Vital Union: Painting with Edgefield
It was with a sense of significance that I spent an extended length of time painting in Taranaki’s Pukekura Garden in 2023. And now, in 2024 I have [re]-turned to the land of my ancestors - to a village named Edgefield in Norfolk, England, to paint in/with the St Peter’s & St Paul’s Edgefield site for a month. The place that generations of my people have called home. A very special place of engagement for me loaded with potential and painting encounter possibilities.
The first time I encountered Edgefield in person was a few years ago when for a week I began to make some paintings there both inside and outside the church building, and was warmly welcomed by Richard and the dedicated people who look after the parish, and I felt so grateful to be there. It was the home of my great-great-grandparents, and also my great-great-great-grandparents and a whole lot of extended family before and either side of them. One of the reasons I was drawn to painting here was that my great-great-grandfather, Walter Hubert Marcon, was the Rector here in the late 1800s, and he had a hand in relocating the building, literally stone by stone, a few hundred meters down the road to its present position. So he, and all the people who were involved, were so physically connected to the place as well as quite probably spiritually and emotionally as well. I’m not sure why that matters, but there is a sense that the physicality of the place was well-known by my people, and I wanted to connect with the place by painting there.
During September 2024 I developed a new body of work on-site over a duration of three weeks - making several more substantial paintings in collaboration with the place. There was 40 square meters of canvas and linen that I used to ‘wrap’ the building, and then to paint on it in the way that I do. The expanse of this size canvas posed a few physical challenges to navigate, both in the making and the installation of the work. On the rainy days I worked inside the church, rolling back the pews, and exploring the stone arches, wooden panels, stone floor, and the ambience that filled the space. All the while remembering that I was in the place that generations of my family had also been in - there was something poignant about that. Each morning before beginning work, I would be still and sing and pray in the space - these were wonderful times where I sensed a welcoming to begin work for the day.
The work was installed in-situ in the church at the end of this time for public viewing, and will be shown at the University of Waikato in Aotearoa in November 2025 and shared through talks and publications.
Artist in Residence - September 2024
Opening Blessing | 8th September 2024; Painting in Edgefield [St Peter’s & St Paul’s, Sweetbriar Ln, Melton Constable NR24 2AF] | Artist Talk | Closing blessing | Exhibition of work | Saturday 28th September 2024, St Peter’s & St Paul’s Edgefield; Guest Speaker, ITIA, St Andrews University, Scotland | 4th October 2024; Guest Artist speaker and studio visits, DJCAD, University of Dundee, Scotland | 8th October 2024; WINTEC Research Archive | 1st November 2024; Artist Publication Book Launch | 2025, Ramp Gallery; Exhibition, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts Gallery, University of Waikato | 4th November 2025 – 21st February 2026; Artist Talks, Whaingaroa studio | 25th March 2025, 26th March 2025; Illustrated lecture, University of Otago | 21st July 2025; Published paper, Journal of Visual Art Practice | March 2025
Warm thanks for the support of Reverend David Longe, Richard Peaver, Kay and Kevin (my ‘painting assistants’) and the St Peter’s & St Paul’s Church Parish Committee, Helen and Tom for their warm and generous hospitality, and the local community on my journey of painting in Edgefield during. Thanks also to friends and family and for the support of the Waikato Institute of Technology; Caleb at ITIA/St Andrews University; Mary at DJCAD/University of Dundee; Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts Gallery, Murray Rae at the University of Otago, and the Journal of Visual Arts Practice, for your wider support of me and this mahi.
Exhibition: ‘Vital Union: Painting with Edgefield’ - September 2024
Installation, 28 September 2024, 10am-2pm
St Peter’s & St Paul’s Edgefield, Sweetbriar Lane, Melton Constable, NR24 2AF, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Research Presentation: ‘Vital Union: Seeing the Real in Site-responsive Painting’ - October 2024
Research Seminar: Theology, Imagination, and the Arts | School of Divinity | St Andrews University | 12.00 - 1.30pm, 4th October 2024
Research Presentation: ‘Vital Union: Seeing the Real in Site-responsive Painting’ - October 2024
Research Seminar: Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design [DJCAD], University of Dundee, 8th October 2024 [Guest speaker] 8th October 2024
Research Presentation: ‘Vital Union: Seeing the Real in Site-responsive Painting’ - December 2024
Panel Speaker: Art Association of Australia and New Zealand | Australian National University, Canberra | 4th-6th December2024
Research Presentation: ‘Vital Union: Seeing the Real in Site-responsive Painting’ - April 2024
Lecture: | Edinburgh College of Art's, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), ‘PROKALO’ Lecture Series, 10th April 2025 [Guest lecturer].
Presentation & Workshop: ‘Vital Union: Seeing the Real in Site-responsive Painting’ - April 2024
ANZAAE 2025 National Conference, April 14-16th. Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Art Educators [Guest Speaker].
Exhibition: ‘Vital Union: Painting with Edgefield II’ - 2025
Installation of paintings, 4 November 2025 - until February 2026
The Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts Gallery, University of Waikato, Kirikiriroa, Aotearoa New Zealand
Book Launch: ‘Vital Union: Seeing the Real in Painting’ - 2025
November 2025, Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Photography by Mark Purdom