Martin Hill Latest News

Martin Hill's Stone Circle chosen for Yale conference

2008-06-26T14:20:00.009+12:00

The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies held a conference in Aspen Colorado in October last year entitled Toward a New Consciousness: Values to Sustain Human and Natural Communities. Recognising the synergy between the ideas expressed by the sculptures and those of the conference the Stone Circle image was published on the cover of the report "A Synthesis of Insights and Recommendations".

A PDF of this booklet can be found at this website: http://environment.yale.edu/newconsciousness

Martin Hill carbon neutral cards

2008-03-28T19:06:00.002+13:00

Improving sustainable design standards in product manufacturing has been the main objective of this work, so we are pleased to announce a carbon neutral range of stationery products featuring four Martin Hill sculpture images has been published by Museums and Galleries UK for international markets.
Any unavoidable CO2 emissions created in the production and distribution of the EDEN range are assessed and offset to net zero in partnership with The CarbonNeutral Company. The paper is naturally scented and the cellobags are manufactured from cornstarch.
These benchmark products gives Martin great satisfaction and makes him hopeful that this is just the beginning of a transformation of all publishing to meet or exceed these higher standards.
For more information about the materials and processes go to www.beaconpress.co.uk

Martin Hill - sculpture making in Mt Aspiring National Park

2008-03-28T16:45:00.004+13:00

We recently enjoyed four days of great weather and awe inspiring landscapes while hiking over the Cascade Saddle and down the Dart Valley in Mt Aspiring National Park in the South Island of New Zealand.
Starting from The Matukituki Valley there is a steep and exposed climb to a high alpine basin 1500m above with dramatic views of Mt Aspiring and the Dart Glacier.
Camping alone in this mountain wilderness was the highlight of the journey because we experienced the changing weather and light in the high mountains all around us.
Waking to clear skies and a pink dawn was an opportunity to make and photograph this simple sculpture with quartz stones on a mossy green tarn.

2007-11-09T12:44:00.001+13:00

Earth to Earth is officially launched

The community in Wanaka turned out in their numbers to the launch of our book Earth to Earth. It was held at the Edgewater Resort at Lake Wanaka and for the occasion we made "Twig Circle" - a semi permanent work that is constructed on a steel frame so that in can remain in place. It was made using the prunings of the massive poplar trees that have naturalised in our landscape especially near the rivers and lakes. Though we usually prefer to work with native plants these trees have become part of Wanaka's beautiful landscape.

2007-11-08T21:44:00.001+13:00

Martin signs books at the launch of Earth to Earth

2007-10-16T21:34:00.000+13:00

Martin talks at DINZ’s Sustainable Design Conference

On October 5 Martin was invited to present a talk (and slide show) at the Designers Institute of New Zealand annual conference in Auckland. For the first time the design industry in New Zealand featured the importance of taking on sustainability as an integral part of design. The talk was presented as a cameo to a very appreciative audience.

Relaunch of the Martin Hill website

2007-10-01T16:33:00.000+13:00

The new website you are looking at is the result of many constructive hours with our website designer Jon Clamp of MacStudio who in turn spent many more hours completely overhauling the site, especially in creating the new shop and gallery.

We’ve moved on from our very first website 10 years ago. Back then our customers had to download and print out an order form and posted it to us with their payment details. Perhaps you were one of them.

In 2005 Jon improved the site and added a shop that streamlined the process and provided a lot more information.

This new version triples the number of images to around 90, the navigation is improved and even a film is available to view. The shop uses PayPal, the safe way to pay without exposing your credit card details. Shopping is even simpler and by request we now offer a pack of pre-selected cards at a special price.

Any feedback or comments are welcome.

Martin Hill book launch date confirmed

2007-09-12T16:34:00.000+12:00

Our book titled Earth to Earth is internationally published and will be launched on November 1st this year. Working on the book with our publisher PQ Blackwell has occupied us through 2006 and part of this year.

The book gathers together the very best sculpture images from about 12 years’ work, much of it created in New Zealand where we live but also on our travels all over the world. Included are many never before published works.

We will have signed copies of the book for sale in our online shop, so watch this space.

Digital Earth Conference

2007-08-01T16:23:00.000+12:00

This conference is the first Digital Earth Summit focused specifically on sustainability and is convened by an international team of government, business, academic and citizen leaders. It is held in Auckland, New Zealand and focuses on how technology and the data it provides can best be applied to achieve sustainability in all sectors of society.

In relation to the most important issue facing humanity, that of long term survival, martin was invited to present a talk and slide show at the gala dinner illustrating the urgent need to redesign destructive industrial processes to,align with nature.

Milford Track in the off season

2007-06-12T16:31:00.000+12:00

Because we live in Wanaka with easy access to New Zealand’s South Island national parks, we were able to take advantage of a weather window to hike this wonderful world class track through the mountains of Fiordland.

The four day trip starts with a boat trip up Lake Te Anau, follows a moss laden path beside a green river, through bush-carpeted valleys to wind steeply up to Mackinnon Pass where alpine tops stretch forever on a good day. From there the track descends down towards Milford Sound past the Sutherland Falls the 6th highest waterfall in the world.

With Fiordland’s extraordinarily high rainfall it can be a very damp trip. On our winter trip however we had clear blue skies but the cold temperatures meant the tarns on the pass were frozen. With the help of our four companions who gathered snow for us we were able to quickly create a snow circle on the ice with still time to descend down the other side of the pass to the safety of the hut before dark.

Destination: New Caledonia

2007-04-20T16:29:00.000+12:00

A week travelling and camping in the northern areas of this Pacific island resulted in some very different sculptures with new materials like coral and shells and fallen coconuts. Making sculptures on these tropical beaches brings to mind how at risk some of the Pacific Islands are from rising sea levels as an effect of global warming.

Sculpture project commissioned

2007-03-11T16:28:00.000+13:00

This month we began work on a wonderful project: a commission to do a series of work on a beautiful privately owned peninsula property in Wanaka where we live. The project documents a year through the seasons, beginning with summer.

The body of work follows the philosophy of making the sculptures from materials found there and allowing them to disperse naturally after the photographs have recorded them.

By also photographing the beauty of the surrounding landscape – the lake with its stony beach, the river flats and the tussock covered hills and the major peaks beyond - and the way the distinct seasons affect them, we can fully express the context of the work. For example by using a location such as the river flats which flood in spring, dries out in summer, floods again in autumn then freezes in winter the location itself provides an example of the cyclical process which is integral to the meaning of the work.

By returning again and again to the same places throughout the year of the project’s duration there is the opportunity to create work that has a continuity. For example the wild growing willows provide yellow leaves in the summer, bare branches for weaving in the winter, fresh green leaves in the spring, and, something we look forward to, the likelihood that a woven work left out in the field will sprout new spring growth: a live, growing sculpture.

If you have come to this website via the welcome page, you will have seen a series of pictures of an ice work made for this project.

The project, titled “One Life, One Place, One Year” will be completed on March 2008.

Public presentation for Sustainable Wanaka by Martin Hill

2007-03-01T16:28:00.000+13:00

Sustainable Wanaka is a charitable trust formed in Wanaka in 2004 to actively promote and manage the integration of ecological, social, cultural and economic goals for this community's sustainable development.

It is a well respected and supported organisation in a small New Zealand resort town surrounded by pristine mountains and valleys and Martin was initially involved when he donated the design of a visual identity for Sustainable Wanaka, one which reflects the extraordinary beauty of the place.

A public talk and slide show presented at the Lake Wanaka Centre was well received and established him as a key figure in the growing awareness of the need for sustainable development in the region.

Hiking in New Zealand’s Mt Aspiring National Park

2007-02-10T16:25:00.000+13:00

A three day high summer trek up the Wilkin Valley in the summer with friends, was an opportunity for some sculptures. Surrounded by alpine peaks the landscape becomes extraordinary when the ice twins Mts castor and Pollux come into view and we headed up above the bushline to Lake Diana and Lake Lucida to camp near the terminal moraine. Out of necessity the sculptures were quickly created with more inspiration than time but were a way to intimately engage with the landscape that we passed through.

A journey to Britain

2006-08-04T16:21:00.000+12:00

Sadly, Martin’s mother Olive Hill at 92 became seriously ill and went into hospital. Martin immediately went to visit her and while there made a wildflower sculpture made on White Cross Hill above the town in the UK where his family lives. This became a memorial to her when she died a few days later. It is published in the book Earth to Earth, dedicated to the memory of his mother.

Sir Edmund Hillary agrees to write for book

2006-07-15T16:20:00.000+12:00

With great excitement we receive a positive response from Ed and June Hillary to our request about writing a short piece for the planned book to be published in 2007. The piece would become a preface in the book.
Jonathan Porritt agrees to write a foreword and we proceed with invitations to many other leaders in sustainability to contribute essays.

First permanent sculpture created - in Wanaka

2006-03-01T16:18:00.000+13:00

The idea for this permanent sculpture was to put to use the timber from clearing a building platform on the one acre section where we built our new house in Wanaka. A steep section, it is covered in bush - the native kanuka, which is a very hardy timber able to survive in the dry climate.

We cut hundreds of precisely measured lengths of kanuka, peeled off the flaky bark and created a circle with an engineered steel frame. Located on a westerly ridge in front of the client’s beautiful award-winning house it stands against the distinctive mountain peaks behind which the sun sets.

A book project is born

2006-01-04T16:13:00.000+13:00

PQ Blackwell, an Auckland, New Zealand company which publishes books internationally (well known for their M.I.L.K project) has been discussing a book project with us. Geoff Blackwell and his manager Ruthanna Hobday fly to Wanaka to meet with us in our studio and look at the extent of the images available. Many people have only ever seen those that have been published as cards.

Plans are made to create a mock up of the concept to take to the huge international book fair in Frankfurt in October 2006.

Moving to Wanaka

2005-01-01T09:58:00.000+13:00

2005 was taken up with a lifestyle change. With a business formed over the previous 10 years based at our inner city house and studio in Auckland, New Zealand, it became possible, with the international publishing of the sculpture imagery as posters and cards, to move away from our city base to a place where we would be surrounded by the landscapes that inspire us.

Queenstown in Central Otago in the South Island seemed an obvious choice with its bustling atmosphere and well known location, but we decided on Wanaka, a smaller and more relaxed resort town with a population of 4000. It had everything we needed.

We bought a section, designed a sustainable house, sold our house in Auckland and set out to start a new life.
In spite of the huge disruption sculptures continued to be created in our new environment of lakes, rivers, forests and mountains. New materials were exciting and the dramatic seasons – fiercely hot in summer, freezing cold in winter and very dry all year round were also a new challenge we enjoyed.