FEATURE_NEW ZEALAND

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IN EARLY 2009, ARTIST PROFILE INVITED 11 AUSTRALIAN PAINTERS ON WORKING TOUR OF ’S NORTH ISLAND.

MEETINGOur plan, over 10 days, was to take in the extremities of the island—to skirt the remote east Wairarapa coast, drive through miles of iconic New Zealand country to the island’s volcanic heart, Mount Ruapehu. Story Paul Flynn AND Each day, the artists would stop, look, hike, sketch and paint, preparing works for an exhibition in the coming year that will shed light on 11 distinctive minds working through their processes from plein air to studio. 01PARTING FEATURE_NEW ZEALAND

038 039 We chose each artist for his or her unique vision and differing our harsh environment. For those who have made it their home, painting perspectives. Presented here is just the first step in as each of our artists have by birth or by choice, it is impossible our ongoing project—detailing the trip and recording the artists’ to look passively at the local landscape: it’s accommodated into a impressions as they set to paint, observing their interaction peculiar worldview. Gangs in chains carved out the country’s first with the environment—and each other—and profiling their initial modern settlements—mostly poor, uneducated criminals sent to response through their work. Over the coming months, the artists cruel, alien surroundings a year’s travel from their home. Year by will be back on familiar ground, digesting their trip in the studio. year, they travelled further inland, dying of thirst, washed away in rivers, killed by the venom or jaws of unfamiliar wildlife. Our first Few terms in the art lexicon cover as much ground as ‘landscape’. explorers left the cities that still cling to our coastlines in search of In a literal sense, artists have marched, crawled, perched and an inland sea and only to find it dryer and more inhospitable than pondered over remote corners of the planet with the focused they had ever imagined. curiosity of the most avid scientist. Constable understood this as an empirical endeavour: “Painting is a science and should be In taking 10 painters out of their familiar surrounds—only Euan a pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may not native New Zealander—we hope to give them new visions and for a landscape be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of new material, adding to already enviable bodies of work. As one of which pictures are but experiments?” our group, Julie Harris, observed:

But unlike a scientific pursuit, there is no rigorous agreed “There is a potential for landscape to become everything from a methodology. No artist has a definitive hold on what it is to metaphor for inner experience and self expression, for reinterpreta- represent a landscape—some reject the idea as the folly of a tions of man’s place in the environment, to an ideological tool to bygone era, referencing nature in more oblique terms, if at all. comment on the nature of development, cultural issues, cultural For many painters, a landscape is simply a shifting puzzle of light, narratives and to protest the fragility of the earth, and as with shape and colour; for others, it is a concrete image, reminding aboriginal art, to become or help form a national identity. There is us of our place in something larger than ourselves—whether still scope to broaden the language and that remains the challenge.” a political, historical or noble moral quest. In the tradition of Australian painting, as with its New Zealand counterpart, we see the unfolding of European culture grappling with an unfamiliar DAY 1—WEDNESDAY APRIL 8—ARRIVEWELLINGTON environment. Both countries have absorbed and informed the rich artistic traditions of indigenous populations. For painters working Depart from , and Hobart for . on both sides of the Tasman, our isolated histories lend a unique Shonah Trescott presented at immigration in a flannelette shirt perspective. and paint-splattered boots, carrying an easel as hand luggage. The passport control officer probes: “Are you an artist?” Australian The landscape is a deep referent for artists to begin building an border protection is on the ball. image. Australian history is muddied by a messy relationship with David Keeling study FEATURE_NEW ZEALAND

We arrived in Wellington to discover the pick-up point for our 2 x 8-seater vans and trailer is in the city—8 kilometres away. We caught taxis to the city only to discover our vans were waiting back at the airport.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand—beautiful and as windy as its reputation. A pamphlet at the airport boasts Wellington is “the political centre of New Zealand, with more than 40 established embassies”. As the United Nations has 192 member states, one might conclude either New Zealanders are supremely indifferent to the rest of the world or else that few foreign governments know its here. I considered raising this with our only New Zealand-born artist, but as we were newly arrived guests in his country, decided it was too early in the trip for kiwi humour.

We arrived at the hotel and divided artists into their sleeping arrangements—a jigsaw puzzle of personalities still yet to unfold. Natalie O’Connor from Winsor & Newton had snuck in earlier and prepared art supply packs for the talent to play with.

Welcome dinner and a speech to settle everyone’s nerves—the group bonded well and everyone appeared excited—and some were more nervous than I’d expected.

Lucy Culliton’s vegetarianism was a hot topic of discussion.

Lucy patiently explained that fish is not a vegetable.

DAY2—THURSDAY APRIL 9—WELLINGTON TO CASTLEPOINT

Breakfast—Bacon and egg roll and strong coffee. 040 041

02 Idris Murphy, Castlepoint FEATURE_NEW ZEALAND

Feeding 11 painters and 4 crew members for 10 days is no small order. Steve Lopes, a painter but nonetheless a self-identifying Sicilian chef, and I tried to get our heads around what is required to keep working artists fed and happy. Having managed a gallery, I knew he was in for a surprise. Prepared lists (heavy on tinned- tomatoes) were cast aside as special orders come in for prune juice and organic almonds. Steve looked bemused.

Thankfully, Jenny Neligan of Bowen Galleries took control and guided us to an enormous gourmet and organic food market, the likes of which justifies New Zealand’s reputation as a food destination, and we threw together three trolleys worth of artist- appropriate provisions. Piling into our vans with little room to spare, we embarked on our trip. On route, we stopped at a bottle shop to stock up on wine, leaving with something close to a ratio of 2.2 bottles per person.

We passed through rolling hills north of Wellington covered in a spiny shrub with yellow flowers: gorse—an imported weed. Squashed next to me in the back seat, Idris remarked to himself: “What beautiful hills. They look like the backsides of elephants.” Squashed into the backseat, he remarked: ‘what And they did. Artists see things the rest of us don’t. Landscape painters, like all artists, connect our eyes to our imagination. beautiful hills—they look like the backsides of elephants.’ And they did. Artists see things the Our destination, Castlepoint, is a small, isolated one-store town on stunning the east coastal region known as Wairarapa, dominated rest of us don’t. by the dramatic 162m high Castle Rock. The atmosphere is sleepy—most of the homes are small weekenders—what the locals call a ‘bach’, an odd contraction of ‘bachelor pad’. After another game of musical beds, the artists grab their gear and head outside to paint, their first opportunity to get their hands dirty. 042 043

Ann Thomson’s makeshift studio David Keeling, Mt Ruapehu FEATURE_NEW ZEALAND

Jan Senbergs Euan Macleod Steve Lopes

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Shonah Trescott Dinner—Morrocan—Couscous, sausage and chicken stew, zucchini, sweetpotato, carrot and potatoes.

DAY 3—FRIDAY APRIL 10—CASTLEPOINT

On Good Friday, our printmaker (and part-time driver) Tom and I woke to the smell of death permeating our room. The manager reported: “It’s probably the sewerage.” With that comforting thought, we were moved to a small cabin in the neighbouring caravan park. I was reminded how much I hate communal shower blocks.

The artists were scattered all over the tiny hamlet and word spread fast that there were some strangers in town. David and Lucy were set up cosily overlooking the beach and lighthouse. Idris and Peter turned their backs on the ocean and had wandered off into the hinterland. Ann had set up a makeshift studio in the laundry. Euan tried to hide behind a shed but still attracted a gaggle of well- meaning onlookers:

“They’re not bad,” remarked one. “I reckon you could sell those.”

Dinner—Fish and Chips—salt and pepper squid, fish kebabs and caper sauce, vegetable fritters, potato wedges, 4 x large fries from the only store in town.

Judith Van Heeran Julie Harris DAY 4—SATURDAY APRIL 11—CASTLEPOINT

In search of a supermarket and a reliable web connection, I headed inland to the large rural town Masterton, dropping Lucy, Steve and Euan in the middle of nowhere and Peter even further 01 Jan Senbergs, Sitting cloud on Ngauruhoe, 2009, oil stick on paper, 92 x 110cm down the road. The closest thing I could find to an internet café 02 Steve Lopes, Euan, Mt Ruapehu, 2009, etching and dry point, 70 x 90cm FEATURE_NEW ZEALAND

03 046 047 in Masterton was the local sheep museum—in New Zealand—as the saying goes, you can’t make this stuff up. The elderly volunteer All the artists jumped on the back of pointed to an aging IBM in the corner saying: “you’re on your own the ute and were taken for a tour—the if you need help. I don’t know how to use those things.” thought crossed my mind of the cost to I returned to find Peter in painter’s heaven and the other trio Australian art should we overturn. collapsed in the grass on the side of the road. They had spent the afternoon painting each other—spontaneous portraits of the artists at work.

Dinner—a feast at the ‘bach’ of Jenny Neligan.

DAY5—SUNDAY APRIL 12—MARTINBOROUGH/POINT PALLISER

Some of the group had tired of the Castlepoint lighthouse … so we headed for another lighthouse three hours away—on the promise of not-to-be-missed scenery and a colony of seals, which had animal lovers Shonah and Lucy all in a flurry. On route, we took in the beautiful wine country around Martinborough. As it was Easter Sunday, the New Zealand government in its infinite wisdom had banned the sale of wine.

Euan had arranged a wonderful lunch with some amiable collector friends, Hugo and Louise, who owned a sprawling farm on some of the most stunning coastline any of us had seen—the property backed onto sheer cliff, which dropped down to a black sand beach, with a hazy view across to a snow-capped peak on the South Island. All the artists jumped onto the back of a ute and were taken for a tour—the thought crossed my mind of the cost to Australian art should we overturn. Lucy and Shonah chose to walk back through a field of cows. 03 Judith Van Heeran, Stags in battle (working drawing), 2009, ink, water colours and gouache on paper, 77 x 18.5cm 04 Julie Harris, Tongariro, 2009, sketch, 28.6 x 38cm 04 FEATURE_NEW ZEALAND After jump-starting one of the vans (I might have left the lights on but didn’t admit at the time), we headed along a dusty road to Euan awoke early to pack, only to find Point Palliser, another lighthouse, more stunning coastline and a a rat had collaborated on two of his particularly aggressive colony of seals. Sketchbooks were put to fast and furious use. drying paintings. Propriety prevents me repeating the language used Dinner—Pizza, dough made from scratch by the quarrelling Lopes brothers, pasta povera, caprese and verde salad, and a BBQ at before breakfast. the home of Jo Lowe and Rod Ingle. fortune had it, Jan was nearby to pull him out. Steve was quite chuffed—rescued through the quick action of one his painting DAY6—MONDAY APRIL 13—CASTLEPOINT TO MOUNT heroes. RUAPEHU His experience reminded me of the travails of the Hudson River Euan awoke early to pack, only to find a rat has collaborated with School artists, whose works became a driving force in the two of his drying paintings. Propriety prevents me from repeating movement to establish the great national parks of North America. the language used before breakfast. The Hudson River Valley is now a Mecca for testosterone-driven rock-climbers, unaware that a crew of aesthetically minded artistes We packed the vans and drove four hours to Mount Ruapehu, forged their path—leaving paint boxes at base camp to scale an active volcano at the centre of the island. When we arrived, indomitable peaks with a sketch book in their back pocket. the scenery was breathtaking. Tom and I jumped in the vans and raced the artists off to the base of the mountain, as the sunset Dinner—Fish and Vegetable Pie, Shonah’s orange dressing salad. danced across the sky.

They were only afforded another half hour of light before darkness DAY 7—TUESDAY APRIL 14—MOUNT RUAPEHU fell. I drove quickly back along the road to ferry them home and, (A campervan pulls up on the side of the road to the summit of out of the corner of my eye, recognised a figure in a red jacket Mount Ruapehu. A tourist creeps over sheepishly—camera at jumping out of the bushes—Idris. When we reached the rest the ready) of the group, we discovered Steve recovering from, in his own words, a “near-death experience”. Running off into the scrub like TOURIST: What’s that you’re doing there? a painter possessed, he fell straight into a hole—6 feet under. As LUCY: Painting.

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05 Peter Simpson, Untitled sketch, 2009, ink on paper, 18 x 26cm On the road to Wellington FEATURE_NEW ZEALAND

050 051 TOURIST: Do you mind if I take a photo of you? night. LUCY: Go right ahead. TOURIST: So you are you just travelling around painting things? DAY 9—THURSDAY APRIL 16—MOUNT RUAPEHUTO LUCY: Yeah. It’s a nice way of seeing things. EUAN: Bit slower than a photo though. WELLINGTON TOURIST: But a lot nicer to look at. EUAN: (dryly) Not necessarily. For the long drive back to Wellington, we take a route around the far side of Mount Ruapehu and discover to all our surprise Julie and Judith skilfully avoided the infrequent tourist commentary a desert that would look more at place in Arizona. As everyone by disappearing up one of the many mountain trails. As a studio wound down, conversations in the vans turned to a name for the painter who populates her work with museum specimens, I knew tour. Judith would have a unique approach to the trip—hiking. Jan managed to stay just far enough away from the road to avoid We stop off at the town of Bulls, which has managed to put conversation, pausing from his concentrated sketching only long the word Bull into every business name in the town—and that, enough to take a phone call from Rick Amor. I thought, was the most interesting thing about Bulls. Peter, however, wandered off into a second-hand bookstore, and Dinner—French—mushroom and bacon crepes, olive tapenade, discovered a torn yellowing, anthology of New Zealand poetry. and camembert on crouton, red wine. Flicking through the pages, he came across a work by Charles Brasch (1909-1973): DAY 8—WEDNESDAY APRIL 15—MOUNT RUAPEHU Always, in these islands, meeting and parting It is an extraordinary site to see a group of artists set up on Shake us, making tremulous the salt-rimmed air; the side of a volcano—made even more noteworthy when our Divided and perplexed the sea is waiting, printmaker Tom set up an acid bath and worked an etching plate Birds and fishes visit us and disappear. on the mountainside with Shonah. It was a small achievement but I’m sure that has never been done before on a volcano. We later learned that, in his day, Charles Brasch was one of New Zealand’s greatest arts patrons. At the end of our last day painting, we headed to the nearby hotel for standard pub fare in celebration. After dinner, the Dinner—Cambodian—on a long table in a noisy restaurant with rowdy crew came back and watched a documentary on plenty of wine. Colin McCahon—in complete silence. Individually, a few of the artists had mentioned they felt the overwhelming presence of DAY 10—FRIDAY APRIL 17—DEPART WELLINGTON McCahon as they worked. His work more than dominates New

Lucy Culliton, Jan & Steve Zealand painting—many see his sombre hand in every part of the Jan and Judith stay on in New Zealand to explore further. And for landscape. It was for the best we didn’t watch this on the first the rest, back to the studio to work.

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The road from Ruapehu 052 053 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This tour and exhibitions are proudly sponsored by Winsor & Newton. All photography by Tony Lopes. ARTIST PROFILE would like to thank Barry Stuart, Diana Radovich, 07 06 Nadia Cieslak and Natalie O’Connor from Winsor & Newton, Jenny Neligan and Penny Moir from Bowen Galleries, Tina Janis, DJ Gillard and Tom Goulder.

Kind thanks to each of the artist’s representative galleries— Watters Gallery, Damien Minton Gallery, Murray White Room, Stella Downer Fine Art, Ray Hughes Gallery, Art House Gallery, Niagara Galleries, King Street Gallery on William, Richard Martin Art, Mossgreen Gallery, Bett Gallery and Australian Galleries.

Thanks also to Ian and Pauline Holland at Castlepoint Holiday Park, Chris Gebbie at Pukenui Lodge Mount Rupheau, Inverlochie Art School in Wellington, Hugo and Louise at Palliser Bay, and Jo Lowe and Rod Ingle at Martinborough.

Forthcoming exhibitions supported by Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bowen Galleries, Wellington, and King Street Gallery on William, Sydney.

Hillside - Tongariro

Proudly sponsored by: Final Study, David Keeling

06 Euan MacLeod, National park figure, Tongariro, 2009, oil on canvas, 70 x 90cm 07 Peter Simpson, View from Pukanue, 2009, oil on paper on board, 18 x 25cm