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17 August - 10 September 2006
PETER IRELAND:
Sampling landscape
1999-2005
Peter Ireland draws upon the 500-year-old practice of embroidered samplers in a series of paintings that queries the landscape tradition in New Zealand.
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14 July - 10 September 2006
ANOTHER VIEW - Photographs from the Seresin Family Collection
An exhibition of images by some of the world's best known master photographers. The works are drawn from the collection of international film-maker
and Marlborough wine producer Michael Seresin. The exhibition includes vintage B/W photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, Bill Brandt and
Andre Kertesz to name just a few. More
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27th July - 13th August 2006
Global Eye -
International Perspectives on Conservation and the Environment
This exhibition featured the works of 19 artists from a variety of cultures and seeked to raise awareness of our environment and environmental issues.
The artwork explored the premise that our cultural roots help shape our feelings for, understanding of and interactions with the environment. More
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15 June - 16 July 2006
Grant Tilly
This exhibition, which included 22 triptych panels for sale by Wellington artist Grant Tilly, was open at PATAKA's Blue Pacific Gallery. More
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15 July – 16 August 2006
HE NGAOMATARIKI
An exhibition at PATAKA's Blue Pacific Gallery featured new work by four artists based at Te Wänanga-o-Raukawa: Karl Leonard, Diane Prince, Hemi Tahuparae
and Hinepuororangi Winiata.
Threads of history, carefully extracted by mussel shell from the inner most fibre of the harakeke and imbued in the purest paru, the chisel to carve out the ancient hokioi,
the leaf of the neinei and the feathers of the pükeko to adorn and the pen & ink to imprint our peoples past on paper. This is the new work by four artists based at
Te Wänanga-o-Raukawa.
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LORENE TAUREREWA
Drawing, 24 Aug - 24 Sept 2006
For Lorene Taurerewa, Chinese visual art has become the medium to explore the paths back to an original source. “I have always had a deep interest in my own family history,
(Samoan/Chinese) which informs my work from a base of intimate knowledge. My Chinese lineage can only be traced four generations back and then is lost for all time.
The only way ‘forward’ as I could see was to study their art forms”. She acknowledges her Chinese heritage as the main source of inspiration for her most recent work,
large scale figurative drawings, which, through the conventionality of the portrait, emerge into visibility to remind us of the unavoidable and necessary work of inheritance
and her/our relationship to the lost ancestor other.
Acknowledging a need to see the art first hand, Lorene researched traditional Chinese art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This involved studying and drawing from
their collection, one of the largest collections of Asian art in the world. “Just after I arrived a fantastic new exhibition of Chinese ancestor portraits went up. Along with
Chinese mark making concepts I was specifically interested in ancestor portraiture. Every day I would go to the Met to draw and found myself studying the postures
intently as the nuances of the human gestures in their arts are very subtle and communicate on many levels. For instance, in Chinese tradition, portraiture is a portrait
not of the individual, but of the immortal. A portrait does not present a view of an individual as if through the eyes of someone sharing a place in time with the sitter,
as in traditional western portraiture. Instead, Chinese portraits are venerated as encapsulations of the ancestor; they are a collective view of what the outward form of
the figure shows of something much more enduring and unchangeable, namely that which walks through the family lines from generation to generation.
The main body of Lorene’s work has been painting but since returning from New York she has concentrated on drawing as the medium to lessen the ‘gap’ the spatial barriers
between viewer and maker. The scale and execution of her drawings have effectively allowed her to draw attention to its conspicuously marked surfaces and encourages the
possibility of being read as a trace of the artists hand, a way of ‘embodying’ the artist and drawing attention to the body of the spectator. Traditional Chinese mark making
concepts evoke the illusion of presence and empathy: a trace of the movement of the artists hand ‘the mark’ is liable to bring awareness of the artist as an embodied being, of
the process (the duration) of drawing, and of the space of the work’s making (that is, the space in front of the drawing as opposed to the space ‘within’ it). Consequently,
Chinese drawing tradition holds that the drawer and the viewer inhabit the same world, on this side of the paper. There is no belief, as there is in western tradition, in the
possible reality of the illusioned - that you can enter a 2D space imaginatively. The drawing is not a window to another world, but an empathy space where the drawer and
the viewer come together in the contemplation and commemoration of a fact. In this instance, the fact is the 2-sided coin – on the one side the fleetingness of time, action,
mark in time; and on the other the continuity of family, the immortality of ancestry.
The drawings exhibited in this show are part of the series Journey of 1000 miles. | EMAIL CONTACTS:
pataka@pcc.govt.nz
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BIRDS - The Art of New Zealand Birdlife
18 June to 8 October 2006
Birds is an enchanting new exhibition at PATAKA offering a sense of the species' fragility whilst flaunting their charm. This exhibition depicts the delicate balance between
our world and theirs. It illustrates their spiritual significance to Maori and reveals a snapshot of their fleeting presence.
Birds includes art work by Laurence Aberhart, John Bevan Ford, Don Binney, Rob Cherry, Bruce Connew, Shane Cotton, Jim Dennison and Leanne Williams, Paul Dibble,
Charlotte Fisher, Fred Graham, Kowhai Grace, Bill Hammond, Michael Harrison, Matt Hunt, Gavin Hurley, John Johns
Maureen Lander, Tony de Lautour, Saskia Leek, Richard Lewer, Colin McCahon, Andrew McLeod, Moana Nepia, Brendan O’Brien, Hamish Palmer, Seraphine Pick,
Martin Poppelwell, Fiona Pardington, Michael Parekowhai, Peter Peryer, Paul Raynor, Brydee Rood, Jeff Thomson, Ronnie van Hout, Warren Viscoe, John Walsh,
Robin White, Emily Wolfe, Carey Young.
Some of our greatest contemporary artists have engaged with the theme of bird life in Aotearoa. You may never see our 'feathered friends' in quite the same light...ever again.
Birds is open from 18 June to 8 October 2006.
EMAIL CONTACT:
Curator Helen Kedgley
29 September - 8 November 2006
LABOUR OF LOVE
New work from three local Pacific Island artists - Jack Kirifi, Liana Leiataua and Nestor Opetaia.
more
Gaze has no infinity, Nestor Opetaia
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17th September - 26th November 2006 GIVEN
Warwick Freeman
Warwick Freeman, a laureate of the Francois van den Bosch Foundation and the NZ Arts Foundation, is New Zealand’s foremost contemporary jeweller.
He has been a leading proponent of the movement that saw contemporary jewellery playing an active role in the expression of cultural identity in New Zealand.
GIVEN: Jewellery by Warwick Freeman exhibits 35 works made by Freeman between 1980 and 2000 from collections, public and private, from here and overseas.
More
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Warwick Freeman:
Tiki Face, 1992
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Chris Heaphy: AFTER THE BIG BANG
Paramount Award Winner
Rohan Wealleans: Tingler |
29 October - 4 February 2006
15th ANNUAL WALLACE ART AWARDS exhibition
15 years ago James Wallace established the Annual
Wallace Art Awards. These awards are now the
longest surviving and richest annual art awards of
their kind in Australasia. The James Wallace Art
Awards exhibition showcases the very best in
contemporary New Zealand Art. This is a fantastic show
to view the width and depth of artistic practice in
New Zealand.
 
Maryrose Crook: Rob Mcleod, The Reluctant Bridesmaid
Song of the Grey Ghost. |
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14 October – 28 January: 2006
TE HUE IPU - Artifact and Artwork
Te Hue Ipu -Artifact and Artwork is an exhibition that explores the interaction of the gourd and the New Zealand people and in particular the New Zealand artist, both Maori and others.
It is a history that starts its journey with the arrival of the Maori in New Zealand and continues through to the gourds (te hue) uses and influences today on artwork in Aotearoa.
More
Lyonel Grant, Manos Nathan, Theo Schoon,
Reuben Patterson and Wi Taepa
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Kutopia and Sacred Little and Piggy
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7 December – 22 Jan 2007
MUNT~ MOSS Hamish Palmer
Hamish Palmer: Munt ~ Moss. Bringing the simple beauty of the outdoors indoors with a
sophisticated sampler from Hamish Palmer’s summer collection. Munt ~ Moss is a collection
of works made during the past year and is part of a continuing exploration into everyday aesthetic
relationships between nature and culture.
More |
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29 October - 7 February 2006
15th ANNUAL WALLACE ART AWARDS exhibition
15 years ago James Wallace established the Annual
Wallace Art Awards. These awards are now the
longest surviving and richest annual art awards of
their kind in Australasia. The James Wallace Art
Awards exhibition showcases the very best in
contemporary New Zealand Art. This is a fantastic show
to view the width and depth of artistic practice in
New Zealand.
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27 January – 25 February
TU MAIA
An exhibition of greenstone carvings by Lewis Gardiner.
Lewis's carvings are a series of Tiki forms designed around the theme of acknowledging ancestors from the past.
In 1995, Lewis became a full-time jade and bone carver specialising in traditional Maori imagery in his work. He is quickly becoming recognised as one of the most innovative
Maori jade carvers for his unique style, design and composition, utilising many colours of jade. His reputation has been further enhanced with his winning of the Mana Pounamu
Awards for contemporary Maori jade design in 1999 and 2001. His jade works have been prized by collectors both in New Zealand and all over the world from Europe, Asia,
Australia and the USA.
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Takashi Murakami: I Can’t Touch? (Blue & Red) 1996, Acrylic on canvas.
(c)1996 Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Yoshitomo Nara: Abandoned.
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10 FEBRUARY - 18 APRIL 2007
PAINTING FOR JOY
New Japanese Painting in the 1990's
Painting for Joy: New Japanese Painting in the 1990s is a worldwide touring exhibition organised by the
Japan Foundation, featuring the paintings of nine contemporary Japanese artists who have contributed to
the critical revision of painting in Japan.
Artists include internationally acclaimed artists Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara. All nine artists
were born in or around the 1960s and grew up in an advanced consumer society. This group of artists
helped bring about a large-scale revival of contemporary Japanese painting during the final decade of the
twentieth century. They consciously sought an alternative to the existing painting traditions of Japan and
established their own individualist styles.
In 2000, Takashi Murakami, considered a leader in the Japanese contemporary art scene and one of the most
prolific and thought provoking artists of the 1990s, curated an enormously influential exhibition of Japanese art
titled, Superflat, which helped to establish a post modern style of painting in Japan.
MORE
Painting For Joy: New Japanese Painting in the 1990s has been
brought to New Zealand in partnership with the Japan Information
and Cultural Centre and the Embassy of Japan in New Zealand.
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Fatu Feu’u
Solo ole lupe ulu iva, 2007. |
17 FEBRUARY - 30 APRIL 2007
FA FEU’U
The Feu’u Family
This exhibition features new work by Fatu that pays tribute to his late father’s life, and by way of
photographs and other material, celebrates the time that the family has lived in Porirua.
The family of Samoan artist Fatu Feu’u came to Porirua in 1969. They were among the early Pacific
Islanders to immigrate to Porirua. From being a spray painter at the Todd Motors assembly plant in Petone,
Fatu Feu’u has now become one of this country’s leading Pacific Island artists.
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The second Porirua Hotel opened in 1910.
Titahi Bay bottle store, 1960 |
3 FEBRUARY – 6 MAY 2007
PUBS OF THE PAST
Hotels and Wayside Inns of the Porirua District
From the establishment of the first wayside inn in New Zealand to the heady days of the Cobb and Co coaches heading north out of Wellington, grog was served to willing customers in the old coaching hotels of the Porirua district. The exhibition tells the colourful story of these overnight watering holes.
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15 February – 25 March
MOTHERS WITH BRUSHES.
Mothers with Brushes is an exhibition of work by 4 local artists, Angela Bunce, Jan Cromie, Helena Morris and Andrea Broadhurst, who share a major common bond, they are all mothers of young children. The exhibition is a celebration of their art and their families.
31 MARCH – 29 APRIL
NGA PUTANGA O TE AOMARAMA
Challenging the way
New work by top weaver Tina Wirihana.
The most common fibres used for weaving were Harakeke (phormium tenax, known as New Zealand flax), Kiekie (Freycinetia banksii) and Pingao (Desmoschoenus spiralls). Cultural conservation practices have contributed to the sustainability of resources, ensuring the continuous material growth for the prolific weaver. In today’s climate this could be disputed, with access limitation.
I’ve used a combination of natural and manmade materials in the production of artworks, intended to signal a message to weavers. The resource management of weaving materials suggests that the use of natural materials will become non existent over time. Through the continuous felling of our remaining native bush, what’s left of it, to the restricted accessibility through Department of Conservation legislation, will give limited options for weavers when creating work.
The retention of technique application and process continues to have a strong presence in the produced works regardless of material choice. Furthermore this is strongly signaled in the production outcome.
The selected materials assist to inform the weaver of the produced works that the retention, beauty, integrity, depth and breath are strongly evident in the artwork. It is hoped the information and imagery throughout this journey will be of interest to the knowledge holders and practitioners who would appreciate the artist’s choice of materials in her production outcome.
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5 MAY – 3 JUNE 2007
INVISIBLE LANDSCAPES
A collection of work from Poppy Moore, Anne Philbin and Rosie White.
The extraordinary New Zealand landscape dominates our senses but there is little discussion about other types of landscapes, which could be described as “invisible landscapes”. Invisible landscapes inhabit our minds, criss-cross our hearts and even impose on actual landscapes. They can be seen as a by-product of multi tasking, of lives crammed with activity, of interrupted directions and of focus/out of focus visions. Poppy, Anne and Rosie each work in a variety of media, and each artist has individually produced a body of work that collectively makes up the exhibition. |
31 MAY - 1 JULY
SCHOOLS CANVAS SHOW
An exhibition to show off the talents within our Porirua schools. Four to five canvases were supplied to schools for creative students to apply their skills to.
A selection of the 80 canvases on show for the Schools Canvas Show
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Maori Ladder, Wangaui River
Glover Collection
Brothers' Lighthouse, Cook's Straits (sic)
Oughton Collection
Near Wellington
Ferner Galleries
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29 APRIL – 12 AUGUST 2007
THE ITINERANT ARTIST- Revisiting the paintings of William George Baker
William George Baker's love affair with the unspoilt New Zealand landscape is readily apparent. He painted its every mood, seemingly with the ambition to capture the entire length and breadth of New Zealand with his brush.
Baker was born in Wellington on 20th October 1864. He had no formal art training but was arguably one of the most prolific landscape artists of the late 19th and early 20th century. He travelled the country, often selling his paintings in hotels, at local fairs and show-grounds and bartering a painting in exchange for his accommodation. He painted the great lakes, rivers and mountains of the South Island and in the North Island, his work included the representation of numerous Maori pa and villages, usually set beside a picturesque river or lake.
Baker travelled as far south as Stewart Island and north to Great Barrier Island, portraying the landscape that he obviously felt a close affinity with. Socially there were interesting implications that led from Baker's itinerant lifestyle. There is no doubt that his style of work, sold while journeying the back roads of the land and possibly to those with a lesser purse in the public bars and at the country fairs of small town New Zealand, would have reached a wider audience than that shown in the art society exhibitions in the cities.
Unlike the topographical painters of the 19th century, Baker was not overly concerned with the accurate recording of the landscape form. In contrast with Heaphy and other early New Zealand landscape artists, his skill was not grounded in any art school tradition. He composed and created conventional paintings that would appeal to a wide audience, caring little for expressing any personal creative flair or style abstract to his mainstream landscape themes. His work was accessible to the general public both in content and in cost and quickly became popular.
Baker has his work represented in the collections of numerous art galleries and museums in New Zealand including Auckland Art Gallery, Alexander Turnbull Library, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Christchurch Art Gallery, Canterbury Museum, Waikato Museum of Art & History, the Rotorua Museum of Art and History and at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
The Pataka exhibition features 90 of Baker's paintings, both oil and watercolours. A comprehensive catalogue has also been published for the exhibition and is available at the Pataka reception.
The Lion, Milford Sound
Booth College of Mission Collection
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Sara Hughes, Melissa
Kelcy Taratoa, Episode 0015
Andrew McLeod, A+ and Speak Easy
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12 MAY – 12 AUGUST 2007
NEW PAINTING: DIGITAL AGE
Darryn George, Sara Hughes, Andrew McLeod, Kelcy Taratoa, Tim Thatcher
This exhibition showcases the work of a group of influential young New Zealand artists who are pioneering a new relationship
between the painted and the digital image. Their perspectives and approaches are varied and distinctive but the artists have in
common their investigation of the creative potential of the new digital technologies available to them. They all use computers in
diverse ways to generate their artworks, yet they all continue to use traditional painting methods. Computers are transforming
many aspects of their painting practice, opening up a new world of image making.
The young artists in this exhibition make use of the virtual world as well as the traditional painting studio. They are early adaptors
of the digital revolution. Computers and scanners are as important to their work as stretched canvas and paint. Sara Hughes says,
‘I work both with computer programmes and paint brushes to create paintings making links between the handmade and the electronic'.
Digital technology not only increases the efficiency and output of their work, it also gives these artists the freedom to push the
boundaries of painting. Computer programmes provide the artists with a technologically enhanced ability to distort and manipulate
imagery and to experiment in new ways with colour, composition, perspective and scale. As Tim Thatcher says, ‘In some respects
the computer has become an extension of my imagination, just as my painting is an extension of reality'. Contemporary painting practice
in New Zealand has entered the digital age.
MORE
Sara Hughes, Crash |
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5 JULY - 5 AUGUST
TURNINGS PLUS, Woodcraft produced by members of the Wellington Woodturners Guild.
The 'Guild of Woodworkers, Wellington Inc.' consists of approximately 120 members from the greater Wellington Region.
The Guild's aim is to provide a forum for those interested in working with wood to meet together and to develop their skills
and knowledge. This is the 3rd year of the Turnings Plus exhibition, and the first year it has been held at Pataka.
For the duration of this stunning exhibition, the Wellington Guild of Woodworkers will be demonstrating the use of lathes and
woodturning techniques with in-gallery wood-turning demonstrations.
Do you know what a ‘Bodger’ is? While in the forests, people in the UK set up pole lathes to turn freshly cut green wood into
chair legs and other domestic items. These people were known as ‘Bodgers’. The Guild of Woodworkers will set up a pole lathe
for you to try out. Come and experience woodworking that is pre-industrial revolution style!
The Wellington Woodturners Guild will be giving demonstrations throughout their exhibition.
Click here for a schedule of what is happening throughout the show.
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Margaret Tolland,
Best in Show - Blue Moon
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22 SEPTEMBER - 21 OCTOBER
EMILY BULLOCK
Emily Bullock trained at the Sydney College of Arts (Sydney University) majoring in jewellery.
In April 2007 Emily received a merit prize in the Norsewear Contemporary Art Award. In 2002
Emily won the Bizarre Bra section in the World of Wearable Art Show.
Feathers are Emily's paint. Over the last ten years Emily has developed her own technique and
style using feathers. Recently, she has moved into a new source of feathers. she has been trapping
and killing the registered pest, the Indian Mynah bird. With these feathers Emily made Mynah Collie 2007,
(dog flu series), and it was awarded a merit prize in the Norseweart, the New Zealand Contemporary Art Award.
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9 AUGUST - 28 OCTOBER
THE MIGRATING KITCHEN
The kitchen is the hub of the house, the heart of the home - a place where families and friends are fed, stories are told, memories rekindled.
The Migrating Kitchen exhibition, featuring some of New Zealand's multi-cultural communities, celebrates food, families and festivals. It is an interactive visitor experience for
young and old - the chance to step inside our neighbours' kitchens - to hear their stories, taste their food and take away their recipes.
This exciting installation will include Samoan, Greek, Chinese, Somali, Russian and Burmese community stories. It runs for three months in the Bottle Creek Gallery at Pataka
and each Saturday afternoon there will be talks and cooking demonstrations, accompanied by song and dance.
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18 AUGUST - 15 SEPTEMBER
KIMBO: Stone figures from Western Province, Solomon Islands.
Few figures carved from stone in the Solomon Islands have been recorded in the literature which is quite sparse given the range and diversity of local art forms in the Western
Solomons. However a sizeable collection has now been made of small, free-standing, stone heads locally known as kimbo. Some of these stone heads are similar to the well
known nguzungazu figures carved in wood, but kimbo seem to be a distinct traditional art form that was once spread widely throughout the western Solomons. They date
back well before Christianity and have been given a variety of meanings. These examples came to light in 1998 when the collection was put together in Honiara.
 
Virginia King, Nautilus Whispers
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25 AUGUST - 18 NOVEMBER
NAUTILUS WHISPERS
An installation by VIRGINIA KING.
In 2006 I visited the British Museum where Text into Art was exhibited in three interconnected gallery spaces, a collection of beautiful two dimensional works containing Islamic texts. The works had a profound effect on the silent visitors in the galleries. Many of us quietly wept because the essence of the translations, expressed with intense beauty carried many messages of universal peace and hope. The scrolling script reminded me of spirals and shell forms. Although I have used text in my work for many years this exhibition felt like a life changing experience. My response was to imagine works that integrate text and extend the traditional concept of beauty.
Nautilus Whispers is based on one of the most exquisitely delicate and rare shells, Pupu-Tarakihi - the shell or cradle that carries the eggs of the female Paper Nautilus (Argonauta tuberculata.) As the concept progressed, I collected phrases – assembling words about peace and the sea. I wanted the text to resonate and evoke responses from others and I felt the work must have an identity, to be partly narrative and to include some of my personal history. Mostly I hoped viewers would pause and reflect.
Virginia King
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1 NOVEMBER - 19 NOVEMBER
MANA ARTS SOCIETY
An exhibition of work from the Mana Arts Society.
The Mana Arts Society was founded over 21 years ago with the aim of promoting interest and participation in the visual arts in our communty.
The Society organises and is involved with clubdays, workshops, classes, exhibitions and social events.
For more information on the Society contact:
Julia Spinks (President) 237 9105
Dorothy Shea 233 1921
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Natalia Firsova, Afternoon Light
Michel Tuffery and O le Povi pusa ma'ataua, 2005
Cookie Huahine, 2007
New Zealand Man in Cook Strait, 2007 |
25 AUGUST - 25 NOVEMBER
FIRST CONTACT
MICHEL TUFFERY - Paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures along with his latest project, a multi-media projection installation.
First Contact gives a 21st century view of 18th century Pacific history. The exhibition brings together Michel Tuffery’s recent paintings, drawings, prints and bronze sculptures, along with four of his much-admired life-sized bull sculptures, gathered together for the first time and given a new context within the exhibition. Also included is his latest project - a major multi-media installation composed of Tuffery’s images and archival footage of material from Cook’s voyages to the Pacific.
The story of the first contacts between European explorers and Pacific Islanders has been told overwhelmingly by Europeans. Tuffery illustrates the stories through a Polynesian prism. ‘The stories are real, part of our history and I love them,’ he says, ‘I want to re-ignite the stories so that we can reflect upon their significance and relevance today’.1
Renowned as a printmaker, painter and sculptor, Wellington-based Michel Tuffery has exhibited extensively in New Zealand and participated in many important international exhibitions, most recently Paradise Now in New York. Prolific and multi-talented, Tuffery often extends his art practice outside the gallery space, with multi-media installations and performances. His work is shaped by his research into, and encounters with, his Polynesian heritage and significantly, he also makes use of Maori designs in his work.
More
Povi, 1998
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Night Dance in Christkeke, 2007 |
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18 AUGUST - 25 NOVEMBER
STOPOVER - A Story of Migration
Photographs by Bruce Connew
Bruce Connew is one of New Zealand’s leading documentary photo-journalists. His work records and addresses many of the issues and events that continually make headline news around the world. Since the 1980s, Connew has photographed wars, coups, famines, terrorism and rebellions from places like Kosovo, Burma, South Africa and Vanuatu.
Stopover – A Story of Migration investigates the story behind the Indian-Fijian sugar-cane workers on the main island of Viti Levu. It records their plight after the Speight coup of May 2000, which brought down the then Indian-Fijian lead government.
  
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Roof Finial from Tiouande
Maryline Thydjepache, Pacific Palisade |
25 AUGUST - 2 DECEMBER
KANAKART, Ancestral Body
Traditional and contemporary indigenous art from New Caledonia
To help foster a new understanding of Kanak culture, PATAKA premieres a major exhibition of contemporary and
traditional art from New Caledonia, Kanakart- Ancestral Body.
This groundbreaking exhibition, developed by the Museum of New Caledonia and the Tjibaou Cultural Centre in
partnership with Pataka, links traditional Kanak art and culture to contemporary expressions of Kanak art. Opened in
1998, the spectacular Tjibaou Cultural Centre is dedicated to the preservation and continued development of Kanak
cultural traditions.
Vibrant, dynamic and diverse traditional art works, including dramatic ceremonial masks and sacred objects of great
significance from the collection of the Museum of New Caledonia provide a rare insight into Kanak culture. Some are
startling, such as the mourners’ masks made with human hair, while others are iconic, like the roof top carving from a
ceremonial house in Tiouandé.
Contemporary Kanak sculpture and paintings are exhibited alongside heritage items, to demonstrate the continuity of
Kanak culture. All the contemporary Kanak artists selected for this exhibition create new expressions out of traditional
visual forms. The re-use of tradition in contemporary Kanak art parallels similar developments in contemporary Maori art.
Contemporary Melanesian art is defined by both its hybridism and modernity. Despite the strong influence of Western
culture, introduced by the French in New Caledonia, indigenous Kanak art is alive and well. The art of wood carving was
revived during the last quarter of the twentieth century, along with the traditional art of engraved bamboo.
The figurative art of traditional bamboo engraving continues to inspire Kanak artists today. Painting and installation art,
primarily by women artists, is a more recent development. A unique feature of Kanak art is the continuing significance
of the ancestor figure; the connection to the ancestral figure remains as strong today as ever.
Helen Kedgley
Co-curator, Kanakart
More
Proudly supported by the Government and Provinces of New Caledonia
and France through the Fonds Pacifique
Yvette Bouquet, Profile Art |
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Grant Tilly, Pacific Islands Dawn, closed.
Grant Tilly, Pacific Islands Dawn, open.
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27 OCTOBER - 2 DECEMBER
PARROT FASHION
Parrots of the Pacific Rim
GRANT TILLY
This exhibition is a personal selection of parrots from the Pacific rim. It includes New Zealand’s
native Kakariki and the ancient Kakapo, Australia’s loud and boisterous Rosellas and Lorikeets,
the colourful inhabitants of the Pacific Islands and the beautiful and flamboyant Conures and
Macaws from the Americas.
After working the last couple of years with native New Zealand birds as an inspiration, Tilly
wanted to spread his wings a little and take on the majestic world of parrots. Tilly quite liked
the idea that an exhibition could be called Parrot Fashion. They fascinate him with their glorious
colours and their cheeky characteristics. The Pacific rim is particularly rich in examples of these
intriguing birds. It also seemed appropriate that they should exist alongside the major Pacifica
exhibitions season that Pataka has mounted.
Almost all of the parrots depicted are ancient creatures in the earth’s evolutionary time-scale and
deserve our respect and attention. Tilly's works are not intended to be a textbook exploration of
parrots, nor an exhaustive list, but rather they should be seen more for their decorative qualities.
At least that’s what he's tried to do. Tilly has also tried to work the doors of the triptychs into
being an integral part of the main panel. This is a step on from the fixed triptych panels he created
in his Birds in Paradise series which Tilly exhibited at Pataka last year.
Grant Tilly, Parrots open. |
Alan Tawhi, Amopiu |
WHITIREIA EXHIBITIONS
24 NOVEMBER - 9 DECEMBER
EXTRACTED
Whitireia Design Undergraduate students exhibiting in the Spine, featuring work from the Diploma in Digital Design
and Multimedia Certificate in Digital Design students.
Danny Rimoni |
WHITIREIA EXHIBITIONS
24 NOVEMBER - 9 DECEMBER
ORIGINS
An exhibition from Whitireia Visual Arts Undergraduate students.
Rochelle Maroon-Neale, Tactile Memory
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Deborah Davey, All is Roses on the Outside
13 DECEMBER - 6 JANUARY
HIKAKA ANA TE MANAWA!
Exhibition from the students and tutors of Te Waananga-o-Raukawa, Otaki.
Sonia Snowden, Matariki Design Kete
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8 DECEMBER 2007 - 13 JANUARY 2008
THE PROS AND CONS OF GOING STEADY
Exhibition of 4th year students work from Wanganui's UCOL.
 
Keith Grinter, After Hartung Jes-ci Singh Nagra
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Jan Thuring, Terminal Paradise
Lars Henkel, The Patchwork Queen
Thomas Voigt, The Moment
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1 DECEMBER 2007 - 10 FEBRUARY 2008
ANIMATED FILMS FROM GERMANY
Breathing life into lifeless material, inventing and creating a world with laws of its own - film animation is every creative spirit's dream come true. Animated films from Germany is an exhibition showcasing 15 short animated films, telling 15 stories in 15 different personal styles. The exhibition highlights some of the processes and artwork that make up each film.
In animated film the viewer is presented with a kind of individual "dream factory", starting with literary material, creation myths or private experiences and often blurring the distinction between reality and fiction. Animated films are definitely not the outsiders in the film industry any more. Whether they are full length films or just feature films with a high proportion of visual effects - it is no longer possible to imagine contemporary cinema without them. Animated film-maker's in Germany are now expected to be at all the major international festivals and win significant prizes.
When we look at the films from this show, we are aware of a panorama of private myths, of world angst, criticism of the age, of politics and art. As film animators have such a markedly individual approach to their themes, and are scarcely touched by television editing, it is still possible to make discoveries in this field. That is how these films seem, self-confident, unusual, provocative and often notoriously untouched by current trends.
With computer-generated images now being part of any animated film-maker's repertoire, every film still starts with the development of drawings, collages, paintings, objects and figures. These elements, along with the 15 films which last between 4 and 15 minutes each, make up the core of the exhibition and give us a glimpse behind the scenes of the animated films. Animated films from Germany 2004 provides an artistic overview of German animation film makers.
Jan Thuring, Terminal Paradise
Gil Alkabetz, Rubicon
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Unknown Renaissance Portraits (front cover) 2004
Untitled from Illuminated Books 2007
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8 DECEMBER - 6 FEBRUARY
UNKNOWN RENAISSANCE PORTRAITS
Hamish Tocher
Kate Moss, Lennox Lewis, Keanu Reeves, Michael Stipe, Shania Twain, P. Money, Raphael, Michelangelo, Giotto, Caravaggio, Helmut Newton, Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana at Pataka?
Hamish Tocher's exhibition, Unknown Renaissance Portraits, places together the fashion world and the art world, revealing some intriguing similarities. More than thirty photographs compare images from fashion magazines with famous paintings. How is celebrity created? Why do people love the Old Masters? How does fashion keep on being new and fascinating, every season? How does art and fashion change when it comes to New Zealand? Tocher's photographs raise these questions, and entice you to compare the world of fashion and some well-known images from art history. You'll never look at a magazine (or a masterpiece) the same way again.
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Jerry-Kenna, Workings |
WHITIREIA EXHIBITION
24 NOVEMBER 2007 - 3 FEBRUARY 2008
SIGHT, SITE, CITE
He kitenga, he kainga, he kiangaThe Whitireia Visual Arts Graduation Show, exhibiting in the main gallery, featuring work from the Bachelor of Applied Arts, Diploma of Applied Arts and Diploma of Jewellery Design students. |
Love4Sale
Country Light
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10 JANUARY 2007 - 6 FEBRUARY 2008
LOVEART NEW ZEALAND
"LoveArt New Zealand (www.loveart.co.nz) is an online gallery exhibiting the works of 17 New Zealand artists, most of whom are from the Kapiti or Wellington area. The site is owned and managed by Nicola Kane and Kathryn Clark. They decided to develop a unique on-line gallery to show their artwork and then sought out other artists "with a difference" to join them. The site has been running since October 2006, and is well visited. The range of works on www.loveart.co.nz includes acrylic paintings, wood turning, flaxworks, clayworks, wire art, contemporary jewellery, textile art, watercolours, recycled rimu block prints, oil paintings, handmade silver jewellery, woodcut prints, oamaru stone sculpture and photography. New works (and new artists) are added regularly to the site, so there is always something fresh to entice viewers back." | |
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EMERGING ARTISTS, LOCAL INTEREST GROUPS AND MORE, THIS IS OUR GALLERY FOR THE COMMUNITY:
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Gijun, Shinto, Japan Israa, Muslim, Iraq
 
Pere, Orthodox Christian, France Gursharan, Sikh, UK
 
Swami, Hindu, India Lee, Taoist, Singapore
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1 DECEMBER 2007 - 16 MARCH 2008
OBSERVANCE
Portraits by Nicola Dove
Observance is a series of long exposure portraits and soundscapes of people in a meditative state of prayer from a wide spectrum of spiritual practices and faiths from around the world. Long exposures hark back to the beginnings of photography, when film was slow and shutter-speeds long, and when it was commonly believed that a photograph could capture one's soul.
Some portraits seem to have an ability to capture more than just a two dimensional representation of skin and bone. Nicola Dove realised this when, in the hills of Nepal in 2003, she made a series of portraits of Tibetan Lamas. On her return to London, a curator responded to one particular portrait saying she could feel the energy of the Lama, as if she were in his presence. The seeds for Observance had been planted.
Throughout history imagery has played an important role in many faiths. Often followers of a faith possess an image of their leader, their guru, or their teacher - they have them in their homes, on their altars or tattered in a wallet. In countries where certain forms of religion are not tolerated, such as Tibet, to possess such an image can put one's life at risk. Why do people put such faith in the power of a photograph? What does this kind of image hold that is so precious?
This direct engagement is a central theme of Observance. Each portrait is made with the sitter large in the frame, looking directly into the lens, creating pathways of seeing, via the camera. Each sitter was photographed whilst actively holding in mind a prayer or mantra, and through the action of looking into the lens, this internal activity is projected into the camera. Fifteen-second exposures provide the window with which the film could capture that energy.
Consequently these portraits are not split seconds decided upon and captured by the photographer to reveal something of a character. Rather, they are an intimate intention unfolding over time, creating an opportunity for a more balanced meeting between the observer and the observed. | |
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