Story: Crafts and applied arts

Kelly Thompson, 'Several worlds', 1996

Textile artist Kelly Thompson was a senior lecturer at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art in the early 2000s before taking up academic positions overseas. 'Several worlds', a work on a piece of fabric more than 5 metres long, was included in a 1996 solo exhibition at the Suter Art Gallery in Nelson called Passages & Passports. The exhibition travelled to other galleries in New Zealand over the next two years.

'Several worlds' records sea journeys and meetings between different cultures. The two figures toward the right-hand end of the work are based on a watercolour made during English explorer James Cook's first voyage to the southern hemisphere (1768–71) entitled 'An English naval officer bartering with a Maori'. 

Using this item

Kelly Thompson
Artwork by Kelly Thompson

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and Lucy Hammonds, 'Crafts and applied arts - Craft in the 1990s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/interactive/45332/kelly-thompson-several-worlds-1996 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and Lucy Hammonds, published 22 Oct 2014