First Sparrow of springs, metal things
This postie used to paint, but he has found other materials simply take over. So he’s adapted to that, and now all his art has some metal in it. David James reports.
You will be hard pressed to find many with a resume like Picton artist Murray Sparrow.
He’s a postie who covers the entire stretch of Picton - that’s the town centre and the surrounding suburbs all the way to Waikawa Bay - on his motorbike.
But Sparrow previously worked with the World of Wearable Art (WOW) team, building props, back in the early days when the fashion spectacle was in Nelson.
He also worked on movies, helping with set design and construction, working on the likes of Sir Peter Jackson’s King Kong.
But when Sparrow left the WOWteam in 2012, he took up a job with New Zealand Post in Paraparaumu.
One job transfer later, Sparrow and his family are in Marlborough.
Sparrow has a small studio in an industrial part of Picton, and he recently contributed a body of work to the walls of the town’s great artisan outpost, Le Cafe, run by Kiwi art and music champion Peter Schoni.
Sparrow is a metal and woodwork sculptor and his pieces certainly reflect the landscape and natural world. It’s no wonder that his move to Picton was partly motivated by the beauty of the Marlborough Sounds.
‘‘I get inspired by nature when I am working,’’ Sparrow says of his post route. ‘‘There’s just so much beauty here. Picton is a beautiful place.’’ Sparrow’s working history as an artist is also a personal history of a young boy growing up in a small town who quietly went about the business of constantly putting pencil to parchment.
‘‘My dad used to bring home these huge rolls of wallpaper and encouraged me to draw on them,’’ Sparrow says. ‘‘And I guess I was always motivated to do art, since I was a kid.’’
Sparrow, 55, was born and raised in Hope, just out of Nelson.
He would eventually go on to study at the prestigious Ilam Fine Arts School, which is no walk in the park. He originally worked in painting and graphic art until finding his calling in sculpture in 1998.
‘‘One day I picked up some metal and started hammering it. And I realised it was something that I really, really liked. It was kind of unexpected, but it became my thing. Now all my art has metal as a part of it.’’
It was probably no coincidence that Sparrow began working for the World Of Wearable Art around the same time he decided to become a sculptor.
‘‘I got a job at the World of Wearable Art in Nelson, in 1998, making props. I managed to get in with the art crew and I learned a lot from that experience, because there were so many technical things we had to make.
‘‘I had to work 100 per cent of the time, and we had to make multiples of things, so it was a really good discipline. We worked together. It was mega teamwork.’’
The job forced Sparrow to adapt and constantly learn new techniques.
‘‘All of the things I learned at the World of Wearable Art, it all fed into my own art work.
‘‘You’re working for hours and hours every day, so you get really proficient with your craft. It helped me scale things up too. I like doing larger scale things with my work now. I’ve tried doing small, but I don’t find it very satisfying. I like to bend the metal and really get in there.’’
This led to designing large features for other Nelson events including Opera in the Park, the Masked Parade and the outdoor music event The Gathering.
After making sets for Sir Peter Jackson’s film King Kong, which he says was all-consuming and saturated with exhaustion, Sparrow became a costume technician for the Wellington WOWshows and exhibited in a number of galleries around New Zealand including the Scape Sculpture Park, in the Kapiti Coast.
‘‘I do a lot of drawings as a plan,’’ Sparrow says. ‘‘But there is a certain point in the process where the materials take over. So, I have to adapt to that.’’
Sparrow points to materials, and remembers where he found them.
‘‘I think I got that on an old wharf in Nelson … And this is an old fence post I found in Paekakariki.’’
And what about the show at Le Cafe?
‘‘When I came to Picton I saw Le Cafe and thought it was a great place for exhibiting. So, eventually, I went up and talked to Peter [Schoni] and we set a date. And that was something to work towards, and I like working to deadlines.’’
The pieces now hanging at Le Cafe, made from recycled materials, already have a ‘‘history built into them,’’ he says.
‘‘They’ve already got a story. I think that’s why I prefer that to fresh materials, because they already have a life in them.’’
Sparrow’s exhibition at Picton’s Le Cafe, on London Quay, started about two weeks ago, and has no set deadline.
Nuits Romantiques French outdoor movie at Clos Henri Vineyard, February 16. Pre movie aperitif at 7pm with the film Back To Burgundy screening at 8.45pm. 639 SH63. Ticket $55 includes a glass of wine and movie treats. Lisa or Julia 5727923.
Life Drawing and Painting: Craig Bluett takes his life models outdoors in the Waihopai Valley for a one day workshop on February 17. Tickets $120. To register phone 02102678711.
‘‘I’ve tried doing small, but I don’t find it very satisfying. I like to bend the metal and really get in there.’’ Murray Sparrow
Summer Concert Picton foreshore on Saturday, February 24 from 2pm with entertainment by covers band ‘Second Sunrise’ and children’s entertainer Steve Wilbury.
Beyond the Barricade, a concert of best-loved West End and Broadway musicals. ASB Theatre, on May 23 and 24 at 5pm.
Blenheim Musical Theatre presents Mary Poppins the Broadway Musical. ASB Theatre on April 20, 21 and 22.
Foster and Allen, ASB Theatre on April 23.
Moscow Ballet present The Nutcracker, ASB Theatre on May 13.