The groups behind the Crucible Artist Residency are excited to announce the next two participants.

Zac Whiteside (Ōtepoti/Dunedin) and Paula Collier (Ōtautahi/Christchurch) will commence their residencies in September.

The Crucible Art Studios and Gallery were officially opened in September last year at Gillies Metaltech in Tyne Street, and this will be the third residency programme. Gillies Metaltech is owned by the Hynds Foundation.

Zac works across sculpture, performance, and installation. 

Through his work he explores humour, labour, and the rituals of modern life through material contradiction, visual metaphor, and wordplay. 

He graduated with First Class Honours from the Dunedin School of Art in 2023 and is the co-director and curator of Pond Gallery, an artist-run space that supports early-career artists. 

He has recently exhibited in Through the Fray at Blue Oyster Art Project Space (Opened June 13) and Piss at Pond Gallery (Opened June 27), a group show he also curated.

Paula is a visual artist, now based in Te-Whanganui a Tara/Wellington region. Her practice spans installation, sculpture and photography.

Zac Whiteside pictured with Behold OZ for The Four Plinths Project 2023. Photo: Supplied/@lepaoma

She studied sculpture at Elam School of Fine Art in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland and in 2024 completed a Masters of Fine Arts at Massey University Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

Her recent exhibitions are To Be Sure, We Are Speaking (The Engine Room, 2024), A Series of Actions and Observations (The Wellington Working Men’s Club, 2024) and Diurnal Aspect (play_station Gallery).

She is interested in the dynamic relationship between materials, architectural scale, and unique light qualities of sites, and her installations engage with the ongoing life cycles and active invisibility of spaces and materials. 

Experience working as a textile artist in the film industry has provided opportunities for incorporating repurposed or waste materials into her artwork, exploring their qualities beyond their intended practical use.

The residency provides the artists with the opportunity to develop their creative practices, independently or in collaborations between artists, and the skilled Gillies Metaltech foundrymen, connect with the vibrant Waitaki arts community through the experience, and develop new work with opportunity for an Open Studio at the culmination of the residency.

The artists are supported with a stipend of $650 per week, and accommodation for the duration of the 12-week residency, as well as 20 hours of technician support, and a subsidy for foundry materials used.