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Prepare by Ursula Bethell
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Lead curator Felicity Milburn reads the poem Prepare by Ursula Bethell
Toss Woollaston Portrait sketch of Mary Ursula Bethell
Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū; presented by Robert Erwin in 1993 in memory of Lawrence Baigent
Ursula Bethell (1874-1945) has been described as a poet with a painter’s eye. Born in Surrey, England, she came to Aotearoa New Zealand at the age of two. Her family were well-off, and farmed sheep near Rangiora. After attending schools in North Canterbury, Christchurch and Switzerland, including a year spent training as a painter in Geneva, she dedicated her life to charitable works. In London, she joined the ‘Grey Ladies’, an Anglican association that served the sick and disadvantaged. After returning to New Zealand, she developed strong connections with artists like Evelyn Page, Ngaio Marsh, R.H. Field, and Toss Woollaston, who made this sketch of her, held in the Gallery’s collection. In 1924, Bethell moved into Rise Cottage at 10 Westenra Terrace in Christchurch’s Cashmere Hills, where she lived for ten years with Effie Pollen. She slowly carved out a garden from the hillside, and it was there that she wrote most of her poems, which reflected her love of nature and regularly featured her cat, Michael. Prepare, from her 1929 collection ‘From a Garden in the Antipodes’, is a reflection on the labours and rewards of toiling in the soil.
Related reading: Covid-19
Collection
Toss Woollaston Portrait sketch of Mary Ursula Bethell
By the 1950s Toss Woollaston had established his reputation in New Zealand as a leading modernist painter. He worked quickly and spontaneously in a gestural manner that infused his works with much immediacy and energy As a pioneering modernist working in mid-twentieth-century New Zealand, Woollaston faced many challenges. It was with difficulty that he managed to continue painting while supporting his family, and it was not until the late 1960s that he was able to commit himself fully to his art. He moved to Greymouth in 1949 and the West Coast landscape is the subject of some of his most vigorous artistic treatments. Portraiture was also an important element in Woollaston’s output and something that he pursued throughout his career. Of his approach to portrait painting he commented: 'I have to observe (the subject), sometimes for quite a long time, till I find their most natural attitudes and movements. I do not copy their actual physical movements...but I have a rich means of suggesting them - the lean and tilt of the different planes and volumes in contrasting directions - what I understood by Hans Hofmann’s term movement and tension on the picture planes...' (Brought to Light, November 2009)
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Director’s Update
With a welcome shift back to Level 2 in our collective fight against COVID-19, we are delighted to reopen our doors to visitors.
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Bringing up the rear
We finish our handwashing poems with R A K Mason's Song of Allegiance, read, as was the Keats sonnet that started this series, by me.
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House Rules by Joanna Margaret Paul
We are delighted to present Joanna Margaret Paul's House Rules, read by its creator's daughter Magdalena Harris. Dishwasher tension will, we are sure, be familiar to all.
The poet also created the painting you see, which is called Barrys Bay: Interior with Bed and Doll.
And although it's a day after Mother's Day, let's today salute all mothers and their efforts, especially over the last few weeks.
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Running Water by Robyn Hyde
We don't want the poems to stop but dare we hope we are inching closer to re-opening? In the interests of playing it safe, let's keep washing our hands though, today with Visitor Host Dora Mullins and some exquisitely sad lines from Robin Hyde.
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Cat in the Dark by Margaret Mahy
A beautiful poem today by Margaret Mahy, beautifully read by 10 year old Elsie Billington.
A minute of pure handwashing pleasure.
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A Calm Day by Basil Dowling
Today our Graphic Designer Peter Bray reads about the sound of the ocean when the wind dies down. Only Basil Dowling puts it lot better than that in A Calm Day.
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I saw her face by Robin Judkins
We've had lots of poetry responding to nature but poetry's other great theme has been absent. We put that right today with a love poem by Robin Judkins. A simple expression of love you might say, but listen right to the end and then say with confidence what happens next.
That will take a minute so your hands will be sparkling. Today's reader is Visitor Host Tim Hobbs.
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And the animals shall inherit the earth
It’s been interesting observing how nature has quietly but very quickly reclaimed the earth since we have all gone into Covid-19 lockdown. My social media timelines have been peppered with images of animals wandering where humans can’t, boars roaming in Barcelona, peacocks in Dubai, deer in Japan and schools of tiny fish in the now clear waters of Venice to name a few. Related of course are the clearing skies around the world.
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To a child dancing in the wind by W B Yeats
Today our Business Administrator Jackie Heavey reads a poem by a compatriot of hers, William Butler Yeats, in which the innocence of childhood is envied.
Yes you can now go to the beach, but keep your distance and, of course, keep washing those hands.
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Spheres: An Online Video Project
Over the past few weeks, I have been working with fellow curator Nathan Pohio on an online video project that we’ve called Spheres. I’ve only recently joined the Gallery, so it’s been helpful to have something to focus on from home as well as a reason to be in touch with some interesting artists.