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
It’s my pleasure to welcome you to B.211, our first Bulletin for 2023. After the challenges of the last few years, it has been refreshing to see the city, and our Gallery, buzzing with visitors, entertainment and activity over the summer.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
It’s been great to watch our visitors returning to the building over the past weeks despite the ongoing effects of Covid-19. This issue is coming to you regretfully late due to the pandemic; it’s one of a few changes to our published schedules as we find our feet again. I urge you to keep in touch via our website and social media for updates on what’s happening as we return to our full and vibrant programme of exhibitions and events.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to B.207, the autumn edition of Bulletin. Like the rest of the country, the Gallery has been operating under the Government’s Red traffic light setting since late January. It has to be said that art galleries are, in general, pretty good places in which to practice social distancing. However, while we remain open and welcoming visitors, the recent surge in the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is affecting our ability to schedule our programme. Our team are working hard to continue bringing you a range of exhibitions, events and activities, but as we are all finding throughout so many areas of our lives right now, planning (in the short, medium and even long term) remains tricky. It’s an evolving situation and, reflecting this uncertainty, I encourage you to keep an eye on our social media channels and website for updates.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to the summer issue of Bulletin. In it we celebrate the opening of our new exhibition Te Puna Waiora: The Distinguished Weavers of Te Kāhui Whiritoi. This major show is the most significant showcase of Māori weaving to be displayed in Ōtautahi Christchurch since we were privileged to host Toi Māori: The Eternal Thread / Te Aho Mutunga Kore in 2007. For Bulletin, Patricia Te Arapo Wallace, adjunct senior fellow for the Aotahi School of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Canterbury, writes about the process of Māori weaving; its decline during nineteenth-century colonisation and its eventual recovery leading to the creation of the Kāhui Whiritoi in 2005. This group was formed to acknowledge the mana of Aotearoa’s master weavers, and their works are further celebrated in the major new publication the Gallery has produced to accompany the exhibition.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to the spring edition of Bulletin. As I write this, the country has once again entered a period of level four lockdown, which will mean some uncertainty and anxiety for many of us. It's not yet clear when we will leave lockdown, which means that printing deadlines and exhibition openings dates may have to be moved, so please do check on our website for updates.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to the winter edition of Bulletin. In this issue of the magazine we hear from writer and rongoā practitioner Arihia Latham (Kāi Tahu), who looks at celebrated Kāi Tahu artist Lonnie Hutchinson’s new project for our gallery spaces and forecourt. Rongoā is the traditional form of plant-based medicine practiced by Māori, and Ahu Tīmataka / Trace Elements brings together rongoā plantings on the Gallery’s forecourt and cut-out works in an exhibition space upstairs. Foremost amongst the plants featured in the exhibition is kawakawa—the most important herb in Māori traditional healing. Latham finds a project that questions our construction of spaces, and the exterior versus the interior presentation of ourselves.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to the autumn edition of Bulletin. The Gallery is currently getting ready to install an exhibition project that we’ve been working on for a number of years now. Ralph Hotere: Ātete (to resist) is the first major survey of Hotere’s artistic career for over twenty years, and includes works from collections across Aotearoa.