LEO JURY
Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris, is a collaboration nine years in the making between Catherine Field-Dodgson and Michele Leggott.
The book is a work of art, and a project that brings to light Nelsonian, and one of New Zealand’s most significant botanical artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Catherine and Michele are hosting an author talk this weekend where they’ll share behind the scenes stories, talk more about their book, and present Emily’s work through poem readings and artifacts on display.
The pair say they have found a lot of new stories about Emily that have never been told before.
“She didn’t just paint botanical subjects. One of the things that we found is there are a few paintings that she did of comets…. she also painted birds. She had this love of natural history,” says Catherine.
Emily ran a small school with her sisters, based out of their home at 36 Nile St where she lived for 60 years, but she discontinued teaching by the late 1890s where she produced art full time.
The house that currently sits on the site is not the original, having been demolished in the 1920s and replaced with a 1930s bungalow.
Emily would talk about her little studio she had behind the house in Nile St in newspaper articles that report it being filled with 50 to 200 surviving paintings. They’re now spread all over New Zealand - New Plymouth, Nelson and Wellington - some owned by descendants of the Harris family.
Although Emily never married, two of her sisters did, and these are the descendants that came down from those branches.
Emily passed away on 5 August, 1925.
“Part of the reason we’re coming to Nelson is because it’s 100 years since her death, and being able to bring her back into the light in this way is really satisfying. It’s a really lovely moment,” says Catherine.
In 1890, Emily published three books - New Zealand Flowers, New Zealand Berries and New Zealand Ferns. The books were a collection of black and white images of flora and fauna – each one hand-painted by Emily.
With an exhibiting career of 53 years, she is one of New Zealand’s first professional female Pākeha artists.
To learn more about Emily Harris and to get the opportunity to hear one of New Zealand’s poet laureates read one of Emily’s poems, stop by the Elma Turner Library on Saturday, 2 August, at 2pm for the free author’s talk.
