A week of beach sculpture, shifting tides, and three works shaped from driftwood, stone, vine and flax.
The annual Driftwood and Sand Beach Art Festival returned to Hokitika Beach at the end of January. After a busy summer with The Shape of Gathering exhibition and family visits, working directly with the beach felt like the perfect antidote: simple materials, changing tides, and the chance to let each sculpture grow from what the shore offered..
What the Tide Brought In
The first ideas appeared on Sunday during a final beach meal with family. While checking what had washed up, I found two pieces that immediately caught my attention: an 11-metre log and a striking piece of driftwood I began thinking of as a “tooth”.
The next day, I roped off the log, added a “work in progress” sign, and began placing stones along its length. Nearby, I collected a white twisty piece of driftwood and noticed a large clump of vines or roots that looked full of possibility.
Shaping Visitor from the Deep
After a couple of days away, I returned on Thursday to clear around the log and develop the first sculpture. I collected large flat stones, arranged them along the length of the log.
The tide became part of the process. By Friday afternoon, I raked around the completed work, named it Visitor from the Deep and kept watch as the sea approached at high tide. It felt as though the beach, the log and the water were all contributing to the final form.
Hoops, Flax and an Unexpected Form
The vine material suggested another direction. I cut it into lengths, took it home to soak overnight, then began making hoops beside the festival tent. Each hoop was scarfed at the ends and bound with narrow strips of fresh harakeke / New Zealand flax. By Friday evening I had made 35 hoops; by Saturday there were 70. Once the hoops were finished, I laid all of them out on the grass, placing the largest in the centre and tying them together.
I originally imagined a hemispherical shape, but the work had other ideas. When a friend stood in the centre and held the connected hoops up, I wondered whether it might stand on its own. It did — and that moment changed everything.
After briefly considering a flat hanging form, I decided the sculpture belonged on the sand as a self-supporting structure. I called it Uplift.
Three Works on the Beach
Alongside Visitor from the Deep and Uplift, I also entered Opposites Attract, made from the “tooth” and the white twisty piece of driftwood. Each work had its own character, but all three were shaped by the beach itself — by what washed up, what could be carried, and what the tide allowed.
High seas added drama to the final weekend, destroying several sculptures across the beach and washing stones from Visitor from the Deep. Each time, I replaced what I could and let the work continue to respond to the conditions around it.
On Sunday, with calmer seas and a lower expected tide, I carried Uplift down to the beach and placed it near Visitor from the Deep. As it was lifted and settled back onto the sand, the form shifted again, responding to its own weight. I registered it at the last minute, delighted to see the three sculptures together in the landscape.
A Wonderful Result
I was very pleased with all three sculptures, and absolutely delighted that both Visitor from the Deep and Uplift received the Avant Garde award.
Another life
Ten days later, I brought Uplift and Opposites Attract home. Over time, the bindings on the individual hoops loosened and the form changed again — another reminder that works made from natural materials keep moving, shifting and ageing long after the festival ends.
