Above, Beyond

Dale Copeland
‘Above, Beyond’
Assemblage of found objects: Buddhist carved figure, thermometer with floating glass bubbles
660 x 280 x 150mm
2022

“I've long admired those whose belief system or religion or long practice leads them to serene contemplation in this busy world.

The column of floating bubbles is a beautiful thing, but needed to find a place. More pernickety woodwork: A column of three kitchy little drawers in a box, with figures of fishes set behind glass. What do you DO with a thing like that, except wait until there's an assemblage that needs it? Unless, of course, you use it to keep fishing lures in. But a perfect size for the bubble thing. I sawed the fronts off the drawers and pushed them to the back. Sawed a curved bite out of the shelves. Made the magic to hold a glass top without using glue. But all a bit stark and empty. The old turned wood spiral had been waiting for years, perfect when split. And the back cut from a sheet of lovely wood, with, of course, a Buddhist sacred figure which had been beautifully chiselled from extremely hard wood. A challenge to put it all together securely, with none of the screws showing.”

Dale Copeland describes herself as a mathematician-turned-artist. The one time head of a college maths and physics department and freelance computer programmer, Copeland, at the age of forty-three opted for a new lifestyle devoted to art and motherhood. She is now a 6th Dan black belt in Taekwon-Do and is still training regularly. Dale has often been referred to as the back bone of the Taranaki arts community, she is currently the driving force behind the artist collective called Virtual TART which shows their work online through the Virtual TART site www.tart.co.nz. In 2012 Dale was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the arts. Dale lives at Puniho with painter Paul Hutchinson.