Colin Lovell-Smith often went on painting trips with his wife, Rata Lovell-Smith, who was also a landscape painter. Craigieburn is in Kā Tiritiri-o-te-moana Southern Alps, about 100 kilometres northwest of Ōtautahi Christchurch. Set beside a small riverbed close to the main road, the painting focuses on the steep eroded slopes of the Craigieburn Range. Lovell-Smith has paid close attention to the landform details, capturing the distinctive qualities of the Waitaha Canterbury mountain region. Shades of ochre are subtly orchestrated with the soft grey of the predominant greywacke rocks.

(He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil, 2025)

The Christchurch Gas Company commenced operations on the corner of Moorhouse Avenue and Waltham Road in 1864. When Rita Angus painted Gasworks six decades later, she was living on the edge of a semi-industrial area two blocks away at 120 Ferry Road, lodging with her husband’s family as well as her youngest sister, Jean. Gasworks was a revelation when first shown at the Canterbury Society of Arts annual exhibition in 1933. Fellow painter Margaret Anderson later recalled “the tall chimney of this work as an event of greater artistic importance than any that had happened in Christchurch for years”. In reflecting something of the sharp austerity of the Depression years, the work also encouraged others to unlock the artistic possibilities in commonplace industrial subject matter.

(From Here on the Ground, 18 May – 17 November 2024)