The exhibition Mark Work celebrates the joy of mark making in all its forms - stamping, brushing, smearing, rubbing, hammering, tracing. The ability to create through spontaneous and experimental action.

As part of Mark Work, we are hosting a rolling cast of tutors for a series of drawing sessions.

Each tutor will suggest alternative ways of tackling a drawing, taking inspiration from the different processes seen in the exhibition. Salome Tanuvasa’s drawing practice takes place in the free moments in her busy life. Using materials sourced from her immediate environment, her drawings are driven by the questions: ‘what can one make artwork with?’ and ‘what can be art?’

Tanuvasa’s drawing workshop, Sense of Mark Making will explore playful mark making techniques and the relationship between our senses, actions, gestures and what’s left on the page. Incorporating everyday found materials such as magazines, coloured cards and drawing materials, Tanuvasa will encourage colour-play and experimentation from participants, drawing inspiration from what surrounds them to develop their own sense of mark making.

This session is delivered in collaboration with Squiggla, a creative mark making programme developed by The Chartwell Trust. Squiggla is a tool that helps people of all ages to develop creative thinking through the power of mark making. Find out more and get involved here.

All materials will be provided. Sessions are 90 minutes long. Suitable for participants aged 12 years and over.

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Salome Tanuvasa is a Samoan-Tongan artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. She completed her Masters in Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts 2014, followed by a Diploma in Secondary Teaching. Her work crosses a variety of mediums including moving image, drawing, photography and sculpture. Her work is about her immediate surroundings and often reflects the environments she is in at that time, drawing attention to issues among New Zealand based Pacific people.

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Header image: Squigglaworks workshop. Photograph by David St George. Courtesy of misterwolf Creative Services.

Below:

Salome Tanuvasa, Untitled (2020), acrylic on unstretched canvas, 860 x 860mm, Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2020. Courtesy of Tim Melville Gallery.

Portrait of Salome Tanuvasa. Photograph by Hayley Bethell.

Squigglawork by Rob Gardiner.