Grava x Briana Jamieson
Each month, Boutique Connection sponsors Sanderson Contemporary Art’s exhibition openings.
This is a collaboration of wine and art pairing where we pair a handcrafted New Zealand wine with the artist’s hero piece. The project explores how taste and texture can echo a visual experience and perhaps even enhance it.
I’m exploring the non-verbal dialogue between art and wine and pairing each artist’s hero piece with a wine that echoes its mood, energy, and emotion.
The aim is to translate visual expression into taste, inviting viewers to experience the artwork through another sensory lens. Each match is intuitive and collaborative, celebrating both the artist’s vision and the craft of our boutique producers.
Briana Jamieson
For this exhibition, Briana Jamieson turned to the community garden she has been tending in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. What began as growing flowers became an exploration of calm, awe and generosity. She speaks of planting large drifts of the same flower, watching them glow in the sunlight, picking armfuls to share with others, and dreaming of growing flowers for everyone to take home. Those simple moments became the essence of these paintings.
Briana paints from a place of emotion, drawing on real experiences, memories, photographs and poetry to create works that feel both deeply personal and quietly universal.
Rain Lilies (Gold)
Rain Lilies (Gold) was her chosen ‘hero’ piece and it immediately took my breath away. Inspired by the flowers Briana grows in her local community garden, the painting captures that fleeting moment when large clusters of soft white blooms catch the sunlight and seem to glow from across the garden.
What I love is that this isn't simply a painting of flowers... it's a painting of a feeling. Briana speaks of the calmness and awe she experiences when surrounded by these gardens, where delicate blooms sway gently yet feel full of life. That emotional response sits at the heart of the work.
There is a warmth running through the painting, balanced by a subtle sense of mystery. Light and shadow coexist effortlessly, creating depth without heaviness. It feels peaceful, luminous and contemplative all at once... inviting you to pause, breathe, and simply enjoy the moment.
To accompany Rain Lilies (Gold), I chose Grava Riesling.
This is a Riesling that feels beautifully precise. Bright citrus and orchard fruit bring clarity and freshness, while a few years of bottle age have begun to reveal delicate tertiary notes that add warmth without losing its crystalline character.
There's something almost weightless about it. The acidity is vibrant and pure, reminding me of cool mountain air at night, while those gentle toasty notes quietly echo the burnt butter and black sesame flavours Briana imagined alongside the work.
The Riesling refreshes before unfolding layers of texture and age. Together they create a conversation between warmth and freshness, delicacy and structure.
Like Briana's flower gardens, both celebrate the beauty found in noticing light, atmosphere and the quiet moments that often pass us by.
Enjoy!
- Renée Dale
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Briana Jamieson
Garden Day4th - 29th March
Sanderson are pleased to present the exhibition Garden Day by Briana Jamieson.
Over the last year, Te Whanganui-a-Tara based painter Briana Jamieson has been growing flowers in a plot at her local community garden. This exhibition is inspired by days at this garden.
“I have noticed I am drawn to planting large areas of one type of flower in this garden, in the same way I am drawn to painting the same flower multiple times in a row. Golden shungiku flowering over winter and spring; tall stems of pearl matricaria in summer. This type of planting gives me a sense of awe and calm. When viewed from a distance, across the plots, the clustered together flowers glow in the sunlight.
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Read more here.
