Exhibitions
Events
On display
Francis Shurrock Compositions
Molly Macalister Pipe Practice, Christchurch 1940. Photograph. Left to right, standing: Leo Bensemann, Francis Shurrock. Left to right, sitting: Peggy Cox, Jean Macalister, Florence Akins, Mary Barrett, Jean Morgan Elizabeth Shurrock. Macmillan Brown Library, University of Canterbury
Musical Performance
Philip Carter Family Auditorium
Free
Come and hear members of the Christchurch School of Music, under CSM direcor Celia Stewart, perform music for recorder ensemble by Francis Shurrock.
Francis Shurrock, the subject of our current exhibition Dear Shurrie, was a gifted musician and composer. This performance is introduced by librarian and archivist Tim Jones and the exhibition's curator, Peter Vangioni.
Related reading: Performance, Free event
Exhibition
Dear Shurrie: Francis Shurrock and his contemporaries
8 March – 13 July 2025
The art, influence and friendships of sculptor and teacher Francis Shurrock.
Collection
Francis A. Shurrock Spring
Like Roland Hipkins, Robert Field and William Allen, the sculptor Francis Shurrock studied at the Royal College of Art in London and immigrated to Aotearoa under the La Trobe scheme to take up a teaching position at one of the country’s art schools. Francis, or Shurrie as his students fondly called him, taught at the Canterbury College School of Art in Ōtautahi Christchurch, where he offered a contemporary, modern outlook on art that was in contrast to the conservative atmosphere of the school at that time. Francis owned a large collection of ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints, which he made freely available to his students and friends. He began making linocuts in the late 1920s and wood-engravings in the early 1930s, encouraging many of his students to use these mediums in their practice.
Ink on Paper: Aotearoa New Zealand Printmakers of the Modern Era, 11 February – 28 May 2023
