What’s On
Marilynn Webb: Folded in the Hills
A major survey exhibition of Ngāpuhi, Te Roroa and Ngāti Kahu artist Marilynn Webb.
From Here on the Ground
Populated places and cityscapes converge with backyards, factories and remote railway stops. Open now!
Cora-Allan: Encountering Aotearoa
A major body of new work that considers the whenua from the vantage point of the moana.
Open 7 days, 10am - 5pm
Late night Wednesday until 9pm
Free entry, free wifi
Interview
Talking Bensemann
Leo Bensemann was one of the most respected figures in the Christchurch arts scene, and played a pivotal role in influential arts collective The Group. Always something of an odd-man-out, he produced a large body of work across several different disciplines before his death in 1986. In an attempt to get a fuller picture of the man himself, Gallery director Jenny Harper spoke to two artists who knew him well, John Coley and Quentin MacFarlane.
Notes
From the director
I cannot imagine a more challenging or topsy-turvy year than the one we've just had (well, maybe last year). But when I think of the impact on this city of the 4 September Canterbury earthquake, I am so pleased we were able to steer the final quarter of the Gallery's exhibitions programme to the public domain in its entirety. We have a fantastic and committed staff and my end-of-year thanks go to all of them.
Notes
Open for business
It's been a roller coaster ride for all of us in Christchurch over the last 10 days, and for staff at Christchurch Art Gallery as our workplace became an operational civil defence headquarters. Equally, it has been wonderful to see how sturdy our art gallery building is and how collections in storage and on display have withstood the main jolt on 4 September and the subsequent (but now happily diminishing) tremors as the landscape settles. And how committed and able our staff team has been!!!
Notes
Emergency HQ
I'm keen to let you all know how Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū fared after the major earthquake here. It was a wild ride on Saturday, for sure, and it will take some time for parts of Christchurch to clean up. However, our Gallery has emerged unscathed as a building. In fact, we're so safe that we're being used as civil defence HQ at present.
Notes
NYC - Public Art
I'm back now, but two New York experiences of public art have stayed with me; Antony Gormley's Event Horizon at and around Madison Square Park (on 5th Avenue and 23rd Street), and the Starn brothers' project, Big Bambú, on the rooftop sculpture area at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Notes
NYC
Peter Vangioni and I visited the Jewish Museum in NYC late last week - it had been the last day of a particularly interesting and nicely-focussed exhibition we were both impressed by 'Modern Art, Sacred Space: Motherwell, Ferber, Gottlieb'. The three artists were commissioned to make a work each in the early 1950s for a synagogue in Milburn, New Jersey and this brought together the three works and some preliminary drawings in a 'small, but transcendent exhibition.' (I'm glad the New York Times reviewer agreed with us!)
Notes
Toronto
I was really pleased to be able to spend a couple of days in Toronto last week. It was the first time I'd been to this city and I was struck with the difference in pace from Manhattan – it seemed somehow more like New Zealand, perhaps unsurprising given the British heritage of both countries. This was confirmed in a way I hadn't expected by my visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Notes
Philadelphia
Last Friday I visited the Philadelphia Art Museum for the day. PAM was founded 135 years ago (so is 10 years older than Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Auckland Art Gallery). But what a huge difference a great history of philanthropy and generous gifts in kind makes.
Notes
New York
Curator Peter Vangioni and I have been in New York City since last Wednesday, selecting a gift of works on paper from New Zealand artist Max Gimblett, who has been resident in New York for some 35 years.
