Environment Envoy 2021

Dunedin Dream Brokerage is delighted to be partnering with Dunedin City Council in our third iteration of Environment Envoy, an environmental arts commission that bridges art and the natural world, funded by Te Ao Tūroa, Dunedin’s Environment Strategy. 

Tim Barlow

We are excited to announce Tim Barlow. with his project The Lime Burners, is the recipient of the 2021 Environment Envoy commission. This group exhibition and public programme hosted by the Gasworks Museum will explore the ancient techniques of lime used in art and architecture.

Barlow’s research into lime became specific to Ōtepoti Dunedin and Otago during his residency at the Otago Polytechnic Dunedin School of Art in 2020. The Lime Burners will showcase recovered and experimental artistic and masonry techniques focused on limestone, lime plasters and lime concretes. The kaupapa creates an active forum to experiment with lime alternatives as low carbon production processes and discuss solutions in the reduction of CO2 emissions in the artmaking and building industries. 

The Lime Burners

Lime materials have a curious history shrouded in mysterious cults, secretive guilds and forgotten knowledge. Fascinated by this 10,000 year old association between humans and quicklime, Tim Barlow has invited local artisans Jenny Hjertquist, Madeleine Child, Madison Kelly, Daisy Biscuit, Stuart Griffiths, Anna-Marie Mirfin, Patrick Ferris, Louisa Baillie, Gavin Thomson, Jenna Packer, Andrew Barsby, Ben Eyers, Rupert Morris, Dillon Waddell, and Marion Familton to reimagine the relationship between humans, technology and lime culture. 

Nau mai, tauti mai – everyone is welcome to come along to the opening of The Lime Burners on Friday 14 May at 6pm, in the fitting room at the Gasworks Museum on 20 Braemar Street, South Dunedin. You are also invited to join workshops and demonstrations on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 May followed by public conversations at the end of each day.

Saturday May 15

Using Lime mortar to make a basic pizza oven with Dillon Waddell
10am - 4pm

Help make a pizza oven with traditional lime mortars and renders.

Dillon Waddell is a sculptor and a recent graduate of the Dunedin School of Art. Following the New Materialist tradition he uses found objects and recycled materials to explore rural identity and cultural history in Aotearoa NZ.

Polished plaster over ceramics with Ben Eyers 10am - 4pm

Working with thin layers of polished and pigmented lime plaster to create beautiful waterproof finishes

Ben Eyers is a Carpenter and materials geek. He’s been experimenting with lime for about a decade with mixed results.

Roman concrete seawall with Tim Barlow
1pm - 4pm

Learn how to make the most durable human made material yet known! Observe and participate in the making of ancient concrete building materials including Roman concrete that can be set in seawater.

Tim Barlow is currently re-engaging his art practice with Otago, making material and social connections in a search for the perfect lime concrete 

Traditional Fresco painting with Jenna Packer and Marion Familton  
2pm - 5pm 

Buon Fresco or 'True Fresh' is the traditional fresco technique which traps coloured pigments inside a lime plaster surface as it dries. We will be trying out ways of transferring images, applying pigments and experimenting with the saturation of colour, brush marks and drying times on small sample fresco tiles.

Jenna Packer

is a full-time painter living and working in Waitati, near Dunedin. She studied Fine Arts and History at Canterbury University. Seeing real frescoes while living in France in the '90's was a revelation so Jenna further studied Buon Fresco technique at the Slade School of Art, London. Her current painting technique, acrylic on aluminium, borrows a lot from her interest in fresco.

Marion Familton

How artists navigate the future in a sustainable way is a question we have to confront - how do you make stuff AND lower your carbon footprint? My gas kiln uses LPG - a gas which will be phased out in the near future - so I need to start thinking differently about my art practice.

The lime burners project is fascinating: I’ve been able to experiment with different forms of lime, working it with raw clay. This creates numerous technical challenges, but I am learning a lot by using clay techniques to shape lime vessels. Clearly this is a journey that has only just begun.

Public talk: 5 - 6pm
Nau mai, tauti mai, all welcome

Chaired by Professor Hugh Campbell

Panel: Jenna Packer, Tim Barlow, Rupert Morris, Stephen Kilroy

The future is lime: revaluing quicklime in a post capitalist, climate crisis world.

'The Lime Burners' poses questions around whether our ancestors knew how to create a better built world and culture than the one we live in now. Should we return to past lime technology and what is the value of this past knowledge in a contemporary hi-tech society? The need for local sourcing of materials, self reliance, mutual aid and alternative materials technology has perhaps never been greater. Open discussion to follow

Sculpting with Stucco with Louisa Baillie
10am - 4pm

Demonstration of techniques used to make stucco decorative wall sculpture. From Pompeii to Europe to Aotearoa, walls have been decorated with lime putty mixtures. Today you can observe how it was done, and see some finished works. 

Louisa Baillie works at the Anatomy Museum, University of Otago, restoring old models as well as making new ones using contemporary materials like 3D printing and silicone. In her own time she draws and sculpts. Learning about stucco has been a dream project, and she is excited to share what she has learnt. 

Hot-lime mixing for heritage lime mortars with Stuart Griffiths and Andrew Barsby
10am - 4pm

Making heritage lime mortars for brick and stone buildings.

Stuart Griffiths has an extensive practice working in sculpture and stone masonry. Primarily working on site-specific projects which often bridge these two disciplines. Lime offers a ‘vehicle’ for conveying meaning in these times beyond the pragmatic ends that are usually associated with such materials.

Andrew Barsby has been a stonemason for over 20 years leading to project management for major restoration and conservation projects in Melbourne. His current position is Conservation Advisor for Heritage New Zealand, Pouhere Taonga, Otago Southland.

Rongo mo te wairua medicine for the soul with Gavin Thomson
10am - 4pm

Working with slow techniques of hand forming pounamu that includes using Otago stones. 

Gavin Thomson creates taonga from pounamu in a traditional style for clients. He also works with schools and learning centres around Murihiku where he runs day long courses sharing the art of pounamu with tamariki. His work is inspired by his tupuna and he also draws inspiration from the whenua and his natural surroundings.

Special event; DIY -Burning your own lime for homemade concrete, plaster and more with Rupert Morris

Anyone can make their own sculpture and building materials by burning their own lime. Rupert Morris rekindles the ancient art of small-scale lime burning.  

Location to be confirmed as it takes all day and night!

Rupert Morris is a writer and stonemason.

Public talk: 5 - 6pm
Nau mai, tauti mai, all welcome

Lime practice, artists discuss their projects for The Lime Burners

Chaired by musician, stone mason and raconteur Rupert Morris. Participating artists in 'The Lime Burners 2021'  will give a brief presentation on their artworks followed by an open discussion. 

Tim Barlow

Limestone and shells have been burnt for thousands of years by many of the world’s cultures to create building materials, artworks and to increase agricultural productivity. The resulting quicklime is one of the worlds most used and versatile cultural materials.

Lime materials have a history shrouded in alchemical cults, secretive guilds and forgotten knowledge yet also have a global revival as the search continues to create alternatives to the unsustainability of modern industrial production. The Lime Burners poses questions around whether our ancestors knew how to create a better built world and culture than the one we live in now. Should we return to past technologies and how do we incorporate past knowledge with hi-tech modern production? The need for local sourcing of materials, self-reliance and available knowledge of materials technology has perhaps never been greater. 

The Lime Burners brings together an interdisciplinary group of artists, stonemasons and builders to explore the fascinating 10,000 year association of humans and quicklime in an exhibition, series of demonstration/workshops and discussions. The artists will work with a range of lime based; plasters, mortars, frescos and concretes and also consider the ‘techne’ of lime, a broader consideration of its utilisation and value for contemporary society and the environment.

Although some of the contributors have considerable professional expertise in the use of quicklime, many of the artists are exploring the uses of lime for the first time or re-engaging with past encounters. It is a group on a path of discovery, sharing knowledge and uncovering some of the mythical practices and new innovations of using this beautiful material.  They represent a group of practitioners not afraid to take risks and make mistakes, work in unfamiliar territory and share the knowledge they discover.  This requires building relationships with a wider community, with those who manage or control resources, with other artists, technicians, suppliers, decision-makers, mana whenua, agriculturists and quarry operators.

In Aotearoa the colonial building boom of the 19th century occurred as Portland cement was displacing lime use in many areas of building construction and architectural decoration. The smaller local lime kilns first built to service regional locales were being displaced by larger industrial kilns by the 1880’s and along with it centuries of acquired  knowledge from the immigrant lime artisans. In today’s world with the required reduction in environmental pollution and decarbonisation of industry we are seeing a return of the use of lime, in heritage building restoration, high-tech new housing and commercial buildings and increasingly in demand for artists products. This is heralding interesting new times when a more dispersed and diverse artistic community joins with other disciplines to rebuild our material world and create new meanings for human relationships with technology and the environment.