What’s On
Film: Short Tails
The Hardly Boys film for all ages by artist William Wegman starring his iconic Weimaraners
Talk: Ève Chabanon
A public lecture by Massey University Wellington’s Te Whare Hēra artist in residence, Ève Chabanon.
Talk: Beam Me Up
John C. Welchman discusses the impact of psychoactive drugs in popular culture
Guided tours
11am and 2pm daily
Open 7 days
Free entry, free wifi
Late night
Wednesday until 9pm
Notes
Art Do 19: Everything you need to know
DATE CHANGE. It appears you lot don't want to be split up – you want to be TOGETHER! So we're now combining both Art Do Dinner and Art Do Party into one mega event on Saturday 27 July. If you've got dinner tickets, you'll be upstairs in an intimate gallery, five-course dinner, and one-of-a-kind Gallery dining experience. And if you're not doing the Dinner, you'll be downstairs, living large at the Party, enjoying a roving best-of-canterbury menu. Both cuisine experiences will be catered by Tom Hishon and White Tie Catering. And later, we'll all come together to celebrate our Gallery and raise the roof on art and creativity in Aotearoa.
Prepare yourself for a night of immersive art experiences, fuelled by visionary foodies and decadent drinks. This year we’re collaborating with some of the biggest names in New Zealand art to bring you two spectacular celebrations – all in the name of supporting creativity in Ōtautahi.
Without further aDO, here’s everything you can expect at Art Do.
Notes
This is ART-TASTIC!!
Our ART-TASTIC art activity book for kids has been nominated for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults! Ka rawe, nice one us! #NZCYA
Commentary
Doctor Jazz Stomp and the Webb Lane Sound
“Bill Hammond is long, lithe and tired, and was born several years ago. Is currently pursuing a Fine Arts course and trying hard to catch up. He is deeply interested in the aesthetic implications of sleep, sports the Rat-Chewed Look in coiffures for ’68, and dreams about blind mice in bikinis. He has never been known to sing outside the confines of his bedroom. Shows a marked but languid preference for the subtle textural nuances and dynamic shadings of washboard, cowbell, woodblocks, claves, cymbal, spoons, thimbles, tambourine, and the palms of the hands in percussive contact.”
Commentary
Power and Possibility
Jonathan Jones, art critic for the Guardian newspaper, described it as “a spectacle that displays the power and mystery of our planet”. Made more than forty years ago, Walter De Maria’s 1977 sculpture The Lightning Field remains one of the world’s most ambitious manifestations of light-based art.
My Favourite
Juliet Peter's Harvesting, Rydal Downs
I grew up in a house in Glandovey Road, Fendalton—twenty-two bedrooms! Back then, my options were to be a nurse or a school teacher, but all my life, I’d wanted to be a farmer. My father encouraged that practical side of me. He was a keen fly fisherman and called me “sonny”. I had my hair cut at the barbers; I wore long pants in winter—I thought I was a boy.
Supporter
Penny Gough
Christchurch Art Gallery Foundation
I’ve loved art as long I can remember. Growing up, my home was full of art and ever since it’s always been a part of my life. My favourite piece is Chapman’s Homer, especially because the whole city got behind the campaign to buy it for our city. I joined the Foundation board in February 2015 and love the work the Foundation is involved in. I was a part of the group that visited London in July and saw Bridget Riley’s work. The trip was life-changing and I absolutely can’t wait to see what she decides to do for Christchurch.
Commentary
The Time Problem
Time is a problem in the contemporary world. There is simply not enough of it. Our to-do lists are too long; the time available to do what needs to be done is too short; the demands on our attention are increasingly brutal. Digital technologies track the minutiae of how we spend our days, but the sheer speed at which things seem to be happening makes it difficult to keep up.
Artist Profile
White Camellias Revisited
Just over a quarter of a century ago the Robert McDougall Art Gallery hosted an exhibition to celebrate a century of women’s art making in Canterbury. It was the Gallery’s contribution to the country-wide centenary celebrations of women’s suffrage. Co-curated by Lara Strongman and myself, White Camellias: A Century of Artmaking by Women in Canterbury, as its title suggests, was a springboard for both korero and further study of women’s art history.
Artist Profile
Studio Visit
I was in London last October and keen to visit Ron Mueck, but he wasn’t there: he’d gone down to Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, where he has a studio. I spent my childhood in England, but I’d never been to the Isle of Wight. It’s in the English Channel; a Victorian retreat beloved by Tennyson, who wrote ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ here. It was also the home of the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, who made portraits of many of Tennyson’s guests. (When Tennyson took the American poet Longfellow to Cameron’s house for a portrait, he reportedly warned: “You’ll have to do whatever she tells you. I’ll come back soon and see what’s left of you.”)
