Siân Torrington - Staying open is a practice

Born in Bristol in 1977, Wellington-based artist, Siân Quennell Torrington
graduated with a BA in Philosophy, Otago University (1998), a Diploma in
Fashion and Textiles, NMIT (2001), and an MFA with Distinction, Fine Arts,
Massey University (2010). With numerous solo and group shows to her credit,
her work has been commissioned for public art institutions including Soft is
Stronger than Hard (City Gallery Wellington), The Way You Have Held Things
(Christchurch Art Gallery), and the Public Art Fund, Wellington.

Staying open is a practice is an exhibition of pieces and fragments lovingly
bound, stitched, and layered together to make new wholes. In a constantly
changing world, what has remained stable for Torrington is practice - working
through expressive movement and opening up the body to keep discovering
new feelings and spaces - “not getting stuck on what we thought we knew”.

Exploring interconnectivity, relationships, and possibilities, Torrington works with
the physicality of paint, pastels, and an array of materials. Using methods such
as play, rearranging, and attachment, she has spent time practising how to stay
open, receptive, curious, and flexible - “in these difficult times, we must use our
imaginations to create new forms of connection, to hold together and show care”.

In Torrington’s works, we see fluidity in paint that has been dripped, scooped and
squashed, bulging where it has been tied down, pushing out to create new forms.
We see challenge, tension, and effort in stitched lines drawn by machine and by
hand - needle and thread wielded to create connection and strength. Through an
expressive language of colour, intense layering builds strength. There is also a
lightness to this body of work – a new ability to breathe after the breath-holding
of the last few years.

Torrington’s visual language has many elements underpinned by a belief that
connection is always possible. The connections that are made through these
works show us the effort that is required – the binding of tenuous bridges that
need strengthening, and hundreds of stitches used to bring us closer.