Felicity Milburn

Interview
Supporting a Pacific Presence

Supporting a Pacific Presence

In 2022, the Gallery received an extraordinary gift: fifty-seven works by thirty-two artists from the private collection of writer, researcher and lecturer Karen Stevenson. Of Tahitian heritage, Stevenson was raised in Los Angeles and moved to Ōtautahi Christchurch in 1995 to take up the position of lecturer in art history at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts. She told Felicity Milburn just what the gift means to her.

Commentary
Something’s Missing

Something’s Missing

It’s among the best-loved paintings in the Gallery’s collection, celebrated for the connections and conversations it generates between different generations. People who, as children, encountered Petrus van der Velden’s Burial in the winter on the island of Marken [The Dutch Funeral] (1872) in the neoclassical spaces of the old Robert McDougall Art Gallery now bring their own grandchildren to Te Puna o Waiwhetū to see it.

Interview
Pecking Order

Pecking Order

Felicity Milburn: Judy, it’s great to be working with you again, this time on a work for the entry wall leading into our new collection rehang, Perilous. It’s made up of a frieze of photographic panels combining images of handwritten lists and pieces of bread that have been partially eaten away by birds, and you’ve called it Pecking Order. Can you tell us a little about how it came about?

Judy Darragh: Thanks, it’s great to have this new work included in Perilous, it was already in existence and fitted well with ideas in the show.

Life over lockdown became reduced – we were at home, everything was shut down and it became a surreal and shared experience for us all. While out walking I observed the flourishing of bird life, and I had time to hear and feed them in the back garden every day. Feeding the birds was very satisfying.

Exhibition

Die Cuts and Derivations

An expansive installation by Peter Robinson sparks a collection-based look at how artists investigate and respond to space, through line, materials and improvisation.

Commentary
Ka Mua Ka Muri

Ka Mua Ka Muri

Our histories are always with us, but who is telling the story? The Gallery’s new collection hang, Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection offers up a range of different perspectives on how the past and future might intersect, and invites us to rethink how we commonly see our heritage. Here, the exhibition’s curators have each selected a work from the exhibition for a closer look.

Exhibition

Absence

Sometimes the most compelling thing is what isn’t there.

Notes
Billy Apple (1935-2021)

Billy Apple (1935-2021)

Today we acknowledge with sadness the passing of Billy Apple (1935–2021), a senior figure in Aotearoa New Zealand art and frequent, valued collaborator with Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.

Exhibition

Turumeke Harrington: Tātou tātou, nau mai rā

The gallery reimagined as an ever-changing maze. Find your own path through!

Exhibition

Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection

Making room for fresh voices, untold narratives and disruptive ideas.

Exhibition

Reuben Paterson: The Golden Bearing

Share a moment of magic and possibility under glittering golden leaves.

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