A newly-completed installation in the Sculpture Park at Waitakaruru Arboretum in Tauwhare has quite literally turned chaos into art.
Sculptor Marcus Tatton shows the method used to fix the split timber to the circular frame in the centre of the portal. Photo: Viv Posselt
The Portal Project was masterminded and built by award-winning Kiwi artist Marcus Tatton, with the help of his partner Sharlene Broughton.
Already familiar with the Sculpture Park, it was after Tatton heard that around 100 trees were blown down or snapped in the park’s Conifer Canyon during the February 2023 Cyclone Gabrielle event that he came up with a solution – one borrowed from similar installations he has done in parts of Europe and Australia.
He suggested to Sculpture Park founders and owners John and Dorothy Wakeling that he turn the remnants of the felled trees into a stacked-firewood Portal Project that would serve as an environmentally-friendly interface between the before and after of the cyclone.
“A portal is to do with the transition from one state to another … I am often motivated by that theme. After all,” said Tatton, “sculpture is really about transition.”
Sculptor Marcus Tatton and his partner Sharlene Broughton pictured during construction with founders/owners of the Sculpture Park, John and Dorothy Wakeling. Photo: Viv Posselt
The Wakefields were delighted. The Art-in-Nature Arboretum Trust that runs the park does so with a keen eye on protecting the environment, and they saw Tatton’s proposal as being a good fit.
Taumarunui-born Tatton has been living in Tasmania for the past 38 years. He and Broughton came home to New Zealand just before starting on the installation. They had already dealt with regulatory requirements around the planning applications and engineering processes that would secure the installation in the landscape, and soon set to work.
Once the steel frame was in place, with a swing gate to ensure park staff had road access when needed, the arduous task of splitting the timber – a first cousin to macrocarpa (Cupressus lusitanica) – was started.
Guests David McKie and Margalit Toledana taking photographs at the opening of the portal. Photo: supplied
Tatton reckoned on using about 28 cubic metres to complete the job, and in laying it carefully in place, the pair made sure the frame would be hidden and the portal would appear to hold itself aloft between the cliff face and the bank of trees.
Lauded as a public space sculptor, Tatton has won numerous awards and has pieces around the world. In 2011, he installed a firewood sculpture on Waiheke Island, calling it Sculpture on the Gulf and winning a Westpac Merit award. His works in Australia include those crafted from natural and industrial waste material, to cast concrete and fabricated steel projects.
Almost as soon as the cyclone did the damage, John Wakefield started replanting the trees – he’s done around 50 so far. Even as the work continues, the 17.5ha park the Wakefields carved out of a derelict quarry and turned into a botanical haven holding more than 20,000 trees and over 100 New Zealand sculptures and artworks, continues to host groups for both education and pleasure.
The completion of Tatton’s installation is a timely addition to the Treasures in the Landscape exhibition (sculptures from The Arts House Trust collection), running at the park until May 4.
Sculptor Marcus Tatton and his partner Sharlene Broughton, toast the completion of the Portal Project with others at the Waitakaruru Arboretum’s Sculpture Park. Photo supplied