The exhibitions team at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery have spent the past week undertaking Reuben Paterson’s massive unpacking and installation work The Golden Bearing.

Curatorial intern Simon Palenski said the shimmering sculpture will be part of a new family-focused exhibition called Beyond the Hedge, which walks the collection through folk tales, fairy tales, myths and legends.

Taking the form of a tree, The Golden Bearing first took root in the New Plymouth Botanical Gardens, where Paterson was inspired by the highly formal environments of public and private gardens.

The sculpture also draws inspiration from his Maori family and cultural heritage, his father’s work as a landscape painter, and his own earlier exploration of artificial plants and flowers in his work.

Mr Palenski said a bearing marked a position or direction on a map, or could be used as a landmark.

“And on the first floor, the canopy of the Golden Bearing will stretch over the entrance and foyer, and will be visible through the windows from a wintry octagon for the next few months. ”

He said Beyond the Hedge was part of a series of new exhibitions opening at the gallery soon.

They included On the Table: Artists from the Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection; a collaboration with artists Nick Austin, Ruth Buchanan, Yona Lee and Marie Shannon; Video installation by Christopher Ulutupu The fall produced during a residency in Dunedin; Lyttelton-based painter Oliver Perkins A kind of arrow and its partners work Free-range; and In, On, Over, inspired by Perkins’ exhibition, and examines a group of works from the collection that explore different artistic methods and approaches to abstraction.

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