THRESHOLD

Karen Hansen | 2026

Shop the Collection here (First batch drops 11am NZST Sunday 25th October 2026) : THRESHOLD | Wearable Geothermal Sculpture

Feathers have always fascinated me. I've been incorporating them into my art for more than sixteen years, drawn to their beauty, their symbolism, and the way something so delicate can carry such a powerful sense of presence. They have followed me through different chapters of my creative life, and now, through THRESHOLD, they have found their way into one of the most meaningful explorations of my practice.

THRESHOLD was born from my ongoing Geothermal Index, a deeply relational art practice with Te Arikiroa, the extraordinary volcanic wetlands on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua. I have spent countless hours here, getting to know this living landscape, witnessing its transformations through the seasons and years, and exploring what becomes possible when I invite the land itself to participate in making art.

Each feather begins as something found, a small offering from the natural world. I carefully prepare it to receive copper through electroplating, preserving its delicate structure in metal before returning it to the geothermal earth. Within the hydrothermal fumaroles of the active volcano beneath Rotorua, heat, steam, sulphur and mineral chemistry begin their own extraordinary work, transforming the copper into colours and surfaces I could never entirely predict or reproduce.

This is where I step back as an Artist. I can prepare the feather, choose where to place it and decide when to retrieve it, but the land has its own hand in what emerges. Every piece carries the physical evidence of that encounter, making each one a unique little sculpture of place.

There is a beautiful connection in the photographs accompanying THRESHOLD, too. Our model, Kaitlyn Roberts, was born at Hinemoa Point, just across the bay from Te Arikiroa. When I asked her what this land meant to her, she spoke with such affection about growing up beside the lake, remembering water clear enough to swim in as a child. To have someone whose own life began on these shores wearing artwork transformed by the same volcanic landscape feels incredibly special to me.

In my practice, I understand the world as living and ensouled, and the feather has long held a place within my exploration of the sacred feminine through bird goddess archetypes, and the spaces between worlds. It belongs to earth and sky, to the bird that once carried it, and now, through THRESHOLD, to the volcanic landscape that has given it another form.

My work with the geothermal field was recognised with the Watts & Hughes Innovation in Art Award at the 2026 Rotorua Museum Art Awards, and THRESHOLD carries that exploration into wearable sculpture.

These pieces have travelled through an alchemic process of transformation, and I love the thought of them travelling further, into the lives of people who feel a connection to them, all over the world.

A little piece of Te Arikiroa, my home, the land I belong to, held close to the heart.

Karen Hansen X Te Arikiroa

Found Feathers | Copper Electroplating | Geothermal Transformation | Muka Harakeke | Stainless Steel