Jessica Crothall
Artist’s Statement
Punakaiki – Water and Rock
23 August – 20 September 2025
For many years, Jessica Crothall and her partner Peter have made annual pilgrimages to Aotearoa’s West Coast, where one of the enduring highlights has been the remarkable formations at Punakaiki, known as the Pancake Rocks.
This body of work is inspired by the dynamic landscape and geological marvels of Punakaiki. The name itself is often translated from te reo Māori as “spring of food,” referencing the area’s historical abundance. However, other interpretations suggest it may echo the English word “pancakes,” or be derived from puna (spring or pool) and ngairi/kairi (stormy waters)—a fitting reference to the site’s powerful blowholes and turbulent surf.
Geologically, the Pancake Rocks are layered limestone formations created around 30 million years ago from marine sediment, later uplifted by seismic activity. Wind, rain, and sea spray have eroded the softer layers over time, producing the distinctively stacked, “pancake-like” appearance. These same natural forces have also carved out blowholes, where sea water surges through openings in the rock, erupting dramatically at high tide.
This series marks a continuation of Crothall’s long-standing artistic engagement with Punakaiki. She first exhibited paintings of these formations at an earlier solo show at Left Bank Gallery. In the past two years, she has returned to the theme, revisiting it through refined processes and new techniques—some of which remain closely guarded secrets within her practice.
As with her earlier exhibition Kahikatea: Moss and Mist, this collection is deeply influenced by the philosophies and aesthetics of traditional Chinese and Japanese painting. The resulting works reflect not only the physical grandeur of the West Coast but also an emotional and contemplative response to the rhythm of water, stone, and time.
The exhibition also includes other works that pay tribute to the wider West Coast landscape—its mood, movement, and enduring significance in Crothall’s creative life.
Biography
Born in South Canterbury near Waimate, Jessica grew up on a sheep and cropping farm and attended high school in Timaru where she had Gypsy Poulston as her art teacher. She attended Canterbury school of Fine Arts and graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1976.
While she specialised in printmaking she soon grew tired of the printing processes and shifted to painting as her primary medium of expression by 1983. She has exhibited most years since then, in solo and group exhibitions between 1984-2023. These have been mainly in Dunedin, and Christchurch, and also in Nelson and Auckland. During the period of the Chrysalis Seed Trust she was in a number of group exhibitions at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Christchurch (2003-2008).
While her work has included some figurative elements, she has predominantly been responding to the land of Aotearoa, experimenting with texture and colour, including a significant series with a tree motif in 2006. Some of these abstracted works have layers of symbolic meaning. Between 2012 and 2022, her work had primarily been responding to the Christchurch earthquakes, in a highly geometric aesthetic using a series of overlapping lines.
Her latest work shown here in ‘Kahikatea’ shows a shift away from this urban focus to a return to abstracted responses to land and trees. A new feature is inspired by Chinese and Japanese watercolours. Jessica applies water liberally alongside the acrylic paint on canvas. This technique was heralded by abstract watercolours done by her in the 1980’s, and in her recent 2020 show at ATELIER Studio |Gallery.
Peter and Jessica lived in Christchurch together between 1996-2011, then shifted to Dunedin in 2011. Jessica has lived and worked from their Dunedin home since then. She has several series of works on long term display at a number of public venues in Christchurch. These include Laidlaw College (Condell Ave), Kendons Ltd and the New Zealand Institute of Management building in Blenheim Rd. She has had two recent cycles of work installed in Myanmar(Burma).
Showing 1–24 of 31 artworks
