Stewart described making her sculpture, The Basket, as an organic process in which she let it evolve.
“For me, it’s about listening to the material when you are weaving and not imposing your ideas on it,” she said.
“Whenever I weave or try to make something specific, I often find the material fights against me. You have to listen to what it wants to be.
“With bull kelp, I hold the idea of something in my mind, and it somehow translates into my fingertips.
“Everything is exciting because I don’t know how it will turn out, but I feel like there is a special connection there because it’s such an incredible material.”
In describing her piece, artist Torri Stewart said: “I wove a basket to hold my love for the ocean. Dried to a tap, she is calm as the waves that caress the shore, salty as the water that nourished her, warm as that sun that dried her skin. She holds my fascination for nature in her woven core.”
Bull kelp was quite malleable and it took about three or four days of turning it and twisting it, she said.
She started off stuffing it full of paper, then removed the paper because she wanted it to collapse.
“I used hemp twine to stitch it, then when it got to a certain point in the drying process, I folded it in on itself.”
Gathering the seaweed is a special process. She collects washed-up kelp, often on Wainui Beach, then puts it back in the sea. If it washes up again, she harvests it.
“My theory is if it comes out of the sea again, I can use it, and if it doesn’t, it’s gone.”
It was like the sea had gifted it to her, she said.
With bull kelp listed by the Department of Conservation as “at risk – declining”, she had to get permission from Fisheries New Zealand to use it.
She made inquiries to the Ministry for Primary Industries before making her work, but did not hear back until after it had been accepted into the Waiheke competition.
She has been granted permission to use bull kelp seaweed for her own pleasure, but is not allowed to sell her sculptures.
Originally from Scotland, Stewart moved to Gisborne nine years ago after her husband Stefan got a position with LeaderBrand.
She has an honours degree in English literature and art history and has worked in strategic branding and marketing for many years, starting at British Airways in the United Kingdom, then at Air New Zealand.
The mother of two then moved into copywriting and content creation and now has her own business as a virtual marketing manager.
A naturally talented drawer, she does lifelike animal portraits and joined the Gisborne Printmakers Group in 2023.
“I had a friend doing it, which motivated me to join. It’s such a wonderful group. I love the fact that from the beginning of the process it’s incredibly experimental and you’re not really sure what’s going to come out at the other end of it, so you have the ability to have these wonderful surprises as you go through the process.
“There’s a real joy in learning. You’re always learning new techniques and there are always people around you who are doing other different things as well.”
Stewart believes art reinvigorated her life.
“It’s so easy to feel like you’re stagnating a little bit in life. The kids are getting a bit older, and you have more time on your hands, and your brain is kind of at a stage in your career when you’re doing the work, but you’re not necessarily discovering new things.
“It’s just incredible to get the opportunity to learn new things.”
In July 2020, Stewart suffered bad whiplash in a car crash and endured chronic pain problems. As well as getting help from The Pain Clinic, she found art was a good distraction for her brain and helped her heal.
She started her new art pursuits after the crash. She did an online course in weaving called Form to Freedom, learning basket weaving and fibre sculpture under the tutelage of Harriet Goodall.
“My happy place is sitting out on the deck, weaving.”
Another source of pleasure is her garden, in which she has planted native manuka, kanuka and other species to use in her craftwork.
“Often after doing a couple of hours of gardening, I’ll just sit amongst the plants and weave something.”
Stewart was recently asked to sell her work at The Aviary Collective in the PBC building.
“I’m going to be making more small sculptures to be part of a Small Arts and Objects exhibition there, opening on Sunday, June 21. I’m looking forward to it.”