Venus Has No Arms, God Has No Clothes: Born To Be An Artist

(Paperback)

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Description

Jenny Hunt grew up in Hawera, Taranaki, in the 1940s and '50s, with four siblings and parents from widely different social milieus. Her mother's family moved in the upper echelons of Auckland society until they lost their fortune in the Great Depression, while her working-class father was a direct descendant of a Chickasaw Native American sentenced to penal time in Australia. In the tension-filled house in rural New Zealand, prey to the advances of adult men and oppressed by the conservative Presbyterian church of her upbringing, Jenny fought to make sense of her surroundings and follow her passion for art. Venus Has No Arms, God Has No Clothes is a moving and detailed portrait of the childhood of a prolific New Zealand artist, evoking the conservatism of the era she grew up in and the obstacles she had to battle to realise her vocation.

Reviews

Jenny Hunts personal artistic journey also illustrates wider developments in New Zealand through the last half-century. Hunt became a prominent exhibitor in the 1970s as the distinction between craft and art blurred. Rob Taylor, The Dominion

Hunt has been a notable weaver since 1964 but had a major change of direction in the 1980s. The results are a venturesome collision of fibre art with sculpture. Ian Wedde, Evening Post

Jenny Hunts wall sculptures are now breaking new ground as they re-define preconceived notions of fibre art in relation to painting and sculpture. Review of an Important Craft Exhibition, curated by Carole Shepheard

Quietly but concretely, a small revolution has been happening in our midst. One of its leaders, Jenny Hunt, has called it the Fibre Art Revolution. Pauline Clayton, The Listener

Jenny Hunts constructions connote a feminist-inspired use of process and symbolism. Miro Bilbrough, Evening Post

Author Bio

Jenny Hunt was in the forefront of the international fibre art movement as it began filtering into New Zealand in the 1960s. Its aim was to revolutionise the use of fibre as an art form. She became a member of 'The Group' of Christchurch in 1973, and in 1975, jointly won the national Hansells Sculpture Award with a free-standing soft sculpture. Her work is represented in public and private galleries throughout the country.