Marita Hewitt, Flux Matter(s); July, 2020. Watercolour and gouache on handmade cotton linen rag paper, 107 x 81.5 x 7cm. Courtesy: the artist and Page Galleries, Wellington.
Marita Hewitt’s latest exhibition Material Efficiencies is made up of two distinct series of works on handmade rag paper. These works emerged out of Hewitt’s ongoing interest in the history and processes of pre-industrialised paper production, and the ensuing impact of the material on the development and definition of drawing and illustration. The artist’s own paper-making process is both arduous and time-consuming – a single sheet of rag paper taking hours of labour, and all of this before Hewitt even begins to paint. She then works to carefully capture in watercolour the patterns and textures of the same fabrics used in the paper-making, devotedly detailing every imperfection.
The gallery is open and practicing COVID-19 social distancing measures.
