seen canvas begs the question "Where does the edge of the art begin?" and "How do you experience the art you cannot see?"

On the question of what can be seen, the viewer might assume that the only composition to be enjoyed is the considered, refined outerfacing one. Rich with apparently unconnected floating stones, tufts, knots, and beads. However, hidden from view on the rear of the artwork is an equally considered composition, linking and connecting seemingly unconnected elements through strings tightly secured. Revealing unexpected relationships, geometries, and pathways. A parallel universe, literally existing on a hidden parallel plane.

 

The body of correlation works was an early practice in Shayna's approach. The correlations link together a range of metaphoric inspirations by creating an abstract map of experiences and relationships in time and space. The islands of stitched motifs in various materials create tension in their approximation and represent the significant moments, places and relationships in one’s life. 

 

The Survey series explores repetition, pattern, and how these correlate to a repeating pattern in one’s life and a wider macro perspective of time and nature. It nods to the human instinct of seeing patterns in life and nature while finding inspiration from historical, repetitive, and grided embroidery samplers the artist was taught with as a small child.