Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to the summer 2022/23 issue of Bulletin. Since our last magazine was published I’ve been enjoying the view from my office window, which takes in a new installation that fills the high void above the Gallery’s reception desk. Tīkawe is the first work the Mata Aho Collective have created with harakeke, braiding 530 metres over several months. An exceptionally beautiful addition to our foyer, it’s lovely to watch the shadows Tīkawe casts move and morph as the spring sun tracks across the sky. My thanks to the W. A. Sutton Trust for funding this new commission and addition to the Gallery’s collection.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
As I write this, I’m still smiling with pleasure and pride at the huge success of the Gallery Foundation’s fundraising drive for our own work by Ron Mueck. Wonderful in its own right, it’s amazing to finish the 2017 calendar year knowing a sculpture by Mueck is now on its way to join the other four ‘great works’ for Christchurch.
Director's Foreword
Collections Matter
Since late 2006 when I started as director of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, I’ve written several times about our art collections in Bulletin forewords. Given their centrality to our daily work and our reason for being, this is unsurprising. So it’s good news that we’re focusing on collections in this edition of our quarterly journal.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
One of the undeniable perks of my job is the view: from my office I can look down across the Gallery foyer, with a bird’s eye view on our activities. It’s always great to see tour groups and schools coming through the door. The school holidays bring a fresh energy to our foyer and galleries, with lots of families, noise and an undeniable buzz.
Director's Foreword
Director’s Foreword
The start of a new year is always a good time to think about the last twelve months and ensure good plans are in place for the coming year. Our exhibitions are scheduled and developed a number of years ahead of opening, so it’s always exciting to see them finally come to fruition – and appear in print in each new edition of Bulletin.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Fundraising is an ongoing activity for most public galleries, and it’s no different here at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. We are extraordinarily lucky to have a wonderful group of supporters behind us, whose generosity has made it possible for us to generate funds above and beyond our normal budgets and running costs. This additional funding is used to support ambitious acquisitions for the collection, or to fund important publications or large-scale exhibition projects. But at our Foundation’s recent annual Gala dinner, we asked our guests to get involved with something a little different.
Director's Foreword
Director’s Foreword
As I write this it’s a cold and gloomy Ōtautahi Christchurch day and the Gallery is abuzz with a wide range of visitors, family groups and children, taking part in our school holiday workshops and programmes, and filling our spaces with activity, excitement and laughter. It’s a lovely warm place to be on a grey day. Hopefully by the time this Bulletin arrives in your hand there’s a sense that spring is arriving, trees are greening up and the days are longer once again. By then we will have recently opened our major new collection focused exhibition to replace Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection.
Director's Foreword
Director’s Foreword
Welcome to the winter 2024 edition of Bulletin. At its very heart, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū is built upon a collection that weaves together diverse threads from history, culture and imagination. From contemporary installations that reflect and challenge the world around us to finely crafted historical paintings, each piece tells us something about the human experience, connecting past, present and future in a continuous dialogue. The works in our collection make other statements too: about where we have come from, who we are now, and how we hope others might see us in the future. Far more than a selection of static objects, it’s a living resource that will continue to grow and change as time passes and ideas shift, and as Ōtautahi Christchurch continues to adapt and transform into a diverse and exciting cultural powerhouse.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
It feels a bit strange to be writing the foreword for the autumn edition of Bulletin on one of Ōtautahi Christchurch’s hottest days. However, here I am, welcoming in a new year and enjoying an amazing summer, while signalling a change in seasons and a range of new exhibitions and programmes here at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. It has been a fantastic, bustling summer for the Gallery so far, and we have welcomed over 60,000 visitors between 1 December 2023 and 31 January 2024.
Director's Foreword
Director’s Foreword
Welcome to a very special edition of Bulletin. This issue is something of a change for us: the first full ‘takeover’ by one exhibition. Spring Time is Heart-break: Contemporary Art in Aotearoa is our major show for the summer season. It occupies the entire ground floor of the Gallery and offers a snapshot of contemporary practice across Aotearoa, so it is wide in scope and rich with a breadth of materials.