Molly Timmins is interested in exploring heritage and the natural environment. From a family of many generations of gardeners this has provoked Molly’s fascination with the natural wonders of Aotearoa New Zealand and the women who have painted this before her. Utilising the delicate practice of embroidery interacting with paint she seeks to create a new world within the canvas while speaking to a rich history of female landscape artists.
"My practice seeks to bring together and acknowledge a particular set of female artists whose work has paved the context I work in today. The mediums of paint and embroidery are utilised, individually and in combination, as a means of building contextual references while offering an opening into new ways of exploring landscape.”
Molly’s late Grandmother, Hazel Jack painted in the naturalistic style of a 1980s hobbyist artist, and the limitations imposed upon female artists of that time period is evident in her work. She filled watercolour sketch books, painting upon small panels and at times utilising one sketch book page for multiple landscape paintings; signs she had no intention of presenting these to the world. Viewing her work now allows Molly to see the world through Hazel’s eyes and gesture. Molly’s work aims to honour her grandmother alongside influential artists to examine the expectations and hierarchies both within the art world.
Susan Te Kahurangi King was often labelled an ‘outsider’ artist. Much like ‘hobbyism’, this term creates a hierarchy that can dismiss the integrity of the work and the artist herself. While references to Susan’s art is at times made explicit in Molly’s work, her influence is also present implicitly as a motivation to make the artist’s own unique mark. Similarly to Hazel, Susan’s perseverance is evident in the continued quantity of work that resists societal expectations. Molly is interested in bringing their work into contact with established artists such as Rita Angus and Frances Hodgkins to equalise and honour all four women.
While historical reference is important in her work, the world of the canvas is prioritised. The landscapes she paints are a way of weaving acknowledgment and depiction together with her own embodied responses. Individually and collectively, the paintings operate as an ongoing dynamic space."
BIOGRAPHY
LIVES: Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
EDUCATION: Master of Fine Arts, Whitecliffe College, 2023; Bachelor of Fine Arts, Whitecliffe College, 2019
EXHIBITIONS: ‘Her heirlooms in my garden’ (group show) Corban Estate Art Centre, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2022); ‘Hybrid Gardens’ Sanderson Contemporary Art, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2022); ‘Haberdashery’ Sanderson Contemporary Art, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2021)
AWARDS: Upstairs gallery Emerging Art Award 2019 WINNER, Eden Arts Award Finalist 2019, Nelson Emerging Artist Awards – Finalist 2019, Emergent-See Art Award - Highly commended 2019, Lake House Arts Takapuna, Parkin Drawing Prize Finalist 2018, Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards – Finalist 2017, Parkin Drawing Prize Finalist 2016, People's Choice Award - Mairangi Arts Centre 2016, Waitakere Arts Trust Exhibition - People's Choice award (for 15-18yr) 2016
COLLECTIONS: The Arts House Trust, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland