Exhibitions
Events
On display
License to Chill: The Plainsmen live at the Gallery
Musical Performance
Past event
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Free
Chill out, unwind and get inspired for the week ahead with License to Chill. Join us on summer Sundays for a relaxing cultural experience with music, talks, films and activities for adults and children.
The Plainsmen are bringing their special brand of barbershop to the Gallery for License to Chill. The Plainsmen have competed in every national and Pan-Pacific Barbershop convention since 1992, winning eleven medals, and they are an established feature of the Christchurch music scene. Their singing can raise the roof, curl the hairs on your neck, or bring a tear to your eye with a tender love song.
Related reading: Performance, Summer of Art, Free event, Music
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Hawkins by Rata Lovell-Smith
Join guide volunteer guide Susan Bidwell as she discusses Rata Lovell-Smith's Hawkins in From Here on the Ground on the first floor.
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Taranaki by Christopher Perkins
Join curator Ken Hall as he discusses Christopher Perkins's Taranaki in From Here on the Ground on the first floor.
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Sign Language Tours
Celebrate Sign Language Week and take a free guided tour of our exhibition highlights with one of our guides and a sign language interpreter.
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Oh Baby, It's Art!
A free, guided art tour especially for parents with babies. Buggies welcome.
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Rangatuone: Music from The Collective Imagination
A collaborative project between composer Riki Pirihi and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.
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Art Safari
A chance for pre-schoolers to paint, glue, print, stamp and colour without making a mess at home. Art Safari is designed for our youngest budding artists between 2-4 years old.
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Late Night Tour
Take a free guided tour of our exhibition highlights with one of our friendly, knowledgeable guides.
Notes
Countdown to Fifteen
Fifteen is our birthday party (guess how old we are…) and it’s less than two weeks away! It’s also the opening event for Tony de Lautour’s US V THEM, which is our big winter exhibition. We asked curator Peter Vangioni and visitor programmes coordinator Amy Marr what they’re most excited about in the incredible line-up for this grand birthday bash.
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Been to some lame ‘youth’ events lately?
Now’s your chance to help create a cool event for you and your friends!
The Mix is Christchurch’s Art Gallery bi-monthly late-night event – an interactive mix of art, music, film and good people. We want to run a Mix designed, curated and for under 18s – ReMix.
Commentary
Laurence Aberhart
New Zealand artist Laurence Aberhart is internationally regarded for his photographs of unpeopled landscapes and interiors. He photographs places redolent with the weight of time, which he captures with his century-old large-format camera and careful framing. But he’s always taken more spontaneous photographs of people too, particularly in the years he lived in Christchurch and Lyttelton (1975–83) when he photographed his young family, his friends and occasionally groups of strangers. ‘If I lived in a city again,’ he says, ‘I would photograph people. One of the issues is that I even find it difficult to ask people whether I can photograph a building, so to ask to photograph them – I’m very reticent. I also know that after a number of minutes of waiting for me to set cameras up and take exposure readings and so on, people can get rather annoyed. So it’s not a conscious thing, it’s more just an accident of the way I photograph.’
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Gallery Happenings: Grayson Gilmour
In early March we were lucky enough to have the incredibly talented Grayson Gilmour performing at the Gallery, supported by the equally talented Purple Pilgrims and New Dawn. I love these gigs, but there is a lot of work to be done behind the scenes to make sure that, by the time the public walk in the door, the foyer is gig ready. The process normally feels like a long, slow marathon with a sprint at the final corner. So here’s a guide to how you too can get the NZI Foyer gig-ready in five (or six) easy steps.
Interview
J.G. Thirlwell
J.G. Thirlwell is man of many monikers and even more projects: from the epic avant-garde electro-rock of his thirty-five-year Foetus act to scoring orchestral work; creating sound installations to writing cartoon soundtracks. Fellow sonic artist, Jo Burzynska caught up with the Melbourne-born but long-time New York-resident composer/producer/performer at the Gallery before the opening performance of his first ever New Zealand tour.
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Art Makes Me... A Winner!
Meet Kylie Hansen from Christchurch. She's the lucky winner of our Art Makes Me selfie competion.
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Introduction to the Gallery Tour
Take a free guided tour of our exhibition highlights with one of our friendly, knowledgeable guides.
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What's the difference between a piano and an onion?
Answer: No one cries when you chop up a piano.
Apparently that's only the third worst piano joke of all time...
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Getting Older - Flying Nun
November sees the 30th anniversary of my favourite record label, Flying Nun Records.
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Playing to the Faithful
The 2011 Christchurch Arts Festival has been full of highlights, from theatre to dance to the visual arts. However, it's been the music that has made the biggest impression on me.
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Number 1 Evil, Number 2 Evil, Number 3 Evil…
Finally, the chance to listen to some loud rock music!
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The Satara Player by Petrus van der Velden
Things are not always what they seem. What looks like the result of an artistic foray into exotic lands is, in fact, an 1894 portrait of a Christchurch busker who posed in the studio of Petrus van der Velden.