Chad Heays

Based in Ahuriri/ Napier, Hawke’s Bay, Chad Heays is a graduate of Unitec NZ’s former Three Dimensional Design degree, and member of the former Cicada Studios design collective.
Over the last 30 years, through numerous projects, collaborations and occupations, Chad has inherited learnings from numerous teachers, mentors, and creative environments; each of which have contributed to and enriched his development as a maker, and creative thinker.
A product of generational self-reliance, being a descendant of farmers, sailors and builders, Chad’s work often tips a hat to the makers and problem solvers of the past; their inventive determination and skill-rich traditions of making, repairing, and modifying.
Having spent the last decade working in the museum and gallery sector, working with artifacts and Taonga from around the world has further enriched Chad’s insight and appreciation of object making, and the ways that we live in and interact with the built world around us.

STATEMENT:

In the early stages of this project, while considering potential directions, I set the parameters of my work around utilisation of small profile and offcut materials, and in limiting my approach to relatively low-tech processing- essentially to make work with the material and equipment I had on hand.
Kahu developed initially from assembly experiments using small sticks, from which consideration of form emerged, and eventually the introduction of mechanics to facilitate interactivity and adaptation.
Ideas for Southern Cross were taking shape and ruminating while I made Kahu. Having developed a structural language of sorts, in these individual pivoting components; I introduced a layering element to the development process and in doing so, shifted the structural format from horizontal to vertical.
Underlying the materiality of these works, contemplations around concepts of place, ‘home’ and transiency informed how they took shape; as did thoughts on the ethereal nature and energy of these Islands we live on, and their living inhabitants.