KEREN OERTLY
Helen Gerry
Furniture Makers’ Programme Graduate of 2022
Keren Oertly was born in Huiterangi Switzerland, and grew up between Switzerland and Aotearoa New Zealand. Her love of wood began at an early age, when her parents refurbished a sixteenth century flour mill in Neerach, which operated as a living museum and family home in the years that followed.
Keren’s training is in the visual arts, where she received a BFA (Hons) from Central St Martins (2011) in London, UK, followed by an MFA (Sculpture) from Ilam School of Fine Arts in Ōtautahi Christchurch (2018). Through Te Waipounamu South Island-based social enterprise Rekindle, Keren reconnected with wood working, and in 2022, she began training as a furniture maker at the Centre for Fine Woodworking.
In her object production, Keren seeks to structure her ideas of place, heritage, memory and identity, as a way of negotiating between different senses and experiences of home.
‘Wrapped Table’ Sculptural table - Aotearoa New Zealand Red Oak, low iron toughened glass, floor linoleum 575mm x 575mm x 575mm
“Wrapped Table” is a sculptural table that follows a throughline from the tradition of the Stammtisch, or meeting table, which is a regular feature in community settings in eastern Switzerland. A Stammtisch offers a place for people to gather and discuss politics, philosophy and local matters, often debating and organising around important issues. Likewise, this table seeks to offer a welcome space for gathering and connection, around which new traditions might accumulate and develop. Like a small piece of architecture, this works seeks to cross different spatial thresholds, and proposes a kind of reorienting object. The corrugated exterior alludes to a preservation of the things we value in times of flux and transience.
Keren acknowledges the generous support provided by Arts Council Nelson, the Centre for Fine Woodworking, David Haig, Make Furniture, Kelvin Atkinson and Alison Oertly in the production of this work.
Tēnei te mihi ngākau ki a koutou katoa. Heartfelt thanks to you all.
