Samuel Marsden Collegiate School unveils buzzy student masterclass with Artist in Residence Programme

Marsden School established the Artist in Residence Programme in 1999 and continues each year to build a legacy of strong associations with professional practicing artists and designers. This year’s Marsden Artist in Residence is Wellington based photographic artist Jasmine Chalmers. She is spending 5 weeks at the school, creating her own body of work and inspiring students along the way.

Jasmine says she has a strong interest in nostalgia and the unusual, which she interrogates through the still life genre. After completing a BA Hons in Sociology she worked in the public sector before completing a Diploma in Photography and pursuing her long-neglected creative drive. She has exhibited regularly since then, her work bringing to life nostalgic scenes and concepts with a nod to the painting traditions of Dutch vanitas, baroque and surrealism.

During her residency at Marsden, Jasmine is working with art students on studio lighting techniques and cultivating an eye for the uncanny using ordinary objects as inspiration. “I am compelled to produce work that sparks the imagination; I utilise lighting techniques to cultivate drama and tension to make the ordinary seem surreal. Twisting the still-life genre to express a macabre element, my work is an immersive space for the viewer to sink into”, said Jasmine.

Jasmine’s creative outcomes will be on display at her Exhibition entitled Interior Vision, held at {Suite} Art Gallery, 241 Cuba Street, Wellington, 11 – 25 September 2020. “The impact of Covid-19 and the lockdown demanded that this project had to come to terms with this six-week interruption in the normal function of the home”, said Jasmine.

The lockdown saw us confined to our interior sanctuaries. We turned our homes into multifunctional spaces: offices, restaurants, schools; places to entertain and distract us from the outside calamity.

In Jasmine’s works, students and visitors will see a window into her lockdown, teeming with exaggeration and frivolity for visual intrigue. 

“Students are enjoying working with Jasmine during her tenure at Marsden and the process and experience is very rewarding for all involved. For some students it can transform the simple understanding of making images express ideas, for others it might change their view of themselves in the world”, said Marsden Head of Visual Design Kaz Bartsch.