Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery

Kate Newby

YES TOMORROW

19 February – 30 May 2021

Kate Newby has built her career on the principle of ‘travelling light’, responding to locations where she is invited to work by translating her casual observations of things and places into sculptural installations of locally sourced materials, and testing where she can be and what she should do through architectural interventions and site works. Her modus operandi requires her to rely on local knowledge, building networks of helpers to share in her efforts, but also testing audiences’ expectations about what is proper to the art experience.

In December 2020 she flew in to New Zealand from San Antonio Texas, where she is currently based, a return journey conditioned by the COVID pandemic that is curtailing the kind of movement to which Newby has become accustomed. Coming home to make this exhibition has enabled her to reconnect with places –Te Henga on Auckland’s west coast, Paeroa, Whanganui, and Te Whanganui-a-Tara – and people: family members, old friends, artists, makers, and more.

YES TOMORROW was therefore a particularly memorable ‘touching down’. It maintained the artist’s customary lightness, as she addressed herself to the Adam Art Gallery’s building and its environs and brought in handmade objects retrieved from storage and made for the occasion. But it also grounded her, taking stock of her passage through the art world, crystallising her particular sculptural language, and memorialising those transitory encounters that litter her life. The exhibition unfolded as a set of confident and challenging interventions that recast the relationship between art and its context and invite viewers to look again at the world around them.

Exhibition guide

Media release

Public programme pdf

Events:

May: Samuel Holloway

28 May 2021

Is Land Art Environmental?: Su Ballard

26 May 2021

Walking tour with Ana Iti and Christina Barton

22 May 2021

SMP Ensemble: Reworkings

16 May 2021

Yes, Yesterday, Frank O'Hara and the New School: Anna Jackson

12 May 2021

Superficial Songs: Antonia Barnett-McIntosh

26 March 2021

Pōneke: Ruby Solly

19 March 2021

Concrete in drawing: Simon Twose

09 March 2021

Media & Downloads:

Listen: Kim Hill’s interview with Kate Newby on RNZ

Read: ‘And I Do Care’ by Cameron Ah Loo-Matamuaon on ArtNow

Read in print: ‘Letting the Weather In’ by Sophie Davis, Art New Zealand, Winter issue 2021

Shop:

Kate Newby: YES TOMORROW

Kate Newby: YES TOMORROW tea towel

Photo of the outside rear of the gallery, looking up at a grey tiled wall and an angled grate and frosted window with several small holes

Kate Newby, Always humming, 2021, glass. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

A photograph of the view looking down through a window of the gallery, at a carpark and flat tiled area covered in terracotta tiles with large scratches and marks.

Kate Newby, You got to write a song and I got to be in it, 2021, terracotta tiles. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

terracotta tiles with small dot marks and the shadow of a chain

Kate Newby, You got to write a song and I got to be in it (detail), 2021, terracotta tiles. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

photograph of a flat area of terracotta tiles next to a grey concrete building and a stair rail obscuring it on the left side

photograph of a flat area of terracotta tiles next to a tall grey concrete building

an outdoor flat tiled area covered in terracotta tiles with large scratches and marks, and metal bike racks and a stair railling on either side

A grid of clear reflective windows, with one section replaced with frosted glass that has two round holes in it.

Kate Newby, Always humming, 2021, glass. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

a wide view inside the Adam Art Gallery with a large installation of fine ceramic objects hanging infront of the window

Kate Newby, SHE’S TALKING TO THE WALL, 2012–2021, assorted clay, glaze, glass, thread, wire. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

closeup photo of fine, long ceramic objects dangling from thin strings

Kate Newby, SHE’S TALKING TO THE WALL, 2012–2021, detail, assorted clay, glaze, glass, thread, wire. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

a view inside the Adam Art Gallery with a large installation of fine ceramic objects hanging in front of the window

a floor level view of groove in rubber flooring tiles filled sith small ceramic objects. a person is crouching at the end of the groove in front of the windows

Kate Newby, you run it, 2021, assorted clay, collected broken glass. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

a groove in rubber flooring tiles filled with small ceramic objects

Kate Newby, you run it, 2021, detail, assorted clay, collected broken glass. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

A wooden stage in a dimly lit white walled gallery, covered with groups of small objects

Kate Newby, How funny you are today, New York, 2010–2021, assorted clay, glaze, glass, crystals, silver, bronze, tin foil, paper, timber. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

A wooden floor in a dimly lit gallery, covered with groups of small objects with written paper labels in red ink

Kate Newby, How funny you are today, New York, 2010–2021, detail, assorted clay, glaze, glass, crystals, silver, bronze, tin foil, paper, timber. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

A view of a staircase in the gallery with grey walls and a textured blue floor

Kate Newby, What Kind of Day Has it Been, 2021, screed, pigment, glass, silver, bronze. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

A view of a long gallery with high white walls and a textured blue floor

A view of the textured blue ground inside the gallery, and outside the window is textured terracotta tiles

Inside: What Kind of Day Has it Been, 2021, detail, screed, pigment, glass, silver, bronze; Outside: You got to write a song and I got to be in it, 2021, terracotta tiles. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

Kate Newby, What Kind of Day Has it Been, 2021, detail, screed, pigment, glass, silver, bronze. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

A view of the textured blue ground inside the gallery, with sunlight streaming in and blue light reflecting up onto the white walls. Outside the window is brick building, and one of the windows is frosted glass with several round holes in it

Kate Newby, Always humming, 2021, glass; and What Kind of Day Has it Been,2021, detail, screed, pigment, glass, silver, bronze. Installation view, YES TOMORROW, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker

a long drain in a grass park, set with rounded terracotta tiles of different colours. There is blue sky and a house in the background

Kate Newby, Rob Duncan Megan Daniel Margaret Lynn Samuel Deb Nico Marilyn Sarah Henry Mieko Kate Ruth Mike Briana Justine Grace Romesh Josefine Madison Nerissa David Nina Gabrielle Dayle Isabelle Ana Lilith Christian Ruby Sophie Millie Michaela Loretta Laura Christina Alison Olly Miriam Fred Lise Hazel Simon Mia Anita Caroline Anna Prak Nadya Alba Xander Flavia Emma Stef Areez Bella Rachel Kirsty Kate Nicola Emerita Tim Megan Ruby Fina Felixe Ella Eva Ben Julian Bena Huhana Max Lily Tina Rose Bill and Teresa, 2021, assorted clay, glaze, mortar. Photo: Ted Whitaker

a drain gutter with dirt and grass on either side, set with rounded terracotta tiles of different colours

a long curving drain in a grass park, set with rounded terracotta tiles of different colours. There are large trees and a building on a hill in the background

a long drain in a grass park, set with rounded terracotta tiles of different colours