Exhibitions
Events
On display
Jenny Harper, a Life in Art
Photo: John Collie
Friends
Past event
Philip Carter Family Auditorium
Free. Bookings essential by Friday 16 March
Join the Friends to celebrate Jenny Harper’s 11 and a half years as director of Christchurch Art Gallery.
Colleagues who have seen the contribution Jenny has made to the arts in New Zealand will talk about their experiences. Talk to be followed by drinks and canapés in the NZI Foyer.
This event is for Friends only. To book or join the Friends, email friends@christchurchartgallery.org.nz
Related
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to Christchurch Art Gallery’s first Bulletin of 2018, B.191.
In this issue, Roger Collins looks at the Pacific etchings of eighteenth-century French artist Charles Meryon, who sailed around New Zealand on the Rhin, visiting the French settlement of Akaroa in 1843. Meryon continued to create images of the South Pacific throughout his life as exemplars of a possible alternative to the ‘social hell of a great European city’.
Commentary
Raising the Stakes
On the opening of the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū Jenny Harper, then at Victoria University Wellington, wrote that the challenge for the newly opened Gallery was ‘to raise the stakes by acknowledging it is no longer the McDougall but is poised to become the force in the New Zealand art scene that Christchurch deserves.’ When, three years later, she became director of the Gallery, that’s exactly what she set out to achieve on several fronts. One of those was developing the collection.
Commentary
Zero Degrees of Separation
The New Zealand art world is an intimate place but my connection to Jenny Harper runs deeper than the usual bonds of a small community. Admitting this is a necessary disclaimer. I’m not an objective commentator; Jenny is family, literally. And professionally, I owe her plenty. What follows are some personal recollections about the Jenny I know through the associations we share, on the occasion of her imminent departure from the Christchurch Art Gallery, where she has been director since October 2006, making this the longest role in her distinguished career.
Notes
Familiar landscape for our new director
Blair Jackson has been appointed the new director of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.