Marté Szirmay

[4] Szirmay's interest in science from school influenced her later sculptures which centred around the imagery of organic living forms, such as shells, eggs, seed pods, fossils.

[2] After graduating from Elam, Szirmay won the Smirnoff Sculpture Award (1969) for a monumental outdoor piece rendered in curved, polished aluminium in the busy centre of Newmarket, Auckland.

[4] The brutalist look and feel and utilitarian construction was designed to remind passersby of the industrial history of Newmarket and the highly reflective surfaces were intended to mirror the hustle and bustle of the surrounding streets.

[7] It is located beside Lumsden Green, close to the Khyber Pass Road–Broadway intersection at Newmarket, counterpoised with Virginia King's Sliver across the pedestrian crossing.

The work, featuring running water and steel construction, was unfortunately dismantled when the Chase Corporation went bust during the stock market crash of the late 1980s.

[10] In the two years following, Szirmay travelled to Europe, and while in Britain she was in touch with sculptor Anthony Caro who may have prompted her to investigate the use of colour in her work.

[12][5] Szirmay continues to produce work, and in recent years has participated in numerous outdoor sculpture exhibitions and competitions around New Zealand.