Notes
Notes
A quick round
With our own doors still closed, I recently did the rounds of a few Christchurch Galleries seeking an art fix.
Notes
What's going on in Sydenham?
Your father or grandfather probably had one. Maybe you've created one of your own. Possibly there's one on a wall at home, left there by a previous owner.
Notes
Ugly beauty
Ugly beauty came over me like a thrilling rash.
Ugly beauty warmed me like a slap on the face.
Ugly beauty helped me rise above the crowd
and even if it meant sitting on the face
of the hunchback of Notre Dame
I quickly got over the obsolete shame.
Notes
Sweeeeet Manuka Honey
On it goes in Sydenham today. Tomorrow we introduce the artist. (On rollers: Chris, Sean, Simon, Scott, Nathan and Ben. And cheers Simon and John for the photos.)
Notes
Vital statistics
I'm just back from Sydenham, where the big grey wall I mentioned yesterday is receiving its first layer of Resene Manuka Honey. Nothing like the sight of paint rolling out to warm an art-starved curator's heart.
Notes
Songs from Robert Burns
One of the highlights acquired for the Gallery's library recently is this beautiful 1925 Golden Cockerel Press edition of Songs From Robert Burns, illustrated throughout with wood-engravings by Mabel Annesley (1881–1959).
Notes
Wallpower
What's that weird sensation? Faint, but growing stronger. A stretching, tingling, anticipatory sort of feeling. Familiar but hard to name. After all this time, it couldn't be, surely? But yes (nervously touches wood), it really does seem to be true... It's that getting-ready-to-make-a-show feeling. People, we are about to present some art.
Notes
Must try harder
Sometimes I wonder about the blurbs we public gallery types pin to our exhibitions.
Notes
Going Bush
As we're constantly reminded by a somewhat strident billboard campaign, the Christchurch We Love Is Still Here.
Notes
Wrong way in
Impossible not to feel disappointed by news yesterday about a huge new sculptural gateway for Christchurch.