T@TT are inquiring into how 'People see beauty in the world in different ways.' A visit to Llew and Robyn's home+studio was confronting and fascinating; a look into their artists' minds!

Team and the Top took a trip to a sculpture garden and home, hosted by sculptor Llew and flax weaver, Robyn. This related to our central idea: ‘People See Beauty in the World in Different Ways’. At first, many seemed slightly uncomfortable, myself included, due to some lewd sculptures. Soon after getting used to it, I attempted to immerse myself into the Sculptor’s realm and try to see his beauty in what he does, relating back to different people seeing beauty in different ways. I personally didn’t find the sculptures beautiful because of personal taste, though it was very creative and I appreciated the attention to detail and the amount of work Llew put into his sculptures. Inside their house, they had a massive variety of paintings that they themselves collected to decorate their house. The had many different artworks, some cultural and some classical. It was very beautiful to me. It was very interesting that they paid attention to the background of many of their paintings. 

~ Aleks B

I think my perspective on art has changed during this inquiry. I still like/love the same styles and types of beauty but during the trip to Llew Summers I realized that nudity in art is not weird but is part of nature and should be embraced in our culture. I learnt from Robyn that art is not just there to look at and be pretty but should be held, touched, loved and appreciated. My knowledge on art has widened as well; I did not know that you can make paintings out of flax! And I am intrigued to know more. I realized that beauty does not have to be perfect, neat and tidy but like Llew and Robyn’s garden it can be wild and free but still look and feel nice. 

~ Harriette J.

Our trip to Llew Summers and Robyn’s garden helped me understand the central idea because it shows we don't all have the same taste in art. When it comes to art I prefer photography (especially of moon and stars) and watercolours. Their art collection, in my opinion, is very ‘cool’. I loved all the painting on the walls and also noticed their book collection. I loved Robyn’s art work, I found it very unique and I found it interesting that she grew her own plants for her weaving projects. The process of sculpting ( I found ) was very long and was not quite my taste of art. 

~ Yza M

I think my perspective on art and beauty has changed quite a lot throughout this experiment. One of the things that have changed my perspective on beauty over these past few weeks is looking at forms of beauty and beauty in general from other people's perspectives. It has had a massive impact on how I feel about beauty of different forms. Another thing that has changed my perspective of beauty is being exposed to other new and uncommon forms of beauty. I am now more aware of others styles and tastes in beauty of other people I learnt a lot about new styles and forms of beauty from Llew Summers and his partner Robyn I really enjoyed his displays and I learnt a lot about clay sculpture and many other forms of sculpture. I developed my appreciation of beauty and excellence further throughout these past few weeks and plan to develop it even further. I still enjoy certain styles of beauty but already this experiment has changed my perspective on how others see beauty and how they interpret their style and taste into their artwork and their lives. 

~ Abby H.

The trip was fun and interesting because sculpting is a form of beauty because many people like to sculpt and look at sculptures. I liked his sculptures because they are very intricate and detailed. I was impressed with his studio and how old fashioned it was. Their art collection was very unique, I liked it because it made the house feel more alive. 

~ Enzo B

I really had a good time looking at all the art. I loved the flax weaving that Robyn displayed and all the different paintings in the house. It was very interesting learning about all the different ways to sculpt an image. You can do unlimited things to a sculpture. The flax weaving had so much meaning to it. One of the woven displays was to do with a fossil in Dunedin. Their house is beautiful. It had an old theme but was spiced up with all the sculptures, gardens and paintings. Our trip to Llew Summers helped me understand the central idea because… there were many different forms of beauty. Others didn’t think the house was beautiful but I thought it looked spectacular. I liked the sculptures on display, well, some I did like and some I didn’t. I was very impressed with the paintings because they were so unique and gave the house a cosy feel.  

~ Blake C-D