B.
Gretchen Albrecht Banded Orange 1973. Acrylic on canvas. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1974
Paerangi / The Fold in the Sky
Te Wheke
The connection between land and sky is important in te ao Māori. In Māori creation, Papatūānuku (the earth mother) was separated from Ranginui (the sky father) by their children, creating Te Ao Mārama, the world of light.
For painter Gretchen Albrecht, the space between land and sky has inspired an extraordinary series of paintings spanning several decades in which she captures the light of the setting sun on the wild untamed beaches and heavily forested ranges to the west of Tāmakimakaurau / Auckland.
In her studio, Albrecht has applied broad, sweeping washes of pure colour – with squeegees rather than brushes – across the surfaces of unprimed canvases laid flat on the floor, stacking horizontal bands of colour to show land, sea and sky in the outstanding light of the setting sun.
Ko tā te Māori, i moe a Ranginui i a Papatūānuku. He mana nui tō tēnei hononga, he hononga pūmau tonu. Heoi, ka taka te wā, ka whakawehea rāua e ā rāua tamariki, nāwai rā, ka hua ko Te Ao Mārama.
Ko te kauwhanga kei waenga i a Rangi rāua ko Papa, koia ko te horopaki i ranga wairua ai a Gretchen Albrecht, i puta ai hoki āna waituhi e mau ana i te tōnga o te rā ki runga i Te Wao Nui a Tiriwā heke iho rā ki Te Moanatāpokopoko-a-Tāwhaki.
I roto i tana whare toi, ka whakatakotoria e Albrecht āna papakōaka mā ki te papa, katahi rā ka whakanikonikohia e a ia ki ngā au kano – ko te hautai kē tana taputapu, kaua ko te paraihe. Ka whakapaepaehia ngā kano hei tohu i te whenua, i te moana, i te rangi, i ngā hī o te rā tō.
Related reading: Te Wheke
Exhibition
Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania
30 May 2020 – 3 July 2022
Experience the Gallery’s collection from the perspective of our place in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean.
Collection
Gretchen Albrecht Banded Orange
Banded Orange is one of a series of paintings Gretchen Albrecht made in the early 1970s inspired by the view looking west from Tāmakimakaurau / Auckland where land, sea and twilit skies collide in simplified, abstract bands of colour. She said: “It was just fantastic. There was this incredible explosion every night of the setting sun going down behind this bar of hills, which became like a black undulating shape. That was my view.”
(Te Wheke, 2020)
Notes
Massive wall painting marks opening of Te Wheke at Christchurch Art Gallery
A 36-metre painting by artist Kelcy Taratoa is part of a new exhibition opening at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū on Saturday.
Notes
Te Wheke celebrates Ōtautahi Christchurch’s place in the Pacific
An immersive exhibition that explores art through our connections with the Pacific will be unveiled at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū on 30 May.
Notes
He Toka Tū Moana
The Māori whakataukī or proverb “He toka tū moana” uses the image of a rock that stands firmly in the ocean to describe someone steadfast and strong in their culture or beliefs, who defies all opposition.
Notes
Puta Noa I Te Ao / In the World
Artists from Aotearoa New Zealand are often well-travelled. Feeling the distance of Aotearoa from the world’s centres of art, they have often been drawn overseas to study and work, contributing to the art history of their adopted countries as well as this one.
Notes
He Ara / Pathways
Aotearoa New Zealand is part of a submerged Pacific continent, which broke away from the Gondwana supercontinent millions of years ago to create two major islands – Te Ika a Māui / the North Island and Te Waipounamu / the South Island.
Notes
I Tawhiti Ra Ano / From Distant Shores
The islands of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa / the Pacific were settled by remarkable ocean voyagers over many thousands of years. Aotearoa New Zealand was peopled through major waves of migration from the 1200s and later the mid-1800s. The seas of Oceania are like vast pathways; ever-present reminders of distant shores.
Notes
Ko Enei Tauira Ataahua / These Beautiful Patterns
From a present-day perspective, the appropriation of customary Māori art forms and practice by Pākehā artists can be disconcerting, a more-than-awkward crossing of cultural lines.
Notes
Kanohi Ki Te Kanohi / Face To Face
In te ao Māori, portraiture can encompass rangatiratanga (stewardship), whanaungatanga (kinship or connectedness), manaakitanga (kindness towards others) and whakapapa (ancestral genealogy). A sense of wairua (the spirit of a person) also resonates within these treasured portraits.
