Artworks, Building and Trees Lincoln University Campus
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Visitors’ Guide to Artworks, Building and Trees on the Lincoln University Campus by Michael L. Smetham, Roy Edwards and Roy Montgomery ART AND HERITAGE COMMITTEE www.lincoln.ac.nz 2 Visitors’ Guide Visitors’ Guide 3 Foreword The Lincoln University Art and Heritage Committee is pleased to promote this second edition of the Visitors’ Guide. The first edition, also written by Michael Smetham, concentrated on art works; this second edition includes significant buildings and trees as well as fully illustrated extended coverage of art works. Once again we are delighted that Michael was “A Peaceful Morning- Lake Alexandrina” 46. Esther “Drying Skins” 10. Trevor Moffitt. 1948-2006. willing to apply his talent and enthusiasm to completing this substantial project. Specialist Hope. 1885-1975. The artist depicts his father, who was one of the old contributions from Roy Edwards and Roy This artist was one of the few New Zealanders to be breed of country artisans. accepted by the Royal Academy. Montgomery are also greatly appreciated. The scope of the Art Committee’s responsibilities were extended in 2005 to Published by include responsibility for artefacts and records Lincoln University Art and Heritage Committee, Acknowledgements held in the University Museum, hence the “Still Life With Malevich” 95. John Drawbridge 1930-2004. PO Box 94, The Lincoln University Arts and Heritage expanded name of the committee. Lincoln University, Committee would like to acknowledge the We hope you find this guide book useful A great example of a mezzotint etching by a master Lincoln 7647. printmaker. expertise of Dianne Calvert, Senior Graphic and that you enjoy your visit to the Lincoln 2nd Edition. Designer, Lincoln University in designing University campus. First published 2007. this guide. We also wish to record our thanks to Jonathan Smart, of the Jonathan Smart Dick Lucas, Gallery for his assistance with the writings on Chair, Lincoln University Art and Heritage Copyright 2007 Michael L.Smetham, Roy Edwards the new artworks for this edition, and to Grant July 2007 and Roy Montgomery. Banbury of the Campbell Grant Gallery for the The moral rights of the authors have been asserted. same for the works in the first edition of the Visitors’Guide. Using this guide ISBN 978-0-86476-180-4 We would also like to record our thanks to David Hollander for his images of the artworks, The works in this guide are some of those in the buildings and some of the trees, and to Roy collection of the Lincoln University Art and Heritage The copyright of all the artworks in this publication Edwards for the majority of the photographs of Collection. Visitors wishing to see the art, the lies with the artist, and copies of the images may not the trees. buildings and the trees in the order in which they be used without their written permission. appear in this guide, should start with the Forbes Michael L.Smetham, July 2007. Building (page 6) and then walk through the grounds (page 12) to the Stewart Building (page 15), Memorial Cover illustration: Hall (page 26), the Commerce Building (page 31) and “Mount Peel and the Rangitata River” 34. Each artwork in this guide is published by kind then the Library (page 41). Full details of the artworks A.Austen Deans 1978-. permission of the artist or the trustee of the illustrated are to be found on pages 54 and 55 in the artist’s estate or family trust. However while every order in which they appear in this guide. effort has been made to contact all artists, the “Untitled” 185. Carl Sydow. 1940-1975. Printed by writers have been unable to contact Tom Burnett Visitors may also refer to the centrefold map of the Blueprint, 78a Hammersmith Drive, Christchurch. or Raymond Jennings. A striking artwork constructed from line, shape campus to locate buildings they wish to visit. and colour giving the effect of a three-dimentional structure. 4 Visitors’ Guide Visitors’ Guide 5 The Buildings The description and commentary on five buildings on the campus has been written by Dr Roy Montgomery, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management, who lectures in planning and heritage. Lincoln University was founded originally as the School of Agriculture in 1878 and officially opened on the 19th of July 1880. It is said to be the third oldest agricultural school in the Commonwealth after the Royal College of Agriculture at Cirencester (1845) and Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph (1874). Referred to initially as the ‘Lincoln’ School of Agriculture soon after its founding, the name of the institution was changed to Canterbury Agricultural College in 1897 and this lasted until 1962, when it was made a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. From 1962-1989 it was known as Lincoln College. It has been called Lincoln University since full autonomy as a tertiary institution was granted in 1989. “Nomadic Geometries (Dawn)” 182. Gretchen Albrecht. 1943-. Five of the University buildings house the majority of the Art Collection. A typical example of Gretchen Albrecht’s richly coloured and These are the George Forbes Memorial Library in Ivey Hall, Memorial uniquely shaped abstracts. Hall, the Stewart Lecture Block, the Commerce Building and the Forbes Building. These buildings are noteworthy in their own right for architectural and aesthetic reasons. The Artworks The artworks in the buildings and grounds, are Society of Arts, using accumulated morning and profiled by Michael Smetham, retired Senior Lecturer afternoon tea profits from the Commonrooms. As The Trees in Agronomy with an interest in art. confidence grew, the art committee of Dick Lucas, Mike Smetham and Gavin Daly, and later the enlarged Notable trees around the campus are described by Roy Edwards, Lecturer The objective for the collection has always been committee, increasingly selected artworks themselves in Amenity Horticulture, who has expertise in botany and the use of to build up a body of work, representative of that from artists’exhibitions. plants in the landscape. by contemporary New Zealand artists, mainly but not exclusively from the South Island, with strong Funds for purchases were limited but came from other The Lincoln University campus would be bleak without its trees. From aesthetic appeal, for the appreciation and enjoyment interested groups on campus, or from the Principal the early days of Lincoln’s development trees were seen as necessary, of students and staff at Lincoln. and Council as a result of a special request. From not only for shelter from prevailing winds, but for a host of other 1990 the Collection enjoyed its own budget, and this reasons including reminders of home, memorial trees, aesthetics, fruit The policy has been to purchase only original works by enabled the purchase of a number of works each year. production, and autumn colour. New Zealand artists who, by virtue of being collected However lack of funding during this decade to 2007 by national and provincial museums and art galleries, Today Lincoln continues that tradition with an eclectic mix of deciduous has limited the number of acquisitions. Copies of the are seen to have merit. It is also policy that with very and evergreen trees, New Zealand native and exotic species, conifers Collection catalogue are available in both the archival few exceptions the artworks will be displayed in public and flowering species. Trees are still required to meet a range of and loan sections of the George Forbes Memorial spaces accessible to everyone during working hours. functions from wind shelter and landscaping functions to meeting the Library in Ivey Hall. requirements of having examples for teaching. Those teaching and In 2006 the Lincoln University Art Collection research requirements involving trees include subjects such as forestry, consisted of some 228 works, including paintings, arboriculture, landscape architecture, amenity horticulture, ecology, limited edition prints, ceramics and fibre art, as well biodiversity, and plant science. as sculptures. From its early days the institution has possessed portraits of past principals and other public Not all of the trees mentioned are the oldest, largest or showiest of their figures which have been on display in the Memorial type, nor are they necessarily the rarest or most unusual. These trees are Hall. However there was no formal acquisition policy just a small selection of the much larger mix of trees studied and enjoyed until 1974, when the first purchases were chosen on the Lincoln campus. by Brian Muir, the then Director of the Canterbury 6 Visitors’ Guide Forbes Building 7 Forbes Building The George Forbes Library was opened in 1960 and was designed by architects Jones, Adams, Kingston and Reynolds. A Liberal Party politician, George William Forbes was MP for Hurunui from 1908 to 1943 and Prime Minister from 1930 to 1935. The Library was so named because of Forbes’ advancement of Canterbury Agricultural College interests in the mid-1920s when plans for Massey Agricultural College were underway. Initially a single-storey building, the Forbes Building “Te Paepae Tapu a Rakaihautu” 174. “Mango Pare” 202. Vivienne Mountfort was substantially extended in George Vincent Edwards. 1932-.Kai Tahu 1918- 2004 and Riki Manuel 1960-.Ngati the decades that followed: 1975 and Ngati Irakehu. Porou. (Library extension – architects Trengrove, Trengrove and Marshall); The traditional Maori pa gateway that stands in the The title means Hammerhead Shark, and the circular 1976 (Registry – architects foyer of the Forbes Building, marks the entrance to work incorporating fibre and totara timber, in the Trengrove, Trengrove and Marshall); Te Whare Wanaka Aoraki (The House of Learning of stairway to Level 1, is a lovely lyrical depiction of 1989 (North, West and East Aoraki, the lands to the east of Mount Cook). This that animal swimming in a green offshore sea. The Administration wings – architects masterpiece of traditional carving was executed by fibre part of this work consists of wool, dyed and spun Lucking, Vial and Bellerby), and mastercarver George Edwards, and apprentices in his by that doyen of fibre artists Vivienne Mountfort.