INFO
| Name | Forest in the sun |
| Year | 1976 |
| Names of Artists | Guy Ngan, Joan Calvert, Jean Ngan, Dorothea Turner |
| Organiser / Venue | New Zealand Parliament Pāremata Aotearoa |
| Artform | Visual arts, Craft/Object, Public art |
| City | Pōneke Wellington |
ABOUT
Forest in the sun (1976) was created by Joan Calvert and Guy Ngan, the winning entry in a competition to create a large-scale wall hanging for the Beehive, a newly built extension to Aotearoa New Zealand’s Parliament Buildings. Ngan, already having made numerous public artworks, was engaged as designer by Calvert who produced the work with fellow weavers Jean Ngan (Ngan’s wife) and Dorothea Turner.
The vibrantly coloured tapestry consisting of six panels, each over 2m², was designed to allow the curved marble wall from which it hung to show through a pattern of different sized holes, which also aided the panels’ installation by reducing their weight. While the radiating abstract pattern is a recognisable motif of Ngan’s, Forest in the sun stands out amongst his oeuvre as both a collaboration and as a woven textile.
Ngan’s extensive abilities as artist, designer, craftsperson and architect, and his belief in the transformative nature of art, are evident in his skillful employment of a variety of materials in the numerous large-scale artworks he produced throughout his lifetime.
Forest in the sun was donated to Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in 2003. In 2019 the work was restored and five of the six panels were exhibited as part of Guy Ngan: Habitation at The Dowse Art Museum. On the 10th July 2023, the work was reinstalled at Parliament in its original exhibition space above the stairs of the Executive Wing of the Beehive.
