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Artist Mary-Clare Buckle,
inspired by the story of Tokelau, has produced
work to capture the romance
and beauty of these coral atolls, which are so
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remote that it takes 42 hours to get there on the monthly boat from Samoa
and are only visited by 20 tourists a year.
Yet the islanders are trying to do something about their lack of contact with the outside world. They have set up the Tokelau Internet Project - in return for publicising the islands and the Project, website owners can register .tk domain names for free. This gives website owners a unique opportunity to get one of those names they always wanted - completely free! Mary-Clare is a registered 'Ambassador' for Tokelau - giving her a joint responsibility for promoting the Project worldwide. To read more about Mary-Clare, click here [opens in a new window]. This mini-site has been produced to showcase her Tokelau-based work and to provide information about Tokelau and the Tokelau Internet Project. 
"Having been born in the Philippines, but never living there as an adult, that part of the world holds an especially enigmatic fascination for me. When I came across the Tokelau Internet Project, the idea came to mind to start work on a new body of work, dedicated to Tokelau. 
"I wanted to create work that immediately brought to mind that part of the world - the amazingly vivid, luminous colours
and the intense quality of the light.
My work is normally semi-abstract, but I had always been struck by the aerial views I'd seen of coral reef atolls -
the intensity of the deep blue sea contrasting with the white surf round the atolls.
So I decided to produce the first piece as a stylised map of Tokelau (see Tokelau below).
"As a feltmaker and artist, I've never been particularly happy with the traditional use of felt as a thick material, used for wall hangings, slippers, hats, etc, etc. I consider myself an artist, rather than a 'feltmaker', but I have been drawn towards the use of wool as my medium, because of the way it can be manipulated and changed in conjunction with light falling on and through it. I have developed a technique of producing virtually transparent pieces which provide that interaction. These are typically created as 'Floating' felts - framed by sandwiching in clear acrylic sheet and hung away from the wall, giving an impression of the piece floating in three dimensions (see Tokelau below). "My latest technique, which has now become a major part of my work is 'Art Lights', where the piece of felt is lit from behind or the side - essentially merging art with home decoration (see Tokelau Storm and Tokelau - Lagoon below). "I have also now started to use ultraviolet tubes, to produce an intense glow from UV-reactive threads and fabrics in the piece (see Tokelau - Deep Down below). "The resultant 'Tokelau' UV art lights produce just the luminous intensity which I had wanted to achieve." |
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Tokelau - 84 x 95cm - Sold 
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Tokelau Storm 50 x 36cm - £290 
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Tokelau - Lagoon 50 x 36cm - £290
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Tokelau - Deep Down 53 x 45cm - £590
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To check your shopping basket at any time, click this button - 
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Tokelau is a group of three Polynesian islands - exactly midway between Hawaii and New Zealand (who administer Tokelau) and 500 miles away from Samoa, its nearest neighbour. The country took a decision, in 2001, to use the power of the Internet simultaneously to increase their international profile and to raise much-needed funds for technological development, advanced communications, education and medical care, which it needs to become self-sufficient. To achieve these aims, Tokelau is allowing website owners to use addresses ending in .tk for free, whilst charging for addresses which would be more popular (eg www.art.tk or www.travel.tk). Tokelau consists of three coral reef 'atolls' - rings of tiny islets surrounding a central lagoon - with an area of just 12 sq miles and a population of 1500. The islands can only be reached by the monthly, 42 hour, boat trip from Samoa and welcome a mere 10-20 tourists every year. Tokelau remains one of the few unspoilt and virtually undiscovered south sea paradises in the world, but the atolls are so low-lying (their highest point is 16 feet above sea level) that global warming has produced a very real risk that the entire country could be uninhabitable by the end of this century.
To read more about the Tokelau Internet Project and to get your free .tk domain name, click here to take a look at the Tokelau 'dot.tk' website [opens in a new window]. Also, you might like to take a look at the website of the band Te Vaka, whose members come from Tokelau and surrounding islands. In January 2003, Te Vaka were nominated in the prestigious 'Audience Award' Category of the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards making them one of the top four World Music groups in the world. Ronnie Scott's in London described them as "...one of the most talented and original world music acts to appear on the international scene for years..."
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the gallery, 13 Market Street, Abbotsbury, Dorset, DT3 4JR, UK tel: 01305-871561 (from outside the UK: 0044-1305-871561) fax: 0870-831-2726 (from outside the UK: 0044-870-831-2726) email: Click here to email a friend and tell them about this website www.artfortokelau.tk www.1-art-1.com
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images © & Andrew Green text and webpage © Andrew Green except photograph of single islet from the sea, courtesy of dot.tk and all other Tokelau photographs, courtesy of Te Vaka Paintings Online - Information, Links and Art Resources |