Sculptor’s rural visual language

In the mid-1960s there was a local artistic community called Group of Seven. This collective of South Canterbury-based artists included Astrid (Molly) Steven, Gypsy Poulston, Ruth Millar, Pat Rowell, Clifford Brunsden and Morgan Jones. They would meet in each other’s homes, discuss art and support each other in their practices.

Under the guidance of Clifford Brunsden, in 1966, Group of Seven displayed their artworks at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery – in an exhibition by the same name, Group of Seven. An exhibition, reassembling artworks from Group of Seven, is on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery.

Morgan Jones (b.1934) is a sculptor born in Surrey, England, who immigrated to New Zealand in 1955 at the age of 21. After training as a teacher in Christchurch, Jones moved to South Canterbury and, while working in local schools, discovered a talent and passion for sculpture.

Throughout the 1960s, Jones developed his practice significantly, and became the youngest member to join the Group of Seven. Works shown in the group’s exhibition at Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 1966 were praised for their variety, and Jones was described as ‘‘a sculptor of growing accomplishment’’.

In the 1970s, he was awarded the Hansell’s Sculpture Award, a prestigious national prize for sculpture. After a year as Artist in Residence at the Dunedin School of Art, Jones decided to commit to his art full-time. Since this time, he has undertaken many commissions for large-scale installations and has been the subject of a career retrospective at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū in 2004, which recognised his role in developing a visual language of rural New Zealand.

Much of his work exemplifies ‘‘assemblage’’, a technique in which various materials and found objects are combined into new forms. Jones commonly used materials from the farm, such as timber, galvanised nails and bolts, barbed wire and corrugated iron. Rural Machine, 1971, (pictured) was one of the last sculptures Jones made using carving methods.