BULLETIN OF THE ART GALLERY TE PUNA O WAIWHETU autumn march – may 2005 Exhibitions Programme

BOOM .140 A rarely seen corporate collection from the Bank of , acquired during the b investment boom of the 1980s. Bulletin Editor Sarah Pepperle 2 Director’s Foreword William A. Sutton Gallery / until 28 March Director Tony Preston A few words from the Director Collections Manager/Senior Curator Neil Roberts COMING HOME IN THE DARK Curator (Contemporary) Felicity Milburn Curator (Works on Paper) Peter Vangioni Fourteen artists with connections to the Mainland are represented in an exhibition that 3 My Favourite Curatorial Assistant (Historical) Ken Hall Linda Tyler makes her choice explores the dark underbelly of the region’s genteel appearance. Curatorial Assistant (Contemporary) Jennifer Hay Ravenscar Gallery / until 28 March Public Programmes Officer Ann Betts Gallery Photographer Brendan Lee 4 Noteworthy 51° SOUTH Friends of Christchurch Art Gallery Marianne Hargreaves News bites from around the Gallery A group show examining a range of responses from artists who have visited the remote Other Contributors Islands. Ann Calhoun, Lloyd Godman, Linda Tyler 5 In Memory Tait Electronics Antarctica Gallery / until 1 May Tel (+64-3) 941 7300 Fax (+64-3) 941 7301 Chrystabel Aitken (1904 – 2005) Email [email protected] [email protected] THE SCENIC EYE Please see the back cover for more details. Leading contemporary German artists explore the boundaries between fine art and We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future articles. 6 Island Life the theatre. Robin White in New Zealand and Kiribati Touring Exhibition Galleries A, B and C, and Borg Henry Gallery / 25 March – 26 June / catalogue available 12 The Scenic Eye Exploring contemporary visual arts and the theatre ISLAND LIFE: ROBIN WHITE A vibrant large-scale exhibition by Robin White bringing together works created over a lifetime in New Zealand and Kiribati. 16 Art/Speak: Lloyd Godman A journey to the subantarctic William A. Sutton and Ravenscar Galleries / 8 April – 5 June

HOMELIGHT CURRENT SPONSORS OF THE GALLERY 18 51° South An exhibition of ceramics by Raewyn Atkinson, inspired by her recent visit to Antarctica. A group exhibition of works inspired by the remote Auckland Islands Tait Electronics Antarctica Gallery / 13 May – 31 July Gold EUREKA TRUST 20 Artist Profile: Denise Copland THE COLLECTIONS MONTANA WINES NZ LTD Portrait of the artist Divided into Historical, Twentieth Century and Contemporary Collections, PYNE GOULD CORPORATION/PERPETUAL TRUST SPECTRUM PRINT this installation displays a rotating selection of the treasures of the Gallery’s permanent SPICERS PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LTD 22 Ape to Zip collections. STRATEGY ADVERTISING & DESIGN An alphabet adventure Collection Galleries / Acoustiguide® and catalogue available THE CARTER GROUP

PORTRAITS AND PERSONALITIES 25 A Parcel from London Silver Rex Nan Kivell’s gift of an important collection of British prints An exhibition featuring self-portraits, family portraits and portraits by and of New ARCHIBALDS CITROËN Zealand artists, drawn from the Gallery’s sculpture, painting, photography and works on GLASS TOWER STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS paper collections. 28 Recent Acquisitions Monica Richards Gallery / until 1 May VERVE DIGITAL LTD Featuring ‘the people’s picture’

SUITES FROM THE COLLECTIONS 31 Friends of the Gallery An exhibition of five suites of prints by contemporary New Zealand artists Tony People, places and events Fomison, , Denise Copland, Barry Cleavin and a collaboration between and Bill Culbert. Burdon Family Gallery / until 1 May 34 Coming Events A look at what’s on at the Gallery APE TO ZIP A light-hearted art alphabet adventure bringing together a curious assortment of 36 Coming Soon artworks in an exhibition designed to captivate the young and the young at heart. Design & Production Previewing Joanna Braithwaite’s Wonderland Monica Richards Gallery / 13 May – 2 April 06 Art Director Guy Pask GRAPHICA BRITANNICA Editorial Design Douglas Maclean Highlights from the Rex Nan Kivell gift of prints by some of the most highly regarded Designer Stephen McCarthy Production Manager Lynda Courtney Back cover: Stage 1982/96 Raimund Kummer. Cibachrome. Reproduced British printmakers of the 1930s and 40s. Photolithography Verve Digital Ltd courtesy of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) Burdon Family Gallery / 13 May – 29 January 06 Printing Spectrum Print Please note: The opinions put forward in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. All images reproduced courtesy of ISSN 1176 – 0540 the artist or copyright holder unless otherwise stated. Director’s Foreword My Favourite P. ANTHONY PRESTON LINDA TYLER

lovely cool atmosphere. Lost in thought, Florence keeps her cardy buttoned up almost to the neck and nestles her hands together for warmth. All the same, she doesn’t look the type to stay cold and still for long. Getting to her daughter’s house after an hour’s drive from the airport, she has wasted no time in getting her suitcase open, taking out her pinny and putting it on, ready for work. Observers have pointed to a religious quality in Florence at Harbour Cone, derived from the painting’s structure The cooler months of Autumn subantarctic islands in 1989 in our and art historical associations as much as from its subject are upon us, bringing with them a Art/Speak article. Also represented matter. Look again at the simplicity of Florence in front of new programme of exhibitions at in the exhibition, local artist Denise the landscape of Otago Peninsula and there is the classic the Gallery. During this quarter, Copland is the featured artist in Italian High Renaissance composition with a massive we welcome a major international this issue. figure at the front looming up like a pyramid, helped by the show from Germany’s Institut für The month of May brings new emphatic triangular shape of the hill in the background. Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) toured by permanent collection exhibitions This painting seems very much a localising of the artist’s the Goethe-Institut, New Zealand. to the upstairs galleries. Ape to Zip own spirituality; Robin White has described how once she The Scenic Eye is a visually arresting is a delightful exhibition for the came to share her mother’s Baha’i faith in the early 1970s, exhibition of contemporary art by some young at heart, making art accessible she felt closer than ever to her. In middle age, Florence of Berlin’s leading artists, challenged in an alphabetical assortment looks quite spent, but her scale is still giant. Queen-like, by curator Wolfgang Storch to create of artworks. Graphica Britannica she rules the image the way she would have once dominated works inspired by the concept of presents a spectacular selection of her children’s lives and vision. theatre. The exhibition is the largest British prints gifted to the Gallery There is love and more than a little veneration in this yet at the Gallery, occupying four by renowned collector, Sir Rex de portrayal of a mother by the youngest of her offspring. major touring exhibition spaces. Charembac Nan Kivell. Head tilted in introspection, Florence is imbued with Robin White is one of New Once again it is with much sadness a kind of supernatural quality. Is it coincidental that Zealand’s most significant artists, and that I acknowledge the death of another Florence’s clothing is reminiscent of the Virgin Mary’s lapis the Gallery is delighted to present esteemed Canterbury artist, Chrystabel Even though I have lived in Dunedin for seven years, blue or that the scrub at the top of Harbour Cone crowns visitors with a vibrant exhibition of her Aitken, who died in January this year. old friends and acquaintances from the North Island her like a halo? She is seated with her hands resting in her works in Island Life: Robin White. A number of Chrystabel’s works continue to ask me with great concern how I cope with lap, but what is she sitting on? Perhaps she is not really there In this issue of the Bulletin, the artist featured in our popular exhibition the cold. “The southern climate is a test of character,” I at all but just an idea, suspended over the harbour like so talks about how island life has affected Simplicity and Splendour, and I am always smugly reply, quoting local natural history expert many visions of the Madonna. Or maybe she is a modern her practice, and the importance of pleased that Chrystabel was aware of Neville Peat. I am aware, though, that plenty of people and down-to-earth St Anne, an old mother, who is getting collaboration in her work. Toured by this acknowledgement of her valued would prefer not to have their character tested in this way, impatient and a bit chilly while waiting for her daughter the Hocken Library, the exhibition contribution to the Arts & Crafts and in looking at Robin White’s Florence at Harbour Cone, Mary, the new mother, to carry the infant Saviour over to features one of the Gallery’s works, movement in Canterbury. Vale. I tend to think that the artist’s mother was one of them. join her in the scene. Florence and Harbour Cone, selected Dunedin mornings in October can often be frosty with a for My Favourite by Hocken Library shining, pearly sky like the one in this painting. They are Linda Tyler is Head of the Pictorial Collections Section at the Hocken Curator Linda Tyler. an acquired taste, and not to everyone’s liking. Library, University of Otago, Dunedin and curated the touring exhibition Island Life: Robin White. Additionally, Peter Vangioni Given the artist’s predilection for getting double duty introduces 51° South, an exhibition by from her subjects, Florence’s image could well be a cipher for artists with connections to the remote her daughter’s feelings about motherhood, or the attitudes Auckland Islands. Photographer of pakeha pioneers to taming the land. To me, sitting in Lloyd Godman is represented in muggy city heat after a summer thunderstorm that did its the exhibition, and he discusses best to maintain Dunedin’s reputation for theatrical weather, Florence and Harbour Cone 1974 Robin White. Oil on canvas. his pioneering expedition to the this painting is an enticing evocation of Lower Portobello’s Collection of the Gallery

2 3 Best The recent Best 2004 Readers’ Poll in business magazine Unlimited Noteworthy voted the Gallery the number one best place to be seen in Christchurch! In Memory

New works from the Collections Chrystabel Aitken (1904 – 2005) An able painter and printmaker, The Gallery will unveil a new its twelve scored copper panels, Chrystabel also had distinctive selection of contemporary works arranged in any order, and allusions skills as a metalworker: her copper from the Collections on 27 May. to religious beliefs are typical of repoussé flask with pewter stopper Located upstairs in the Contemporary Intra’s interest in postmodernism was a feature piece in ‘Simplicity Collections space, the new hang – emphasising fragmentation, and Splendour’. The exhibition focuses on the period between 1970 uncertainty and destabilisation over also included an exquisite silver and 2005 and combines old favourites faith and monumentality. jewel casket with a frieze of her beloved galloping horses. She has with a range of recent acquisitions. Another work on show in the Gallery New Zealand’s most prestigious a significant collection of work on With an emphasis on presenting for the first time is Judy Darragh’s drawing award will be calling for display at Te Papa, and a number of works by Canterbury artists within a Cats and Dogs. This light-hearted entries in June. Artists wishing to her beautiful designs are now part national context, the exhibition will sculpture, made of brightly coloured enter should visit the Gallery website of the Macmillan Brown Library’s include paintings, sculpture, works on disposable objects suspended at the or telephone (03) 941 7351 for entry collections at the University of paper and photographs. end of thin metal wires, was recently forms and information. Judges of the Canterbury, a gift from the artist. A highlight of the display is a included in Te Papa’s major survey Award this year are , newly acquired installation work by exhibition of Darragh’s work, ‘So You Neil Roberts and Fiona Gunn, who Her bronze bull Untitled (Bull) is Christchurch-born . Made It?’. will select the winning entry and displayed in the permanent collections House and School (2001) recreates in shortlisted works to be exhibited at at the Christchurch Art Gallery. wood, perspex and glue van Hout’s School Holiday Quiz the Gallery from 20 August. The pinnacle of her career as a childhood home and primary school. sculptor was as one of a group The search and discovery Holiday A looped video replays the artist’s working with William Trethewey Quiz for the April school holidays is breathless bike ride between these Bulletin Online! designing, modelling and carving called Paws for Thought, introducing two locations, while a makeshift UFO Launched in 1979, the Bulletin has pieces and panels for the Centennial children to interesting characters in hovers above, the results of its been an important Gallery resource om 2004 Oli Perkins. Acrylic on canvas. Exhibition in . With Alison the Gallery’s art collections. The Quiz Private collection surveillance visible on another for more than twenty-five years. As Duff she was responsible for the is ideal for family groups and children monitor. well as keeping readers informed of Pioneer frieze above the entrance aged 5–11 years and is available daily, exhibitions, events and acquisitions, Art Auction to the main exhibition building. The Gallery recently acquired its 10 am to 4 pm, from 16 April to 1 May. first work by Giovanni Intra, the the Bulletin has also provided The Christchurch Art Gallery Trust Chrystabel’s friend Mary Bensemann The Quiz is free and no booking arts news and current opinions in remembers: “The large panel was New Zealand-born artist, writer and is required. and the Centre of Contemporary Art curator. Entitled The Laughing Wall, Canterbury and around New Zealand. (CoCA) are pleased to announce hung 100 feet up in the air, and Issues B1 to B114 are now available their annual fundraising auction Chrystabel had to climb up to do online, providing an excellent of fifty selected works of art by the carving. [...] Chrystabel paddled resource for anyone interested in prominent contemporary New around on a board carving in situ. discovering the recent history of art Zealand artists. Awful!” Recalling the Wellington wind, in Canterbury. You can browse the Chrystabel said, “I liked doing it but, articles or, if you are looking for a The auction is a cooperative by Jove, it was dangerous up there.” fundraising event between the particular artist, event or exhibition, Chrystabel was so easy to love. use the Search option to find it. We Christchurch Art Gallery Trust and CoCA; commission from the sale Gentle and caring, and so much fun. will be adding other material to this She once said to me, “I just loved archive during 2005. of works will contribute to both Ann Calhoun, friend of Chrystabel organisations, securing acquisition doing it. I just loved the art.” It has Aitken and guest curator of the been a joy and a privilege to know her. Art Appreciation Course funds for the Gallery and funding for exhibition ‘Simplicity and Splendour’ the exhibition programme at CoCA. in which her work featured, writes: The popular Insight art appreciation Below: Untitled (Bull) (detail) 1930 Chrystabel Aitken. Viewing: 3–19 May Chrystabel Aitken died aged 100 on Bronze. Collection of the Gallery series for beginners starts again Venue: Centre of Contemporary Art in April, offering courses over four Saturday, 15 January in Christchurch. Auction: Thursday, 19 May, 6 pm This item is a tribute to her consecutive Tuesday or Saturday Auctioneer: John McCormack MAANZ mornings. Exploring the wider aspects infectious personality and her artistic of portraiture, landscape painting, CoCA and the Christchurch Art accomplishments. abstraction and contemporary work, Gallery look forward to your support Chrystabel’s family moved from the course facilitates insightful and participation in this exciting Southland to Christchurch to allow discussion and promotes a greater event. For further details contact her to attend Canterbury College understanding of the Gallery’s CoCA, PO Box 772, Christchurch, School of Art in the early 1920s, collections. telephone (03) 366 7261, or email made possible by a succession of [email protected]. Course fee is $60. Places are limited scholarships. She assisted Modelling and enrolments are essential. To enrol, Master Francis Shurrock with the or for further information, please call junior modelling classes, and in 1930 (03) 941 7342. the School awarded her a medal for Special Excellence in Modelling, the first time sculpture had been recognised in this way.

Above: Chrystabel Aitken, Philip Aitken and Ann Calhoun Cats and Dogs (detail) 2003 Judy Darragh. Piano wire, fur, lycra and plastic found objects. 2000 at the unveiling of the cast of Raitea, originally Collection of the Gallery modelled by William Trethewey for the 1940 Centennial Exhibition in Wellington

GALLERY ONLINE www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz BULLETIN ONLINE www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz/bulletin 4 Register online to receive a monthly eNewsletter with information on current exhibitions and events at the Gallery. 6 7 Island Life: Robin White is a vibrant exhibition, tracing White’s development as a young artist in New Zealand through to the maturity and assuredness of technique developed during her years living on Kiribati. During this time, the artist has experimented with and mastered a vast range of media and processes, from painting, silkscreens and hand-coloured monoprints to photo relief and lino and woodcuts. Connecting all of the works is White’s ability to relay her personal observations of everyday life, resulting in powerful images that express her sensitivity to the human condition. Born in Te Puke in 1946, White and her husband Michael left for Kiribati – a collection of small coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean scattered across the equator – in 1982 in order to contribute to the Baha’i community living on the capital Tarawa. After more than ten years, White and her family moved back to New Zealand and are now based in Masterton. The exhibition, toured by the University of Otago’s Hocken Library, includes such iconic New Zealand paintings as Sam Hunt, Bottle Creek (1970) and Florence and Harbour Cone (1974). Living conditions and relative isolation dwelling on Kiribati meant that White had to adopt radical new ways of working. It was during this time that she began to create woodcut images of daily experiences. Beginner’s Guide to Gilbertese (1983) and the series of prints Twenty-Eight Days in Kiribati (1985) are two such examples of early Kiribati work in the exhibition. As the artist explains: I chose to respond to the uniqueness of the environment to a certain extent, in that oil painting was not what I was going to pursue to start with, and that I felt carving wood was appropriate – it was practical, available and possible. Painting was not going to work under the conditions in which we were living (we were given a local materials house). I had to adapt to the environment and that involved some logical changes. But then in 1996 something happened that forced a more radical reappraisal of the media I was working in: we lost our house and my studio and all our belongings in a fire. Suddenly I had nothing to work with, so I chose to respond by saying to myself that I would work with what was available. That was when I started a dialogue and eventually a collaborative Previous page: Mere and Siulolovao, Otago Peninsula 1978 Robin White. relationship with my Kiribati friends. Screenprint. Collection of Hocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin

Also included in Island Life: Robin White are a series Left: Cloud, Hills, and Claudia 1972 Robin White. Oil on canvas. Collection of of pandanus mats conceived of by White and woven by Hocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin local women at Tarawa’s Catholic Women’s Training Centre. Above: On the beach at Bikenibeu 1992 Robin White. From the series Nei Tiein They comprise six sets of three mats. White describes the Goes for a Walk. Set of four hand-coloured woodcuts. Collection of Hocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin iconography of the mats: In each set there is a central image that has been uplifted from the packaging of products commonly available in the little shops on the island. These include Bushell’s Tea, Sunshine Milk Powder, Hibiscus Safety Matches, fresh bread, Paradise Twist (tobacco) and New Angel (mackerel), which is the title for the complete work. The mats reference identity and belief systems that are subject to processes of change. They are place mats with traditional Kiribati weaving patterns and refer to supper and last supper in a cross-referencing of Christian imagery such as bread and fish and so on. The mats have six different traditional weaving patterns; the first set is

8 9 “We lost our house and my studio and all our belongings in a fire. Suddenly I had nothing to work with, so I chose to respond by saying to myself that I would work with what was available.”

The mats were the first works where the JENNIFER HAY Instant Sunshine 1998 Robin White. From the series New Angel. Pandanus woven by the women of the medium was inseparable from the message. Jennifer Hay is Curatorial Assistant Itoiningaina (“The Day Star”) Catholic Women’s There is an integration of the medium with (Contemporary Art) at the Gallery. Training Centre, Teaoraereke, Kiribati under the supervision of Nei Katimira. Collection of Hocken what is being said, especially in Paradise Island Life: Robin White is in the William A. Library, University of Otago, Dunedin Twist where actual rolls of tobacco leaves Sutton and Ravenscar Galleries from 8 April were used. to 5 June. The exhibition is toured by the Other collaborative projects for Hocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin, and guest curated by Linda Tyler, Curator of White include tapa cloths with a friend Pictorial Collections at the Hocken Library. from Fiji and, more recently, a series of works based on the Japanese prisoners Related Events of war held in Featherston during the Preview 7 April, 4–5 pm. Friends of the interrupted by the appearance of an object. Gallery are invited to an exclusive preview of Second World War. For example: In the second mat, the object has taken on the exhibition. Venue: William A. Sutton and Summer Grass was painted on the back Ravenscar Galleries. solidity and form, casting a shadow, and of some wall paper I found around the house, we see the appearance of written language. Meet the Artist 13 April, 6.00 pm. Robin White and a Japanese lady wrote a script on it (a discusses the highlights of her career. Venue: For the third mat in the series we see the seventeenth century haiku). I based the work Philip Carter Family Auditorium introduction of colour. on research I was doing into the history of Pacific Sounds 27 April, 6.00 pm. An evening All these traditional patterns have been the camp and what happened there, and also of song and dance from representatives of the marginalised over time; the whole thing is Pacific Islands Community. Venue: Philip Carter looking at the artworks that were produced Family Auditorium / Gallery Foyer. about colonisation, change and beliefs, but held by the Japanese prisoners. I spoke to a lot of together by pandanus, a weaving together so The swaying palms – reality or illusion? 4 May, the old guys who remembered that time and interwoven with the traditional. 6.00 pm. Karen Stevenson, Senior Lecturer in they were great, full of anecdotes. Art History, discusses Pacific Island life and art. It was a collaboration in that the Venue: Philip Carter Family Auditorium. Island Life: Robin White is regarded conceptual leg work was mine and the process by the artist as a “family reunion”, all of How did they make those marks? 11 May, was theirs (the Kiribati women’s). It was a 6.00 pm. An introduction to printmaking Above left: The fisherman shows us his wound 1995 Robin White. From the series The fisherman loses his the work being interconnected in some great learning experience for everyone, and techniques. Venue: William A. Sutton and way. Set of four woodcuts. Collection of Hocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin way. White’s method of working embraces Ravenscar Galleries. since then they have started producing mats Above: Florence sits in the shade beside the lagoon 1985 Robin White. From the series Twenty-Eight Days in the understanding that art and life Tapa and Pandanus 18 May, 6.00 pm. Discover of their own that are popular with tourists. Kiribati. Hand-coloured woodcuts. Collection of Hocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin are one. the distinctive crafts of the Pacific Island region. Venue: Philip Carter Family Auditorium.

10 11 VISUAL ARTS AND THE THEATRE THE SCENIC EYE FOR AS LONG AS THEATRE HAS BEEN PLAYED, IT HAS CLAIMED TO CAPTURE THE ENTIRE WORLD AND TO REPRESENT IT IN MEANINGFUL IMAGES ON STAGE “Upon the boards that support this world, theatre makes constraints of a specific theatre production. The artists use of symbols and the schein (appearance) of reality hidden designed works, partly autonomous, partly inspired by behind an aesthetic boundary. The beautiful schein of the literary texts, which applied to the theatre strategies drawn theatre is the viewers’ desire, when they recognise their own from their own artistic concepts. The exhibition is thus the world and themselves in the picture seen through the window visual manifestation of the dialogue of two artistic disciplines of the stage. Today the public expects, even demands, such in close interaction. At each exhibition site it will allow for a powerful staging as a paroxysm of self-recognition. a renewed ‘dialogue-in-progress’, using the specific situation In every theatrical tradition, the cause of the moving at that site for shifting and fruitful confrontations. As in impression was initially ascribed to the spoken word. Over every dramatic performance, each station will provoke a the course of the centuries, the balance between word and new interpretation of the theme.” image in theatre has shifted: the visual side of the performance Condensed preface from The Scenic Eye: visual arts and the theatre, moved closer and closer to centre stage, gaining ground on exhibition catalogue, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen. text, direction and action. The more a performance was supposed to provide not only a direct reproduction but, Hans Peter Kuhn above all, an exegesis of narrative, whether contemporary “This has to do with my own history, that I come from the or traditional, the more set design was given a say. As a theatre. […] Theatre is naturally always about teamwork. And result, directors have increased their efforts to gain the help teamwork means compromise. […] When you are working of visual artists. on an intermediate level in a position like mine, i.e. not one From the first stage designs by Italian Renaissance artists, of the front-line people – those are the actors and director to the invention of movable sets during the Baroque age, to – but also not one of the underdogs, but rather floating some the development of a new visual language beginning in the place in the middle, then you never have the opportunity 1960s with the union of director and set designer: the visual to force what you want to the front, and just once, to do it arts have always provided the theatre with ideas that have exactly the way you want to. By contrast, in installations I have stimulated its further development. This realisation prompted the chance to fulfil this. And of course I find it fascinating our exhibition The Scenic Eye. We challenged visual artists, to actually realise all of those ideas and concepts that have preferably those without previous experience in set design, occurred to me over the years. In this manner I have found to engage in an imaginary dialogue with the theatre. They a way to compensate for and get away from the necessity of were asked to consider the interaction of direction, staging, compromise and to take an uncompromising position, to be Middle Place 1996 Hans Peter Kuhn. Sound installation, wood, acrylic, speakers, stage, actors and the public without being restricted by the able to formulate clear statements in my work.” mini-disc player. Reproduced courtesy of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa)

12 13 THE CURATOR TAKES ON THE ROLE OF A KIND OF SUPRA - ARTIST THAT IS WHY ONLY CERTAIN PEOPLE ARE SUITABLE FOR THIS GAME IT DOESN’T LEAD TO THE MOST INTERESTING OF POSSIBLE RESULTS Thomas Schütte “A play within a play is found in the arrangement of Silly The Scenic Eye is in Touring Galleries A, B and C, and the Borg Henry Lilies: a model of an opening. Between the flowers of Gallery from 25 March to 26 June. The exhibition is developed and toured by the German Institute of Foreign Cultural Relations and innocence, men get upset, yellow in jealousy, red in fury, blue presented in Christchurch in association with the Goethe-Institut, in anger, knee-high, made of formed and poured rubber. The New Zealand. beautiful people are labelled and cursed: ‘stupid’ and ‘dead’. What does society want?” Related Events Preview 24 March, 4–5 pm. Friends of the Gallery are invited to an Rainer Görss exclusive preview of the exhibition. Venue: Touring Exhibition Galleries “The actual act of staging is making the exhibition as a whole A, B and C, and Borg Henry Gallery. meaningful. This is a curatorial problem. The question of d>art03,dLux 6 April, 6.00 pm. International experimental film, animation staging has become very important in recent years. Now and video art. Venue: Philip Carter Family Auditorium. exhibitions should be seen as autonomous works. The Setting the Scene 20 April, 6.00 pm. David Turner, Production Designer on the set of Shortland Street, discusses how that illusionary world was curator takes on the role of a kind of supra-artist. The actual created and developed. Venue: Philip Carter Family Auditorium. artist is then an extra; that is why only certain people are Scatter installations – but is it art? 25 May, 6.00 pm. Stuart Griffiths suitable for this game. It doesn’t lead to the most interesting discusses the history and rationale of this branch of contemporary of possible results. sculptural practice. Venue: Philip Carter Family Auditorium. “[…] The way artists think originates from certain realisations about form, independent of the medium in which

this realisation takes place. Perhaps there are paths that exist Above: Silly Lilies 1995 Thomas Schütte. Seven lithographs on Japanese paper, edition limited to thirty; four figures, PVC. Reproduced courtesy of the Institut für in the artistic learning process that remain inaccessible for a Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) curator. The more the artists subordinate themselves to the Right: Eos, Dramata 1995 Rainer Görss. Transport crate (as peepshow box) with curating process, the more the specificity of the individual sphere of flickering red electric candles, skein of cables. Reproduced courtesy of the idea is marginalised.” Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa)

14 15 Art/Speak Art/Speak

Subantarctic. A Journey to the Auckland Islands

Artist and photographer Lloyd The region of subantarctic original material and form the basis Godman was so inspired by the islands south of New Zealand was of a compelling exhibition. spirit and history of the remote probably the last place on earth Initially the appropriate funding Auckland Islands he organised the Wallace was thinking of when he body was enthusiastic and supportive initial expedition of New Zealand made this statement. Isolated specks of the idea, but the response from artists to brave the tempestuous of rock projecting perilously above the Lands and Surveys Department Southern Ocean and experience this the engulfing, relentless Southern (which administered the islands) was sublime environment. Ocean in perpetual storm mode seem less than encouraging to my proposal. an unlikely place for diversity and The islands were seen as the domain “Wallace later recalled the ‘fever-heat of abundance – yet here, both exist. of true scientists – it was certainly expectation he felt’. ‘On my first walk While it is true that all regions on no place for the frivolous activities into the forest I looked about, expecting earth hold their own character, with of artists among all this serious to see monkeys as plentiful as zoological the immense scale and seamlessness business. However, several years gardens, with humming-birds and parrots that comes from continental vastness, later, with a change in government in profusion.’ But after several days of seeing uniqueness often appears to dissolve. policy that saw the establishment no monkeys and hardly any birds, he ‘began By contrast, small subantarctic islands of the Department of Conservation to think that these and other productions such as the Auckland Islands have and the administration shift from of the South American forests are much a natural history that is unmatched Wellington to Invercargill, the scarcer than they are represented to be by – there simply are no other places like project was resurrected. Russell Beck travellers’. Any one who has stepped into them on the planet. from the Southland Museum a rainforest, head full of images from glossy Embedded in the fabric of these and Art Gallery and Lou Sanson nature photography, has had roughly the islands is another inimitable spirit: of the Southland – Murihiku same disappointment, which derives from in these rare places, where nature Conservancy identified enthusiastically confusing diversity with abundance.” has rebuffed human endeavour and with the innovative vision and David Quamen, The Song of the Dodo, 1996, p. 62 now no one lives, there are echoes of the project became viable. intense human history. Here, nature There were still significant was discovered the confidence of Southland Museum and Art Gallery LLOYD GODMAN cradles an ambience of past human problems to over come. Naval policy the project had been broken and an that toured more art galleries than any Initially self-trained, Lloyd Godman became experience, holding on to memories at the time prevented women from individual artist had already received previous exhibition supported by the interested in photography in 1967, engaging in of environmental plunder, shipwrecks, sailing on the Frigate (an efficient funding for an solo expedition to the Art Gallery Directors Council. commercial photography and photo publishing until the early 1980s when he began focusing on coast watchers, failed settlements and and viable means of transport), and islands. We were informed the project For many of these artists, and those art-based projects. He has qualifications from attempts at farming and agriculture. because it was essential that the arts had been completed and could now who followed in later years to both RMIT and the Modern School of Photography, Since their discovery in 1806, these expedition be widely representative of not be funded. It was fortunate that the subantarctic and the Antarctic, New York, and was responsible for establishing islands have had relatively few human many art practices – it would be a team correspondence from the funding their experiences were so profound the photography department at the School of visitors, but each visit has been a new of people who would all experience the body provided the evidence needed they left a lasting legacy in their work. Art Otago Polytechnic. Lloyd has had thirty- saga in an ever-growing collection islands in a personal way – negotiations to convince the administrators that Fourteen years later, echoes of sublime six solo exhibitions and more than 200 group of intense human experiences. Time took place to solve this. For a time, they had indeed offered support to experiences still surface in the creative exhibitions. His work is currently represented in several galleries, including new media work spent on the islands is not easily it resulted in a stalemate. However, the project as far back as 1984. In a endeavours of many of these artists at MOCA of Georgia, Atlanta, and in the forgotten; tremendous hardship and with a cabinet minister for a patron final hurdle, a change of plan by the today. Further partnerships between exhibition 51° South, showing at the Gallery even fatality has in the past not been there was finally agreement that any Navy meant they could only transport the Department of Conservation until 1 May. uncommon. Mediocrity is unknown female artists could sleep in the radio a limited number of artists, leaving the and the Antarctic Research Centre in these southern latitudes. room, and the expedition was about team with four weeks to find $28,000 have been developed where artists Bill Hammond, Auckland Islands 1989 1989 Lloyd These were the thoughts that drew to become a reality. for a charter boat. are encouraged to contribute to Godman. Photograph. Collection of the Gallery me in 1984 to consider the prospect of A call was made for proposals In 1989 eleven artists on several the emotional knowledge of these organising an expedition of sensitive from interested artists, and final expeditions had the privilege of locations in a way that supersedes and creative people to the Auckland preparations for the expedition experiencing an amazingly unique pure data. This continuation of artistic Islands to gain a first-hand experience were underway when once again environment. From this, a compelling response to our wonderful landscape that would in turn generate strong the project was put in jeopardy. It exhibition was curated by the is beyond value.

17 In the cold and windswept heart of the vast Southern Ocean, the remote Auckland Islands are a treasure of unique natural history. 51º SOUTH

51° South brings together a small sample of works by In the summer of 1989/90 the ‘Art in the Subantarctic’ artists who have visited and responded to the natural and programme saw eleven artists visit the Auckland Islands. historical aspects of the Auckland Islands. This group of This group included photographers Lloyd Godman and subantarctic islands lies in the midst of the great Southern , ceramicist Chester Nealie and painter Ocean, 465 kilometres south of Bluff and within the 51st Bill Hammond. The project provided a unique opportunity southern latitude. The islands play an important role in for artists to visit and produce work in response to the supporting numerous bird and sea mammal populations, as primordial environment of the Auckland Islands. Godman’s well as a rich variety of plant life. The ecological importance Bill Hammond, Auckland Islands 1989 captures a haunting of the islands was recognised internationally when they image of Hammond beneath the twisting, gnarly forms of a were declared a World Heritage Area in 1988. rata while Aberhart’s panoramic view of Ranui Cove conveys a real sense of the undisturbed nature of the landscape. Hammond’s dramatic use of bird’s eye perspective in Shallow Graves, Auckland Islands No. 4 and Enderby Island Lion, Auckland Island No. 6 highlights the rugged, undulating nature of the islands’ coastal features. Nealie’s Dead Man’s Eye effectively uses the texture of the clay to show the weathered appearance of a battered sea chest that has been exposed to the elements. Denise Copland went to the Auckland Islands in 1995 and produced a large body of work from the experience. Survival IV refers to the survivors of the Dundonald shipwreck who were stranded on Disappointment Island in 1907 and made their daring crossing to the relief depots Although human activity has been limited in the on the main island. Auckland Islands since their accidental discovery in 1806, Although small in scale, 51° South demonstrates a wide it remains a fascinating and colourful aspect of the islands’ range of responses to the Auckland Islands in a variety history. Early visitors included sealing gangs, whalers and of mediums. scientific expeditions. Maori and Chatham Island Maori

settled on the islands in 1842, and in 1850 an attempt PETER VANGIONI was made to establish the settlement of Hardwicke on Peter Vangioni is Curator (Works on Paper) at the Gallery the main island. The rugged, inhospitable climate was a misery for the settlers and the town was abandoned within 51° South is in the Tait Electronics Antarctica Gallery until 1 May. two years. Remarkable tales of shipwrecks, castaways, and sunken treasure are perhaps the most popular aspect of Related Events the islands’ history, and they still capture the imagination Bill Hammond: his work and his critics 2 March, 6.00 pm. Warren of people today. Feeney, art historian and Director of CoCA, presents a fascinating insight into the works of this popular contemporary New Zealand Some of the earliest pictorial records of the Auckland artist. Venue: Philip Carter Family Auditorium. Islands are by the Frenchman Louis Le Breton who accompanied Dumont d’Urville on his expedition through Above: Survival IV (detail) 1995–96 Denise Copland. Woodcut. the Southern Hemisphere between 1837 and 1840. Le Collection of the Gallery Breton completed several sketches in the Auckland Islands Right: Enderby Island Lion, Auckland Islands No. 6 (detail) 1990 Bill Hammond. in March 1840 which were later reproduced as lithographs Acrylic on aluminium. Collection of the Southland Museum & Art Gallery Niho o for d’Urville’s account of the voyage, Voyage au Pôle Sud et Te Taniwha dans l’Océanie (1842–46). 18 19 Denise Copland One of New Zealand’s most gifted printmakers, Denise Copland’s work is deeply concerned with the environment and survival. These themes were most recently explored as a result of her recent trip to Antarctica in 2001/02 as an Antarctic Arts Fellow.

Her work currently features in 51° South, Tait Electronics Antarctica Gallery, until 1 May.

Photograph: Guy Pask a APEto ZIP Z AN ALPHABET ADVENTURE

A light-hearted art alphabet adventure designed to captivate younger audiences (and the young at heart), Ape to Zip brings together a curious assortment of artworks from the Gallery’s collections. Opening with Ape, a wonderful, little-known woodcut by New Zealander E. Mervyn Taylor, the selection ends with expatriate Frances Hodgkins’s enigmatic Still Life – Zipp, painted during her later years in wartime England. Most of the artists are New Zealanders (with genders equally represented), with works in a broad range of styles and media – from paintings and prints to ceramics and sculpture.

Running in alphabetic order, many of the words connected to artworks are obvious and easy to find. There is no talking down here, however – it is promised that some words will be new territory, even for older viewers! For children, the exploration becomes an achievable task and a lively, educational experience. It also makes a refreshing introduction to (capital A) Art in the (often perceived as sacrosanct) gallery setting. Many playful and unlikely associations exist here between works, and there is plenty to delight viewers of all ages. ’s Large Kitchen Composition, for example, as B for Baked Beans, becomes an educational game as children are invited to search for other words beginning with B from within the painting. Lucy Kemp-Welch’s tender study in oils of a mare and her F for Foal, In the Orchard [Sunlight through the Leaves], is another popular work from the collection. An interesting aside is that Kemp-Welch with the regretful conclusion that this remarkable portion loved studying and drawing horses since her childhood, and of her oeuvre had not survived. Several weeks later, from became the most famous horse painter of the day, later being completely out of the blue (and unrelated to this search), commissioned to complete paintings and drawings for an the Gallery received a telephone call from a person who for illustrated version of the children’s classic Black Beauty. a number of years had cared for thirty of these paintings, Among the most exciting inclusions Above: Ape 1944 E. Mervyn Taylor. Woodcut on paper. Collection of the Gallery Among the most exciting inclusions in this exhibition and was now looking to find them an appropriate home. in this exhibition are five small works are five small works on paper by Dame Eileen Mayo, which For this exhibition, the letter K is delighted to introduce on paper by Dame Eileen Mayo for a are part of a larger group of treasured recent additions to five of these exquisite works to the public: Kakariki (Red the collection. Several months ago, in relation to another crowned parakeet), Kotuku (White heron), Kiwi, Kakapo commission she received in the late project, serious attempts were made to locate Mayo’s and Karearea (New Zealand falcon). As commissioned 1970s from W. Gregg & Co. Ltd original gouache designs for a commission she received in artworks originally intended to enter a large number of of Dunedin to illustrate a set of New Zealand homes, these works display extraordinary the late 1970s from W. Gregg & Co. Ltd of Dunedin to collectible jelly cards. illustrate a set of thirty-five collectible jelly cards (Rare and artistic integrity and commitment, while at the same time Endangered Birds of New Zealand, 1978). The search ended holding both environmental and social significance.

22 23 A Parcel from London Hidden for many years in a museum drawer, an important collection of British prints is brought to light for the first time.

Sir Rex de Charembac Nan Kivell (1898–1977) is today most well known in A ustralasia for the important collection of material he gathered over a l ife time relating to Austral ia, Ne w Z ealand and the Pacific, now housed in the National L ibrary of Austral ia, Canberra. Less widely known is the fac t that in 1953 he gifted f rom London a large selection of prints by contemporary B ritish artists in four separate par cels t o the public art gal leries of Auckland, Wel l ington, Christchurch and Duned in. Chris t c h urc h’s co llectio n of 300 prints was incorrectly addressed to the director of Canterbury Museum, Roger Duff, who contacted the then honorary curator of the Robert McD ougal l Art Nan Kivell was born in ChristchurchLe ss widely known is Gallery, Wi l l iam Baverstock. As a fine in 1898 and a s a young man worked art med ium, prints were not held in for Sy dney Smith, a Christchur ch the fact that in 1953 particularly high regard in t he mid antiquarian book dealer. After serv ing Rex Nan Kivell gifted Ape to Zip’s splend id array brings tw entieth century and did not fit i n the Fi rst World Wa r, Na n Kivel l tog et her B ak ed Beans wit h Carrots w ith the developme nt of the gal lery ’s settled in London and joined the from London a large and Dirty Dishes, painfu l e ncounters collections at the time; Baverstock, with Redfern Gallery in 1925. The Redfern selection of prints (O f or Ouch!) with Pist ol-Packing the consent of Nan Kivell, declined the Gallery was a leading contemporary art by conte mporary Pir at es and Sea Monst er s, precious g ift. It was ag reed that the C anterbury gal lery in the city at the time, and in w i ldl ife and much more. With works Public Library should select thirty-four 1931 Nan Kivel l became its Direc tor. British artists in four gleaned from both historical and l ithograph s for its lend ing col lec tion, O ne of the Re d fe rn’s obj e ct ives was separate parcels to the contemporary collections, school and the remainder were put into storage to promote printmaking through groups and children of all ages at C anterbury Muse um. c ommis sioning editioned prin ts by p ublic art galleries of a re p re dicte d to find this e xhi b i tion By 1994, when the prints wer e leading British artists of the time. This Auckland, Wellington, lively and accessible (and only again brought to light, the climate had al lowed conte mporary art to reach a sl ightly irrevere nt). changed somewhat. Printmaking in its w ider aud ie nce, main ly a s a re sult of Christchurch and va r i o u s for ms was now a n accep ted the print’s affordabil ity. Dunedin. KEN HALL format for many contemporary artists, The exhibition Graphica Britannica: Highlights f rom the Rex Ken Hall is Curatorial Assistan t (Historical a nd ove r the fo u r d e c ade s s i nce the Art) at the Gallery. gift was first offered, the Robert Nan Kivell Gift d isplays for the first time a sel ectio n of key wo rks fro m McDougall Art Gallery ha d begun Ape to Zip is in Monica Richards Gallery from to esta b lis h what is n ow a sizea b le the Gallery’s Nan Kivell g ift of British 13 May to 2 April 2006. and well-r egar ded w or ks on paper prints, spann ing the first half of the coll e ct i on . The Mu s eu m gene ro u sly twe ntie th ce ntury. The exh ibition ha s offered the prints back to the Gal lery, been ar ran g ed to c o mplement Nan Above: In the Orchard [Sunlight through the Leaves] an d th e Nan K i v ell gift n ow fo r ms Kive ll’s o ri gina l list of p rints which 1904–05 Luc y Kemp-Welc h. Oil on canvas. Collec- Abov e: T he Giant Cable 1931 Sybil Andrews. Linocut. tion of the Gallery a m ajor comp onent of the Ga ll e r y’s he arranged into four d istinct groups: Collection of the Gallery international print col lec tion. lithographs, colour woodcuts, linocuts Right: Still Life - Zipp 1945 Frances Hodgkins. Oil on Next page: Poplars in France 1916 Gwendolen Raverat. canvas. Collection of the Gallery and wood e ngravings. Wood engraving. Collection of the Gallery

24 25 The lithographs in the Nan Kivell Duncan Grant, Eileen Agar, Robert artists often reflected contemporary, Spowers, Eileen Mayo, Dorrit Black the formation of the Society of Wood history of the print in Britain. Fifty-two collection are from the post-war period Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde. modern subjects with a particular and Frank Weitzel. Engravers in 1920 and the English years after Nan Kivell’s gift was offered, when a British revival in the medium The smallest group in the collection concern for rendering the dynamic The wood engravings form the Wood-Engraving Society in 1925. it is a very exciting prospect to finally occurred. Nan Kivell, along with are the colour woodcuts; the formation of effects of movement in their works. The largest part of the collection and Perhaps the most striking feature of be able to acknowledge his generosity Caroline Lucas and her sister Frances the Coloured Woodcut Society in 1920 linocut was championed in Britain by include important examples by well the Nan Kivell collection is its extremely to the Gallery. Byng Stamper who together ran the raised the medium’s profile in Britain. Claude Flight who taught the medium known artists such as Raverat, Gertrude wide scope, the breadth and depth of Miller’s Press, assisted in forming the The Nan Kivell collection contains at the Grosvenor School of Modern Hermes, Eric Ravillious, Agnes Miller which covers important aspects of PETER VANGIONI London Society of Painter-Printers excellent examples by Gwendolen Art in London. Although Flight is Parker, Clare Leighton, Eric Gill, John British printmaking between the 1910s Peter Vangioni is Curator (Works on Paper) at the Gallery in 1948. The Group held annual Raverat, Blair Hughes Stanton, Wilfred not represented in the collection there Nash and Ethelbert White. Inextricably and early 1950s. The collection offers a exhibitions at the Redfern and included Wood and Winifred McKenzie. is an excellent selection of works by linked to book illustration, the wood diverse range of printmaking techniques, Graphica Britannica: Highlights from the Rex such significant artists as Graham One of the most exciting aspects his pupils including Sybil Andrews, engraving underwent a renaissance subject matter and styles covering one Nan Kivell Gift is in the Burdon Family Gallery Sutherland, Ceri Richards, Vanessa Bell, of the collection is the linocuts – the Cyril Power, Lill Tschudi, Ethel in Britain during the 1920s, aided by of the most significant periods in the from 13 May to 29 January 2006.

26 27 Recent Acquisitions

The People’s Picture Is that you. Caravaggio by local artist thereby becomes deliberately obscure, Kees Bruin is one of the most enigmatic totally open to varied interpretation by works to enter the collection in recent the viewer. times. Dubbed ‘the people’s picture’, What is evident and can be explained the work will be exhibited until June is that most of the painting is a mirror, this year, during which time the quite literally a reflection of time past. Gallery will be appealing to the public The artist has shown himself as he for donations towards its purchase. was in the 1970s with his trusted aide- The Christchurch Art Gallery Trust memoire, his camera, standing before has generously agreed to underwrite Caravaggio’s sixteenth century master the purchase price until funds have work The Taking of Christ. This painting, been secured through donation. depicting the betrayal of Christ by Judas, As a realist, or ‘Visionary Super- was rediscovered in 1990 in the dining realist’ as Bruin prefers to call himself, room of the Society of Jesus in Dublin the artist uses a camera and colour after having been lost for almost four photographs as a starting point centuries. The painting image holds for preparing his imagery. The use particular personal significance for Bruin of the camera has often brought who is a practising Christian. condemnation from traditionalists The only link with the present in during the twentieth century, but for Bruin’s work is the young woman of many artists including Bruin it is a 2004 who glides by, seemingly oblivious valid tool in realising a painting. Bruin to the mirror’s reflection of time past reinterprets photographic images, that cannot exist in the same space often combining them with images that it appears she is in or that of the from memory and studies from life. viewer. Such ambiguity of space teases Many of Bruin’s paintings hide the viewer’s understanding, making the underlying symbolic messages that he painting even more intriguing. prefers not to disclose. In 1997 he wrote in reply to a request for the meaning of NEIL ROBERTS a particular work: “I personally don’t Neil Roberts is Collections Manager and Senior believe in explaining the symbolic Curator at the Gallery. meaning behind a painting.” The Donations to ‘the people’s picture’ can be made element of mystery about a realist work in person at the Gallery or by telephoning is a feature that can help to enhance its (03) 941 7368. identity, lifting it beyond the mundane. Is that you. Caravaggio 2004 Kees Bruin. Oil on canvas. This is particularly evident in Is that Acquisition pending you. Caravaggio, which reveals the same combination of ideas evident in much of Bruin’s earlier work but leaves the viewer somewhat perplexed as to what is happening in the picture space and beyond. At first glance the painting’s meaning seems quite ordinary and straightforward. However, the more it is examined the more puzzling it becomes as elements of seeming reality and unreality collide. Its meaning

29 Recent Acquisitions Friends

Graham Bennett Tony de Lautour Beneath the Surface, Mururoa (Le Monde entire se Smoking Head 2004 President’s Welcome Previews tien aux aguets) 1995 Hard ground etching THURSDAY, 24 MARCH, 4–5 PM Silkscreen print THE SCENIC EYE: VISUAL ARTS AND THE THEATRE Gifted by the artist, 2004 Dr Jeremy Diggle Untitled 2004 Touring Exhibition Galleries A, B and C, and Borg Bing Dawe Hard ground etching Freezing works: Designs for a Dinner Set 1987 Henry Gallery Fourteen woodcut prints Andrew Drummond Gifted by the artist, 2004 Proof of Cascade 2004 Photographs scanned to computer THURSDAY, 7 APRIL, 4–5 PM Ronnie van Hout ISLAND LIFE: ROBIN WHITE House and School 2001 Jason Greig Wood, glue, perspex, acrylic paint, TV monitors, Theros 2004 William A. Sutton and Ravenscar Galleries looped video, steel rod, closed circuit TV camera Dry point, hard ground, aquatint etching Purchased, 2004 Fiona Gunn THURSDAY, 12 MAY, 4–5 PM Giovanni Intra Thought feeling- dry words 2004 HOMELIGHT Hard ground etching The Laughing Wall c. 1992 This is my last newsletter as President, as I step down at Copper Tait Electronics Antarctica Gallery Bill Hammond the AGM on March 23. My five-year term has been a real Purchased, 2004 Fish Finder 4 2004 privilege meeting people, building contacts, making the huge Hard ground, etching Morgan Jones adjustment to the new Gallery and, above all, making friends Battle Group (Last Supper) 2002 Robert McLeod Excursions Copper, aluminium, acrylic on wooden table with a large number of people within the art community. Sidemove 2004 Additional information on excursions is included in two Gifted by the artist, 2005 Hard ground etching The growth in Friends’ membership over this time has been significant, and although the challenges inherent in that are fliers accompanying this Bulletin. For further details call Albert Rae ongoing, the opportunities this has afforded the organisation (03) 941 7356 or email [email protected]. Untitled (Don Quixote) date unknown Untitled 2004 Linocut Drill press etching for supporting the Gallery have been wonderfully rewarding. Purchased, 2001 Simon Ogden I have been honoured to represent the Friends on many occasions Governors Bay Trip Ann Shelton Bird vase and moon 2004 over this period. The most memorable times were presenting Doublet 2001 Hard ground etching SUNDAY, 13 MARCH C-type photograph cheques to the Scholarship winners and seeing the delight and Visit the studios of painter Diana Adams and quilter Sue Spigel, Purchased, 2004 Don Peebles appreciation in their faces, knowing that we have made possible Morning 2004 followed by lunch at the home of chef extraordinaire Michael Len Wesney the purchase of new works for the Collections, and honouring Soft ground etching Lee-Richards, overlooking the magnificent Lyttelton harbour. Birdlings Flat, Canterbury 1972 the Director for his tenacity in seeing the new Gallery through to Séraphine Pick Photograph completion at the Cathedral service on the opening weekend. Purchased, 2004 First Clear Word 2004 Hard ground etching Eastern Southland Gallery It has been a pleasure to serve you and the Christchurch SOFA PRINT PROJECT SUITE OF 24 PRINTS Peter Robinson Art Gallery. THURSDAY, 5 MAY – SUNDAY, 8 MAY All purchased, 2004 Untitled 2004 The Eastern Southland Gallery in Gore has been newly Hard ground etching Don Binney Kia Ora. refurbished to house the John Money and Ralph Hotere SOFA Kotare 2004 Carole Shepheard Collections. The Friends will host a trip to Southland to view Hard ground etching Bird Brain 2004 this and other interesting galleries in the region. Photo collage Joanna Braithwaite Foul Bite 2004 Cathryn Shine Hard ground etching Catania 2004 MARIANNE HARGREAVES Photo etching President l budd Untitled 2004 Philip Trusttum Drawing scanned to computer William 2004 Hard ground etching Barry Cleavin Pastoral Carelessness 2004 Etching and spit bite aquatint Denise Copland Unknown Spaces 1 2004 Aquatint and emboss Down Under 2004 Hard ground etching Bill Culbert Decanter II 2004 Photograph scanned to computer Bing Dawe Seeing both sides 2004 Hard ground, soft ground and aquatint etching The opening for Simplicity and Splendour 18.11.04 SOFA Dart 2004 Drawing scanned to computer

30 31 Friends Friends

Speaker of the Month LocArt Featured Artist: Sarah Farrar New Members Philip Carter Family Auditorium, 10.30 am. LocArt visits are for members of the Friends only. There is No booking required. Friends $2, guests $5. a $5 donation to cover costs. Please register by sending your Rosie Austin, Helen Beames, Robert & Meg Biggs, Graeme & Coffee and tea will be served in Alchemy Café from 10 am, $2. name, address, phone number and the event and date you Brenda Blake, Barbara Brown, Aldy Butcher, Susan Callahan, wish to attend along with your payment to FOCAG, PO Box Linda Chisholm, Mark & Vivien Coulter, Annie Currie, Trevor 2626, Christchurch. Davey, Jetty Doesburg, Ray & Allison Eddington, Patricia Egan, Bird Watchers Charlotte Elliott, Julia Everist, Shane Gallagher, Gail Ferguson, S. H. Georgeson, Doris Grabner, Gavin Hampton, John Harper, WEDNESDAY, 16 MARCH Cheryl Comfort, Quilter Cathy Harrington, Andrew Henderson, Judith & Terry Hitchings, Ken Hall, Curatorial Assistant (Historical Art) at the Gallery, Aprilla & Henk Jacometti, Chris & Sam Jerram, Kate Kempthorne, TUESDAY, 17 MARCH, 10 AM presents an illustrated talk on the representation of birds in Cheryl Kinder, Linda Lewis, Anne & Craig Lynch, Ainslie & Bob New Zealand Art, from pre-European Maori art to ornithological Cheryl Comfort has been quilting for over twenty years. McDowall, Shirley McLeod, Charlotte & Stephen Montgomery, studies made on Cook’s voyages, from nineteenth century Her innovative ways of using texture, colour and line have led Sally Mountfort, Elizabeth Moyle, John Pilkington, Prue Preston, prints and engravings to contemporary art. to several awards in national quilt exhibitions, including at the Suzanne Robin, Pauline Scanlan, Charles Simpson, Alexandra NZ Quilt Symposiums in 2003 and 2005. Stewart & Richard McGowan, Phillippa Stewart, Graham Stringer, Memory, Response, Collection and Selection Jacky Tate, Mimi Van Houten, Lloyd Whitten, Bridget Williams & Her work tends toward the abstract, preferring the use of colour, Tim Hitchings WEDNESDAY, 20 APRIL line and texture to express ideas and feelings, rather than literal objects. She uses screen printing, heavy quilting and other Judy McIntosh Wilson, fibre artist and sculptor, has exhibited Sarah Farrar was awarded a scholarship from the Friends in surface treatments to explore these ideas. Friends are invited New Life Members regularly in New Zealand and internationally since the 1970s, 2002 while completing her art history degree at the University to visit Cheryl in her studio. including at the Krakamarken Nature Art Park in Denmark and of Canterbury School of Fine Arts. After graduating, Sarah Henry Aitken, Kay Hunter, Caroline Tapley, Rosemary went on to work at Bartley Nees Gallery in Wellington, and then in ‘Making Tracks’ at the Gallery in 2004. In this illustrated talk Limited to 15 members. Please meet Rebecca Garside outside Walkington in 2003 to her current position as Assistant Curator/ Hirschfeld she discusses her working methods, the origin of her ideas and 147 Marshlands Rd at 9.50 am. the people and places that have influenced her. Gallery Curator at . Joe Arts, Printer Sarah works alongside other City Gallery Wellington curators in the preparation and presentation of the gallery’s exhibitions. WEDNESDAY, 13 APRIL, 10 AM She is also responsible for coordinating the exhibitions in the Hirschfeld Gallery – a project space for Wellington-based artists Friends are invited to meet Joe Arts at his printery, Arts the and designers. She says, “I find that my job has a great balance Printers. The Arts family has been in the printing industry for of learning from my colleagues and the gallery’s more senior four generations, emigrating in 1952 from the Netherlands to curators, as well as the opportunity to have creative freedom set up the commercial printery now known as Arts the Printers over my own projects.” Sarah has worked on ten shows in the in High Street, Christchurch.The printery, which also includes a Hirschfeld Gallery, with exhibitions spanning everything from shop selling card and art supplies for crafts and hobbyists, has the fine arts to jewellery and architecture. a letter-press of yesteryear, capable of printing with wooden letter blocks – Joe plans to design and produce runs of old- While studying in Christchurch, Sarah was proactive in gaining style posters in limited editions using this printing method. experience with a number of galleries – an experience that she says was very important: “It let me get a feel for the different types Limited to 15 members. Please meet Rebecca Garside outside of galleries and arts institutions, and work out what I was really Arts the Printers, 137–139 High Street, at 9.50 am. Untitled No. 10 1998 Judy McIntosh Wilson. Bark, shells, pebbles, interested in.” Contemporary art is Sarah’s field of choice. She driftwood, seaweed. Collection of the Gallery says, “I’ve always been interested in contemporary art, and even when I was studying art history, I was always choosing topics and Canterbury Museum Revitalisation: Preserving and assignments that enabled me to study contemporary practice Renewing your Museum further. I feel fortunate to have had lecturers who supported my WEDNESDAY, 18 MAY interests and allowed me to follow them.”

Director of the Canterbury Museum since 1996, Anthony Wright The physical proximity of the art history department and the has been a key figure in the Museum’s $34 million revitalisation studio courses under the wing of the School of Fine Arts was project publicly launched three years ago. In this talk he presents an enormously valuable aspect of studying at Canterbury. an update on the project, which will allow visitors to enjoy larger “The first art writing I ever had published was a review of a refurbished exhibition areas, including the Robert McDougall student exhibition, and the first catalogue essay that I wrote Gallery, and the redisplay of favourite exhibits such as the world’s was for an exhibition of student work at the SOFA Gallery.” largest blue whale skeleton.

Christmas Party, 14.12.04

32 TO BECOME A FRIEND, OR FOR INFORMATION ON BENEFITS AND PROGRAMMES, PLEASE CONTACT: Friends of the Christchurch Art Gallery: PO Box 2626, Christchurch, tel: (+64 3) 941 7356, fax: (+64 3) 941 7301, email: [email protected] 33 Coming Events

Visit our website at www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz for updates and details of additional programmes, performances and events. The Art Bites programme is offered every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12.30 pm, featuring a twenty-minute floortalk MAY on selected works currently on display and delivered by a range of different speakers. For details of artworks and speakers please check the ‘Arts’ section in The Press each Wednesday or visit our website. The swaying palms – reality or illusion? The latest search and discovery Holiday Quiz for family groups and children is available daily, 10 am to 4 pm, from 16 April to 4 6.00 PM LECTURE 1 May. See the Noteworthy pages for more information. PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM In association with the exhibition Island Life: Robin White, Karen Stevenson, Senior Lecturer in Art History at the MARCH APRIL , discusses aspects of Pacific Island life and art. Bill Hammond: his work and his critics d>art03,dLux How did they make those marks? 2 6.00 PM LECTURE 6 6.00 PM FILM PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM 11 6.00 PM FLOORTALK Warren Feeney, art historian and Director of CoCA, This international experimental film, animation and video art WILLIAM A. SUTTON AND RAVENSCAR GALLERIES presents a fascinating insight into the works of this popular is in association with the exhibition The Scenic Eye. An introduction to printmaking techniques with the Gallery’s contemporary New Zealand artist. This programme is in Public Programmes Officer, Ann Betts. This programme is in association with the exhibition 51° South. Meet the Artist: Robin White association with the exhibition Island Life: Robin White. 13 6.00 PM LECTURE Banking on Art in the 80s I PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM Canterbury Museum Revitalisation 9 6.00 PM FLOORTALK Artist Robin White discusses the highlights of her career in 18 10.30 AM LECTURE WILLIAM A. SUTTON GALLERY association with her exhibition Island Life: Robin White. PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM In the first of two floortalks Neil Roberts, the Gallery’s Canterbury Museum Director Anthony Wright has been a key Manager of Collections and Senior Curator, discusses the Memory, Response, Collection and Selection figure in the Museum’s $34 million revitalisation project. He figurative works in the exhibition BOOM and how they reflect presents an update on the project, which will allow visitors 20 10.30 AM LECTURE to enjoy larger refurbished exhibition areas and the redisplay a consciousness of the New Zealand identity. PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM of favourite exhibits such as the world’s largest blue whale Bird Watchers Judy McIntosh Wilson, fibre artist and sculptor, has exhibited skeleton. Friends $2, public $5. regularly in New Zealand and internationally since the 1970s. 16 10.30 AM LECTURE In this illustrated talk she discusses her working methods, Tapa and Pandanus PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM the origin of her ideas and the people and places that have Ken Hall, Curatorial Assistant (Historical Art), gives an influenced her. Friends $2, public $5. 18 6.00 PM DEMONSTRATION AND DISCUSSION PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM illustrated talk on the representation of birds in New Zealand Art, from pre-European Maori art to ornithological studies Setting the Scene An evening discovering the distinctive crafts of the Pacific Island region, in association with the exhibition Island Life: made on Cook’s voyages, from nineteenth century prints and 20 6.00 PM LECTURE Robin White. engravings to contemporary art. Friends $2, public $5. PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM David Turner, Production Designer on the set of Shortland Scatter installations – but is it art? Banking on Art in the 80s II Street, discusses how that illusionary world was created and developed. In association with The Scenic Eye. 25 6.00 PM LECTURE 16 6.00 PM FLOORTALK PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM Stuart Griffiths discusses the history and rationale of this In the second of two floortalks Neil Roberts, the Gallery’s Pacific Sounds branch of contemporary sculptural practice. This programme Manager of Collections and Senior Curator, looks at the 27 6.00 PM PERFORMANCE is in association with The Scenic Eye. abstract works in the exhibition BOOM and how they reflect PHILIP CARTER FAMILY AUDITORIUM / GALLERY FOYER the interest in international modernism during the 1980s. A delightful evening of song and dance from representatives of the Pacific Islands Community in association with the Investing in Art exhibition Island Life: Robin White. 23 6.00 PM PANEL DISCUSSION WILLIAM A. SUTTON GALLERY An informative evening with art investors Jean and Jim Pollard discussing their experiences with art investment groups, Chris Brocket speaking on the formation of trust collections, and Jonathan Smart providing the perspective of a dealer gallery owner. This programme is in association with the exhibition BOOM.

Schola Cantorum choir The Gallery’s Wednesday evening programme is generously sponsored by Montana Wines. All programmes are subject 30 6.00 PM PERFORMANCE GALLERY FOYER to change, please check beforehand on (03) 941 7302. Limited places apply to some programmes. The Schola Cantorum choir presents a concert of a capella early music in the soaring spaces of the Gallery Foyer. A Buzzy Bee for Siulolovao 1977 Robin White. Silkscreen. Collection of the artist

34 Coming Soon Spectrum – practising the art of printing

Spectrum Print, 134 Antigua Street, Christchurch, phone 03 365 0946, facsimile 03 365 0947 Pride in Print gold medal winners 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000

Wonderland The world of Joanna Braithwaite’s painting is part menagerie, Wonderland tracks the highlights of Braithwaite’s recent part bestiary, part human zoo. In her richly brushed canvases, career and focuses in particular on her painterly explorations the laws of nature are calmly bent and wonderful hybrids of extraordinary encounters between humans and the world emerge. Snakes stretch into swans, frogs rain from the sky, of creatures. The result of a partnership project between and humans are lofted skyward by birds and butterflies. Christchurch Art Gallery and Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Painting her strange creatures with such assurance that it is accompanied by a 48-page full-colour catalogue with they seem perfectly natural, Braithwaite reminds us how essays by curators and Felicity Milburn. strange ‘the natural’ really is. Born in Halifax, England, in 1962, Joanna Braithwaite Wonderland is opening in Touring Galleries A and B on 22 July. grew up in Pleasant Point, South Canterbury, and trained The exhibition has been developed as a collaborative project with Dunedin Public Art Gallery. as a painter at the Canterbury School of Art, where she won numerous awards. Currently living in Sydney, she has continued to exhibit regularly throughout New Zealand. To look back over her two-decade career is to watch as a painter adds entry after intriguing entry to an ever-expanding catalogue of creatures – a catalogue, she never lets us the technology between imagination and reality forget, that includes the human viewers who encounter the paintings. Braithwaite explores the relationship between the human and animal world without sentimentality and with Little Monkey 1997 Joanna Braithwaite. Oil on canvas. a freshness that encourages the viewer’s engagement. Foundation Collection, Christchurch Art Gallery

36 168 Montreal Street, po Box 2975, Christchurch, New Zealand, Tel: (03) 365 4597, Fax: (03) 365 0536, www.vervedigital.co.nz Open 10 am – 5 pm daily, late night every Wednesday until 9 pm Admission free

Cnr Worcester Boulevard & Montreal Street, PO Box 2626 Christchurch, New Zealand Tel (+64 3) 941 7300, Fax (+64 3) 941 7301 Email: [email protected] www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz

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