On the cusp of a new decade, a group of senior-level art students demonstrate what it means to create art in an environment no longer bound by rigid geographical notions of place. A large-scale multimedia exhibition opening at St Paul Street Gallery in on 9 September and running until the 24th, Make/Shift will present the viewer with the exciting array of art that is being produced by Auckland’s Pacific innovators throughout the city’s five tertiary institutions. Curator Nina Tonga says that owing to globalisation, the Pacific identity has become increasingly interconnected across traditional geographical boundaries, and these artists’ work provides an insight into art-making practices in a ‘post-colonial, post-migration, post-facebook world’. The line-up features Luke Willis Thompson, Mele ’Uhamaka, Ane Tonga, Tony Tia, Caroline Cotter, Victoria Patea, Vaimoana Eves, Selina Woulfe, Chloe Marsters and Nastashia Simeona. Make/shift is organised by the Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust and opens at 5.30pm on 9 September with a special guest performance by Black Grace. Artists and curator will walk and talk about their work at 2pm on 18 September.
Wellington based multi-media visual artist Sheyne Tuffery, best known for the dynamic style of his prints and woodcuts, is exhibiting Tectonic Plates at Wellington’s Solander Gallery (218 Willis Street). The exhibition is a reflection on New Zealand’s geological history as a singular landmass and natural sanctuary for a vast array of bird species including those that are now extinct, like the giant penguin. Inspired by research into his Samoan heritage and a fascination with New Zealand’s geological history, Sheyne uses his work to create and represent his own cultural context and sense of belonging. The exhibition runs from 8 September to 2 October 2010. Tectonic Plates comes hot on the heels of Sheyne’s other current exhibition, Wahine Atua And The Sonar Interference which runs until 12 September 2010 at Lower Hutt’s Mount Marua Gallery. (Image adapted from the Solander Gallery website)
Niu Pasifik is an exhibition of contemporary art from New Zealand and the Pacific Rim from the personal collection of curator and educator Giles Peterson. It features multi-media work including graph art, painting, drawing, animation, hip hop music video, sculpture, photography, installation, embroidery textile and street fashion. The exhibition is in its final days and closes this Sunday, 5 September, 2010 at the Mount Marua Gallery in Upper Hutt, Wellington. (Image adapted from the Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre website)
Manukau’s much-anticipated new arts facility, Mangere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, will officially open on Friday 3 September 2010. The opening will be followed by a full weekend of celebrations, with more than 40 performances featuring over 300 performers. The centre’s theatre and courtyard will be packed with activity including dance, music, comedy and poetry by acts including Kila Kokonut Krew, Tony T Band, Grace Ikenasio, Moana Ete, MBrace Pacific Dance, Anonymouz, Manukau City Concert Band and many more. The inaugural exhibition in the gallery Manu Toi: Artists and Messengers (curated by Nigel Borell) will also be open for viewing. The exhibition features an impressive line-up artists with a connection to the Mangere area, working in a range of disciplines including photography, installation art, moving image and more. For a full schedule of the opening weekend, go to www.manukau.govt.nz/mangereartscentre.
Opening celebration weekend:
When: Saturday 4 September, 10 am – 11 pm
Sunday 5 September, 12 pm – 4 pm
Where: Mangere Arts Centre – Nga Tohu o Uenuku, Corner Bader Drive and Orly Avenue
Mangere
Cost: Free
The spirited work of three Pacific female artists is to be exhibited for a month at Auckland’s Okaioceanikart Gallery and then at the Calder and Lawson Gallery in Hamilton. The Flora Koloa Kapkap exhibition will feature Dagmar Dyck (Tonga) Ellie Fa’amauri (Solomon Islands) and Sylvia Marsters (Cook Islands). The Auckland exhibition will be opened on Wednesday 25 August 2010by Professor Jonathon Mane–Wheoki from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. It will run at Okaioceanikart’s Reef Gallery (69 Beach Rd) until 24 Sept 2010 and includes an artists’ floor talk at 12 noon on Saturday 5 September. The exhibition then moves to Hamilton where it will be opened on Wednesday 29 September by Dr Ngahuia Te Awekotuku from the University of Waikato. The Hamilton exhibition runs until 16 October 2010. The artists will be in Hamilton to speak about their work at 7pm on Saturday 9 October at the University of Waikato’s Calder and Lawson Gallery. For more information call Ph +64 (9) 379 9051 or 027 285 4350 and visit the Okaioceanikart website. (Image of Ellie Fa’amauri’s Intertwine, 2010, acrylic on canvas; adapted from the Flora Koloa Kapkap poster.)
John Pule’s Hauaga (Arrivals) exhibition at Wellington’s City Gallery has been described by critics as a “landmark survey of work by a contemporary Pacific artist”. The exhibition shows Pule’s work stretching across art forms and cultures, drawing from an endlessly rich range of historical and present day sources from the Pacific, as well as Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond. Hauaga features 23 of John Pule’s large canvases and around 40 of his works on paper. It surveys his career since 1991—the year he travelled back to his birthplace, Niue, and reconnected with the traditional Niuean art of hiapo. John Pule’s art plays a pivotal role in the presentation of Pacific cultures globally and has been exhibited in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. The exhibition ends on 12 September 2010 at the West & East Galleries. (Image of “Another Green World” by John Pule, adapted from the City Gallery website.)
Pacific artists and critics from around the world are arriving in Rarotonga for the 10th Pacific Arts Association (PAA) International Symposium early next week. The theme for the symposium is “Museums, New Global Communities, and Future Trends”. The purpose of the PAA is to connect individuals and institutions around the world and encourage greater cooperation among those involved with the creation, study and exhibition of Pacific Art. The symposium will take place from 9 – 11 August 2010, at the Crown Beach Resort in Ratotonga.
Fresh Gallery Otara announces a new exhibition Alias by Niutuiatua Lemalu. The exhibition plays with the idea of identity through the art of portraiture. Alias is Fresh Gallery Otara’s 50th exhibition and takes subjects and stories from magazines to dissect the stereotyping and the masking of identity that is so common in this media. In re-imagining these images, Lemalu exposes the clashes between stereotypes and reality. Fresh Gallery Otara Manager Ema Tavola, says “Lemalu is a fascinating emerging Manukau artist. I expect that we’ll see a lot more of him after his first solo exhibition at Fresh Gallery Otara. Lemalu is based in Manurewa and was educated at Epsom’s St Peters College. He is in the process of completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts. The exhibition contains 20 individual painted portraits and runs from 13 August to 14 September 2010 at the Fresh Gallery Otara. The artist will deliver a floor talk at noon on Saturday 28 August. (Image courtesy of Fresh Gallery Otara)
Creative New Zealand’s third review of its Recurrently Funded Organisations (RFOs) is recommending that two feasibility studies be undertaken in the next year. The first is to look into a management company for dance and theatre companies, including Maori and Pasifika dance and theatre, to provide shared, cost-effective management and audience development services for smaller independent companies. The second study will look at a Pasifika arts development organisation to coordinate and provide capability building for Pasifika artists across a range of arts practice and to develop new audiences for Pasifika arts and artists. The review recommends that work on the feasibility of these initiatives be carried out in 2010–11 so that options can be considered by 2012, when the new multi-year investment programmes have been implemented.
The Braveheart Youth Trust art exhibition opened last night in Auckland and features a display of up to 600 artworks. Numerous paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures and objets d’art will be available for viewing and for sale. The 200+ artists represented, both emerging and well-known, come from all around New Zealand and include Pacific artists Lina Marsh, Jean Clarkson, Leanne Clayton, Loloma Andrews, Sylvia Marsters, and Tui Hobson. The exhibition runs for two days only and finishes on Sunday 30 May, 2010. This is a good opportunity to buy art and support a great cause. To see a selection of the art see the Braveheart Youth Trust website. Braveheart assists young New Zealanders whose behaviour has left them at risk of losing their future to the destructive cycle of living in and out of the justice system.
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