KEY POINTS:
When Priscilla Pitts, Gregory O'Brien and Brett Graham, the judges for Waiheke's biennial Sculpture on the Gulf exhibition, sat down early last year to pick 26 pieces for the 2007 show, they were ignorant of the identities of the record number of 180 sculptors whose proposals they were assessing.
So they were astonished to discover that one of their choices was an 11-year-old Auckland schoolgirl.
Lilly Rhind, who has since turned 12, is so small she needed to stand on a piano stool to see over the podium when she addressed a preview audience in December, but she was undeterred. She delivered her message with aplomb, making no apologies and expecting no concessions for her age: "My ideas can be just as valid as the other artists' [ideas]."
The Glen Eden Intermediate pupil's work, Clip Clop, involves a musical bridge and is inspired by the nursery story of Three Billy Goats Gruff. That the piece is outwardly playful and childlike only amplifies its effect: Clip Clop is a sophisticated and serious take on the effect of humans on the natural world, especially in fragile environments such as that of Waiheke Island.
"Each of us has to be aware of the impact we have on the spaces and places we go," says Lilly.
This is the third outing for Sculpture on the Gulf and it has attained the mana and logistical weight to back its claim to be the nation's premier sculptural event.
In its first year, 2003, some 12,500 people took the free walk around the headland high above the Motuihe Channel and Matiatia Bay, with its pohutukawa-clad cliffs, blue-green seas and views of city spires that seem a world away.
No matter how many times you take this walk, it never fails to impress: it is stunning on any day of the year. In 2005 word was out and the show drew 17,500 visitors, including Prime Minister Helen Clark and Associate Arts Minister Judith Tizard among those who dropped in for opening night.
Organisers expect more this year and once again the show promises a range of stimulating and challenging works, all of them created specifically for the site and the occasion.
The catalogue lists 26 pieces - too many to preview here, but look for the widest possible range of sculptural interpretations, visions and reactions to the coastal landscape.
Words are integral to Denis O'Connor and Bob Orr's poem-sculpture Wharfinger but an overlay to Virginia King's delicate Nautilus Whispers; Lyonel Grant's Te Tuoho o Kahumatamomoe and Paratene Matchitt's He Pataka Taonga Tapu consider issues of place, exploration and ownership.
Meiling Lee's Lookout and Karin Strachan's Safe House ask viewers about the meanings of home.
Charlotte Fisher's The Sea around us: Hole, Slot, Bearing, Sighting, Slit bounces off Rachel Carson's 1951 book of the same name and is a take on processes of navigation, perspectives and viewpoints; while Sharonagh Montrose's audio-visual Ghost of Fences Past and Tania Patterson's elegant Leaf Canopy direct attention to the land, its parcelling-out and potential reclaiming by forest.
There are kinetic pieces on the hills - including works by Phil Price, Kon Dimopoulos and Jeff Thompson among others - and in the sea.
Some will make you think and others, such as Julia Oram's Bung, will make you chuckle, while one work requires you to become part of the event.
In 2005, second-time exhibitor Suza Lawrence found herself watching the faces and responses of those on the track as much as the show, so this time is building on that observation.
"I wanted to surprise visitors by positioning them more in the centre of their experience, to somehow highlight everybody in the landscape," she says. Try2 uses one of the most plastic and unpredictable of media - people.
The audience becomes a living sculpture existing only for as long as there are walkers on the path.
Light is always part of the show - it sparkles on the water, reflects on the sea, casts shadows on the land, changes colour as the sun goes down. But this year, artificial lighting gets a boost with a small extension of hours into the dusk, and lighting effects on four or five of the sculptures - an added treat for those at the gala opening or who prefer an evening stroll.
You will have the opportunity to vote in the People's Choice Award and if, after viewing the large-scale outdoor sculptures, you want to see something smaller, call into the Waiheke Community Art Gallery in Oneroa to take in their partner exhibition, Sculpture on a Plinth.
Exhibition
What: Sculpture on the Gulf, Waiheke
When: Jan 26-Feb 11
How to get there: Take the ferry to Matiatia or the passenger-car ferry to Kennedy Pt (Sealink have a deal going). A special bus will take you to the start of the exhibition, with the option of a stop at the Waiheke Community Art Gallery. Or if you would rather walk, take the track across Matiatia beach and up the hill.
Don't forget: Sun-block, hat and sensible shoes; water will be on sale along the route. Timetables are available at the start and finish.
