Off-Cuts

Jon Hall: Off-Cuts for headland Sculpture on the Gulf 2017.

My proposal Off-Cuts was selected for headland Sculpture on the Gulf and will to be made specifically for the 2017 exhibition which opens in January 2017. This will be my most ambitious forged work to date - but I need your help!

Situated along a cliff top coastal walkway on Waiheke Island, headland Sculpture on the Gulf is New Zealand's foremost outdoor sculpture exhibition. Using a rigorous selection process, the exhibition aims to make a unique contribution to the cultural life of New Zealand, Aotearoa, by creating opportunities for people to experience the power and beauty of contemporary sculpture in the landscape. The exhibition shows only new work from the very best of contemporary New Zealand sculptural practice.

Off-Cuts will be made using the largest solid steel billets commercially available in New Zealand and utilising traditional forging practice in one of the last remaining industrial forges in this country. The solid billets of steel will be heated and forged using a CNG powered furnace and a 700 ton hydraulic forging press. Comprised of three separate solid forgings manipulated to resemble discarded objects from industry, particularly with European manufacturing processes in mind, they will tell a story about the land these colonial practices helped shape.

A large scale forged work such as Off-Cuts requires an enormous amount of energy and resources. By donating to this project, you will be contributing directly to this unique sculptural work by helping me purchase the massive steel blocks required for raw material. With your help I'll be able to create this work of art and make the best of this fantastic opportunity to show my work to an estimated audience of over 60,000 people during the three week exhibition on Waiheke Island.

Since the age of 14 I have dedicated my entire life to forging metal. After completing an apprenticeship in Wellington, I embarked upon a nine year journeyman's apprenticeship throughout Europe, working for artist blacksmiths and sculptors. For the last 10 years I have been building my own practice in Auckland, and this project is a vital step in my career.

For further information on my work and the exhibition please visit:

http://sculptureonthegulf.co.nz

www.jonhall.co.nz