News

After 10 years of redevelopment, one of New Zealand’s oldest purpose-built galleries, the Sarjeant has reopened its doors to the public.
The opening exhibition Nō Konei | From Here features works from the Gallery’s extensive collection alongside newly commissioned artworks, with solo projects by Matthew McIntyre-Wilson, Tia Ranginui and Alexis Neal, and a major survey of works by Edith Collier.

‘The new $70 million gallery now spans more than 4,500 sqm and is a clear and soon to be thriving landmark at Pukenamu Queen’s Park. The gallery now features ten exhibition spaces, a climate-controlled storage area for its nationally significant permanent collection of works, a photographic studio and workshops. But there’s also a family room, a reading room and library, a classroom, retail space, a café, and publicly accessible event and meeting rooms – all requirements to turn the gallery from a building into a functioning, vibrant part of the Whanganui community’. – The Big Idea Editor

The gallery is free to enter and for the program of events during the opening month from 9 Nov-8 Dec 2024 visit here.

Image: Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery

Congratulations to Solander artists Belinda Griffiths and Jacqueline Aust, both finalists in this years WSA Painting and Printmaking Award.

Judges Marian Maquire  and Kura Te Waru-Rewihi selected 62 finalists from which four artists are selected for two main and two merit prizes each in Printmaking and Painting.

The exhibition of all finalists including the award winners are on display at ArtsPost Galleries and Shop in Hamilton until 5 May.

Featured image: Belinda Griffiths ‘Whisper’

Congratulations to Damon Kowarsky who has been selected as a finalist in this year’s M16 Artspace Drawing Prize in Canberra for his drawing

‘At the Bab Jadid’.  Created while on residency in 2022 as part of the Al Balad Art Residency – a program of the Saudi

Ministry of Culture operated by Hafez Projects in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

image: Damon Kowarsky  ‘At the Bab Jadid’ 2022, ink, watercolour and pencil on paper, 500 x 1200mm

The unveiling of of a replica mural installed in honour of artist E. Mervyn Taylor (1906 -1964) at The Learning Connexion School of Creativity and Art (TLC)  was celebrated in Taita, Lower Hutt on 19 September.
Formerly the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) Soil Bureau, Mervyn was commissioned to create a mural to mark the opening of their building in 1962. On display in the foyer entrance, the mural, / welcomed all who arrived.
Depicting the carved stone taumata atua or kumara god placed at the head of the plot and the early morning ceremony performed by the tohunga, dressed in his cloak and turning the first sod with his ko or digging stick. The growing kumara is shown symbolically reaching up to the life-giving sun.
Somewhere in the transition from science to art the mural was ‘lost’.
In 2017 a project initiated by Dr Bronwyn Holloway-Smith led to the discovery that the work wasn’t technically missing, it was merely obscured behind multiple layers of paint. After a lengthy process it was determined that it was not possible to recover the mural and The Learning Connexion with the support of the Taylor Family got behind a project to recreate a full scale replica of the original work.
Installed in the original location and back into the public eye again, it is as Sarah Taylor said ‘a surprisingly good news art story.’
“Taylor was passionate about the value of the creative arts within New Zealand. From his position as a Pākehā artist he actively supported the protection and promotion of Māori culture in an era when dominant colonial influences threatened its decline.” – Dr Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, 2016
Featured image: Courtesy of The Learning Connexion

Recommending the podcast The Good Oil, which recently featured Stanley Palmer.

Now into his 7th decade of painting and printmaking Stanley talks about his life and art with Graeme Douglas.

The Good Oil is dedicated to long form conversations with Aotearoa / New Zealand artists  about their lives and practices.

Listen here The Good OIl – EP 10

Rona’s solo exhibition ‘As ready as ever’ is on at the

Library at The Docklands Gallery, located on Level 1, 107 Victoria Harbour Promenade, Docklands.

Definitely a goodie to add to your gallery tour if you are visiting Melbourne.

The exhibition runs until 14 May 2023 and entry is free!

For more info click here

Responding to the Steel Gallery space three Franklin based artists including Belinda Griffiths, Melanie Arnold and Diane Scott created site-specific works.

Working Title runs until 3 December

“Franklin based artists Melanie Arnold, Belinda Griffiths and Diane Scott take varied
approaches to art making in diverse media from sculpture to print making, painting
and drawing…For Working Title, the artists take the structure of the Steel Gallery as
an essential part of the project. The architecture and the wider context of the gallery
space is treated as a material for the artists to manipulate and explore.”

For further information on opening hours visit  http://aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/arts-culture-heritage/arts/art-centres-galleries-theatres/Pages/franklin-arts-centre.aspx

Install image courtesy of artist Belinda Griffiths

First launched at Solander Gallery in February 2019, – ’ has recently opened at Hafnarborg Centre of Cultural and Fine Art, Iceland.

Exhibiting alongside the work of the ten New Zealand artists is the newly created exhibition 250: featuring the works of ten Icelandic artists, commemorating the 1772 scientific expedition Swedish botanist and Linnaeus apostle Daniel Solander made to Iceland, 250 years ago.

The two exhibitions forming a unique dialogue between the Arctic and the Pacific through Daniel Solander’s travels will tour Iceland for the next year and a half.

Participanting artists in the exhibition 250: are,
Anna Líndal, Aðalheiður Valgeirsdóttir, Daði Guðbjörnsson, Gíslína Dögg Bjarkadóttir, Guðmundur Ármann Sigurjónsson, Iréne Jensen, Laura Valentino, Soffía Sæmundsdóttir, Valgerður Björnsdóttir and Viktor Hannesson.

Participating artists in the exhibition – ’ are, Alexis Neal, Dagmar Dyck, Jenna Packer, Jo Ogier, John McLean, John Pusateri, Lynn Taylor, Michel Tuffery, Sharnae Beardsley and Tabatha Forbes.

The exhibitions are presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Iceland and the Icelandic Printmakers Association.

For further information on the exhibition and touring program visit here:

This is a collaborative exhibition by Alexis Neal and Peata Larkin, whose practices are founded on their ancestral connections to raranga. Whakamata metaphorically describes how both wahine have woven their art practices to navigate their cultural identities.

Exhibition runs until 10 September

Opening Hours:
Mon – Friday 9-5pm
Saturday 10-4pm

Māngere Arts Centre
Corner Bader Drive & Orly Ave
Māngere

Install image courtesy of Sam Harnett

Congratulations to Locust Jones, a finalist in this year’s Parkin Drawing Prize with his animated film isolation is bad for business.

Founded by arts patron and philanthropist Chris Parkin, the Parkin Drawing Prize is Aotearoa New Zealand’s premier award for drawing.
It promotes drawing in all its forms – as discovery, a testing of ideas, and decision making.

image: still from isolation is bad for business 2022, animated film by Locust Jones.

Exhibition runs 2 August – 11 September at New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

Further information about the Parkin Drawing Prize here