In June: Upcoming exhibitions

A charged collection of documentary photographs & a series of biomorphic sculptures - Upcoming Exhibitions

 Bernie Harfleet and Donna Sarten present a charged collection of documentary photographs as part of the Auckland Photography Festival while Christchurch-based sculptor Matt Akehurst reveals the latest editions in his series of biomorphic sculptures at Corban Estate Arts Centre from 1 June – 8 July.

Object 5+ by Matt Akehurst features a selection of white ambiguous forms encased in vitrines and mounted on plinths.  With their small scale and specimen-like presentation, Akehurst’s Objects take on an anthropological quality while simultaneously alluding to the reclining figures of prodigious modernist sculptor Henry Moore in their fluidity.  Akehurst is an active member of Arts Voice; an organization dedicated to serving the Christchurch arts community, and will be presenting a talk about his exhibition as well as the current state of the creative arts in Christchurch. 

Part of the Auckland Festival of Photography 2012, Norm & Noeleen from Bernie Harfleet and Donna Sarten are two personal photographic series follow the demise of the artists’ adopted parents and serve as a reminder to viewers of the disempowerment age can bring.  These poignant photographs are heartening in witnessing the determination of these two individuals to maintain some independence by staying in their own homes; however viewers will be simultaneously affected by this look into the inevitable future of humans – that of increasing health issues and death.

A range of public programmes will accompany these exhibitions. Please see our website for further details: www.ceac.org.nz.

Anne-Sophie Adelys

Author: Sophie Keyse

"We cannot return to the past, but we can go home again" - Jan Morris, ‘Home Thoughts from Abroad’

Anne-Sophie Adelys’ latest exhibition Re-Collection (on view at Corban Estate Arts Centre April 20^th – May 27^th 2012) is precisely that – a collection of disparate objects assembled together to create an installation which inevitably resonates with the viewer in their familiarity and sentimentality.  Originally from Brittany, France, Adelys incorporates found objects picked up in vintage stores or local markets with precious items from her personal collection in a frieze of colour and time, interspersed with her own retro-themed oil paintings.  After studying art at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Le Mans, graduating with a Diplome National d’Arts Plastiques, Adelys worked in the graphic design industry which has leaked into her artistic practice most obviously in her preparatory sketches which she executes in Photoshop.  This inevitably results in crisply finished compositions which go beyond the realistic into the domain of the idealised.  

The main focus of this exhibition is nostalgia and memory, with the artist exploring her past in order to assess her own present and future path.  After a horse riding accident at aged 11 Adelys suffered temporary amnesia, with it taking several months before her memory returned to a shadow of its former self.  This desire to review and remember the past in her artwork is linked to the artist’s terror of forgetting her memories, and the use of objects and images functions as a trigger to ensure such a scenario does not occur again.  However, it is interesting to note that the items which populate Re-Collection are from an era not experienced by the artist – instead they survive from the 1950s and 60s.  This is perhaps due to the artist spending her school holidays at her grandparents’ big mill house in a small village near Le Mans, which had an attic full of mid-20^th century metal toys; comics; clothes and shoes; photos; Super 8mm movies; old school books and vinyl records.  She would while away many an afternoon with her notebook and pencils making paper dolls out of 50s women’s magazines.  These memories are cherished by the artist as she was frequently spoiled as their first grandchild and her artwork is a means of returning to this blissful period: 

Through my work I try to re-connect with the feeling of childhood when everything and anything was possible and when life was much simpler. I want to open a small window on 'what used to be' and allow a kitsch-retro visual escape back to childhood.

This interest in nostalgia developed into exploring its effects on one’s identity and how memory and the emotions imbued in objects influence who we are and how we relate to others.  The visitor response to Re-Collection reveals how easy it is to open up about one’s private life with the aid of objects that resonate with us in some form – it may be a comic book or a photograph of a particular scene or perhaps just a crate of milk bottles: these items are so familiar to many people and yet conjure up a variety of different memories and feelings.  However, this remembering of the past has the potential to be idealised and fictionalised – one can recall events with rose-coloured glasses, as it were, and this inevitably increases the longing to return to that time.  The artist herself describes the 1950s and 60s as ‘golden years’ perhaps because how this era was portrayed in subsequent popular culture, thus easily overlooking the more negative aspects of these decades of change.  Adelys hopes viewers will allow themselves a trip back to the past when they enter her installation, with the aid of retro tunes and soft lighting – ‘It’s not a question of understanding it but feeling it.’

With artistic influences such as Edward Hopper, Mark Rothko and Norman Rockwell, it is no surprise that the artist hopes visitors respond emotively to the work she creates – her obsession with colour and its ability to communicate/evoke a particular message or feeling has a significant impact and one can see in her paintings that each colour relationship has been carefully planned and implemented.  

Adelys plans to continue this thread of exploration in her next series of works, potentially incorporating vintage photographs into her installations.  She is in the process of applying for residences throughout New Zealand and preparing submissions for national art awards.  Visit her website www.adelys.co.nz for further examples of her artwork. 

Vaimoana Eves

Author: Sophie Keyse 

“The stuffed stockings seemed to be transformed into the look of marble and immediately reminded me of classical sculpture although I knew they weren’t.  I so wanted to touch and explore these exquisite works, but knowing the rules of the gallery I was forbidden.”

Vaimoana Eves’ exhibition Play Space, currently on view at Corban Estate Arts Centre, stemmed from the artist’s desire to touch and explore the inaccessible creations of her favourite artist Sarah Lucas.  This yearning to get inside the biomorphic forms caused Eves to reassess her art practice and inspired her to incorporate interaction into her installations: “The stuffed stockings seemed to be transformed into the look of marble and immediately reminded me of classical sculpture although I knew they weren’t.  I so wanted to touch and explore these exquisite works, but knowing the rules of the gallery I was forbidden.”  The main focus of Play Space is active play: by abstracting sport and games and their relationship to the body Eves has created three separate pieces which can be stretched, pulled and tugged – in a similar vein to sporting activities – by the physical body.  To emphasise the arena-like transformation of the gallery space, a slightly off-centre circle has been taped to the floor – big enough for a person to stand in – which could be utilised as a point of reference to stand and throw from, much like the centre circle on a netball court.  An over-arching concept behind Eves’ art is using play as a means to learn more about ourselves, others and the world we live in.  Her principal wish is that the participant has some sort of connection, with the present moment or with the immediate physical environment, through their own experience.  This active engagement with the artworks – either singularly or as a whole - will hopefully remind visitors that play is both physical and social, and ultimately a very human experience.   
 

Play Space perhaps best elucidates Eves’ artistic, and personal, influences, which is society itself and the social engagement between individuals.  Her upbringing and family have a lot of influence on how and what she makes, with her work frequently incorporating memories from her childhood and investigating how they have shaped her artwork today.  Texts on philosophy, phenomenology and anthropology have supplemented these inspirations, with writers such as Julia Kristeva leading Eves to incorporate the abject as a device to draw people into her work, particularly the sense of play, fun, humour and even slapstick.  Artists such as Larissa Kosloff, Pipootti Rist and Hayley Newman similarly employ humour and playfulness in their practice and Eves looks to them, as well as a host of other conceptual artists including Hannah Wilke, Yayoi Jusama, Annette Messager and Ana Mendieta, as creative influences.  

Currently in the midst of a Master of Design at Unitec, Eves has dabbled in several art courses in Australia and New Zealand – often juggling full-time work and studying.  At present her preferred media are sculpture and installation, particularly constructing objects from fabric and suspending them from ceilings and walls.  The exhibition space is a significant influence on Eves’ artwork, with nothing set in concrete until the artist is working the site itself.  This ties in with Eves actively incorporating the use of all senses in her pieces, in the hopes it will enhance as well as open up different levels of meaning simultaneously, thus prompting engagement with the work.  

Next up for Vaimoana is preparing for her final master’s show which will be a selection of past and new work. It has been an invaluable experience for Eves to exhibit Play Space at Corban Estate Arts Centre as it has allowed her to see how visitors interact with the sculptures and enable her to refine the final submission for her Master’s. 

The Business of Arts 2012:

Master class with fashion designer Liz Mitchell

 

Liz Mitchell is one of New Zealand’s leading couture and ready to wear designers. Her clothes are chosen and worn for their gorgeous colours, sumptuous fabrics, classical design, impeccable tailoring and attention to detail in every aspect of their construction.

With a label founded on design excellence, Mitchell focuses on creating unique and quality pieces that can be enjoyed over a number of seasons.

“I think the clothes we create have an enduring quality and that's always interested me,” she says.

With a background in fine arts and theatre, Mitchell brings a sense of drama to her sophisticated designs.  In 2005 Mitchell was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to the fashion industry. Her knowledge of and respect for design history is reflected in her own work. Her exquisite evening wear, glamorous made to measure garments and elegant ready to wear designs are an expression of modernity, with a whisper of tradition.

"You are not just recreating the past; it is about giving a garment a past, present and a future."

In this Master Class she talks with arts consultant Tara Jahn-Werner about the realities of creating her work in an often harsh economic environment.

She has had her share of difficulties – in 2010 her company went into voluntary liquidation after suffering a downturn in sales and orders. But she survived and set up again, focusing on her core products and moving her company forward as a leaner entity, and coming through, as she says, stronger and hopefully wiser.

 

 
What does the future look like through children’s eyes?

Children live in a rapidly changing world with technology constantly evolving, societies becoming more multi-cultural and the environment facing enormous challenges. By using their creative imagination and inventive ideas children can contribute to transforming this challenging world.

The Kids Arts Festival is a one-day annual event of free activities for the whole family. This year’s theme, ‘You are the future’, invites children and teens to explore the future and share their ideas through the arts. It is a great opportunity for the whole family to engage in a range of activities such as participating in free art workshops and enjoying multi-cultural children's performances. Local schools will be presenting lively art, photography and multimedia exhibitions.  

Workshops include: futuristic jewelry, robot building, Chinese crafts, Maori and Pacific weaving, African drumming, futuristic graffiti sculptures, dance performance and drama. Most workshops are suitable for 5 to 14 year old children and teens. They can drop-in to any of the workshops and stay as long as they like.

Artist Vaimoana Eves will invite children and adults to interact with her work ‘Play  Space’ exhibition at Corban Estate Arts Centre gallery.

Bring a picnic or purchase lunch from the selection of tasty food available on site, which you can enjoy in our beautiful park-like environment.

Kids Arts Festival 2012 will take place on Saturday 5 May from 10 am to 4 pm and Mayor Len Brown will cut the ribbon that will officially open the annual event. Corban Estate Arts Centre facilities will provide an enjoyable experience whether there is sunshine or rain.

Visit our website to find more information about this exciting event: www.ceac.org.nz

Arie Hellendoorn

Author: Sophie Keyse

"Are we ecosystems in ourselves?”

Arie Hellendoorn’s current exhibition at CEAC , Each Working Head Imprisons the Legitimate, explores the loaded form of the figure and questions what components make up a human body. Hellendoorn removes the familiar signposting in these paintings, letting colour, texture and pattern act as visual cues to understanding.  All physical features have been decreased in relative importance to the thought processes which define the painted identity in gentle patching.  Each of the five paintings in the exhibition challenge our expectations of a portrait/representations of the human figure, causing the viewer to reconsider what constitutes a human body and whether this is restricted to physical elements or extends to the interior and metaphysical aspects of a person: “Should we include thought processes?  Should we include the bacteria which promote healthy function but are not strictly part of us?  Are we ecosystems in ourselves?”

Originally from Holland, Hellendoorn attended high school in Wellington and went on to complete a Fine Arts degree at Massey University, majoring in painting and sculpture.  His medium of choice at present is paint, however he often uses photography to generate drawings and explore ideas.  Arie has also experimented with video and live performance with the incorporation of found objects. With his formal art background, Hellendoorn’s artistic influences are vast, ranging from New Zealand painter Tony de Lautour to international artists George Condo, Dawn Mellor and Lisa Yuskavage.  Each of these artists produces slightly off-putting, eerie artworks that unsettle the viewer in their reinterpretation of established symbols and compositions.  Perhaps it is this uneasy vibe which has led Hellendoorn to presently explore the process of sampling and constructing paintings from found images located in books, photographs and the internet.  Within these images Hellendoorn creates compositions which incorporate his own painted language, creating a confrontation between the original meaning of the found images and their new context.  As a result, the paintings themselves as objects/surfaces become meaningless and it is up to the viewer to imbue the paintings with meaning, which will inevitably change over time with its audience and its context.  Hellendoorn has maintained an interest in involving the viewer in the interpretation and development of meaning in his artworks throughout his artistic career, and encourages spectators to form their understanding using their own associations to colour, shape, subject and context.  This is particularly pertinent to Each Working Head Imprisons the Legitimate as the artist hopes the image will instigate viewers to start questioning where the human form ends as he believes it is incredibly fluid.

Next up for Arie is a solo exhibition at Suite gallery in Wellington later this year, as well as participation in the group show Never Mind the Pollocks at St Paul St Gallery Three.  You can visit Arie’s website here: www.ariehellendoorn.com

Shelley Simpson

Author: Sophie Keyse

  

“I am interested in how this new form of communicating and connecting affects our emotional relationships with others..."

 Shelley Simpson’s latest solo exhibition Like-Comment-Share (at CEAC until April 15th) features 34 paintings (ink and resin on board) as well as an interactive computer-based application and postcards for visitors to send.  In these paintings Simpson is describing the social networks we build in the digital realm: “I am interested in how this new form of communicating and connecting affects our emotional relationships with others - does the digital environment enhance or restrict our communication? Are we closer to each other or more distant? Are our communications more real or less real? Are we expanding or narrowing our lives?”  The paintings are three specific shapes - an oval, a capsule, and a circle that is divided in half. The split circle represents the brain; the two hemispheres of the earth; and the earthly and ethereal/heavenly realms (and asks where the internet resides).  The oval references map-making, specifically the expanded oval showing the globe in one space, whereas the capsule shape introduces the question of whether we are ‘self-medicating’ by using social media. Are we using it to fill a void within ourselves, and does it work?  In addition the range of shapes can all be read as medication. “Many millions of people use social networking like Facebook on a daily basis.  Like – Comment – Share raises the question of what we want from social networking and whether we get it.”

As demonstrated by her latest exhibition, Simpson is specifically influenced by science and scientific developments, especially the relationship between science and our perception of ourselves as humans. When asked which artists she finds particularly influential, Simpson rattles off numerous individuals who work in a variety of media, such as data visualiser David McCandless; expressive painters like Max Gimblett and Judy Millar; sculptors like Louise Bourgeois; video artists like Jed Town, Greta Anderson, Bruce Nauman; photographers like Ann Shelton and Nan Golden; as well as  installation artists like Yayoi Kusama.  However, her favourite artist at the moment is Roland Flexner, a French artist based in New York City. Manipulating ink and graphite – such as blowing ink bubbles  onto paper through a specially made straw to drop instant circular artworks, Simpson primarily loves how Flexner is a “master of his medium – but part of that mastery is allowing the material to behave in its own uncontrolled way”. 

While not formally trained in the visual arts, Simpson holds a BA in History and has attended several art courses in New York and Auckland, and was most recently a participant in the AMP year-long mentoring programme hosted at CEAC and led by Anne-Sophie Adelys and Andrew Tolhurst.  Her range of media is not limited to painting, having created several video projects in the past including the interactive work Subduction at ARTSPACE in Auckland.  This was a submersive interactive experience where users played a midi keyboard which triggered projected video and audio.  At one end of the keyboard the video samples were all natural, while at the other the samples were all based on technology. This work was also produced as a video and was included in the 1998 NZ Film Festival in the Moving Image Centre Short Cuts programme.

Screen shot of layered video projection, Subduction

Interaction appears to be a key element of Simpson’s art practice, having collaborated at Artstation with Esther Lamb for the project Hoopla!.  Funded by Creative Communities, Hoopla! Invited participants to complete a circular, textile-based artwork in a wooden hoop. The hoops were displayed on the walls of the gallery and then returned to the maker at the end of the show.

                  Class being held in the gallery space while Hoopla! was in progress

You can check out Simpson’s work in Gallery 36’s upcoming group show 4 Years On at Pearce Gallery, April 4^th – 8^th 2012.  She is also working on completing a number of private commissions as well as developing a new series of paintings that take her current technique in a different, more personal direction.

In April: Upcoming exhibitions

3 Artists explore nostalgia and memory

Auckland-based artists Anne-Sophie Adelys, Vaimoana Eves and Harvey Benge, will present solo exhibitions exploring nostalgia and memory at Corban Estate Arts Centre from 20 April – 27 May.

These three exhibitions use disparate materials to stimulate emotions in the viewer related to the past and reminiscence.

Re-Collection by Anne-Sophie Adelys references kitsch and contemporary styles to incite visual triggers in the spectator by clustering together an assemblage of items from or inspired by the mid-20th century.  Adelys investigates the feeling of nostalgia and how such a relationship develops between the viewer and an object.
Vaimoana Eves’ exhibition Play Space involves interactive soft sculptures which act as a vehicle for exploration.  The child-like, playful, yet disturbingly sensuous objects trigger common personal narratives and memories in the visitor.  Visitors will be invited to interact directly with the sculptures and consider their instinctive responses to the activity.

Harvey Benge’s series Against Forgetting sees the camera artist return to his childhood home in Auckland’s Mt Roskill and look at his past through the lens of the present.  Benge’s exhibition incorporates objects found on his expeditions through the neighbourhood of his youth as well as old photographs to illustrate his nostalgic journey.

A range of public programmes will accompany these exhibitions. Please see our website for further details: www.ceac.org.nz.

  

Andrew Blythe

By Sophie Keyse and Erwin van Asbeck

Andrew Blythe is a gifted self-taught artist whose arresting, rhythmic paintings possess a raw and deeply moving beauty. Over the last few years this gifted artist’s practice has been prodigious.

Andrew is not inclined to label or title his paintings, but rather for them to be seen as an ongoing dialogue of “free expression and abstract figurative composition, to be enjoyed… I am an empty vessel when I paint.”  Much like the abstract expressionists of the mid-20^th century, Blythe views the paint brush as a tool to communicate his innermost thoughts and feelings, with each stroke a cathartic expression. The all-over compositions that Blythe creates also align him with painters like Jackson Pollock, with their lack of central focus and proliferation of paint over the picture plane. Using predominantly acrylic paint for its ease of application; Blythe typically paints on paper to enable constant repetition and a pushing and pulling of ideas. 

His present exhibition at Corban Estate Arts Centre focuses on his monochrome works and the use of pattern to create optically challenging artworks.  The repetition of the ‘x’ and the word ‘no’ attribute a rather nihilistic element to the works, however one should approach Blythe’s paintings with an open-mind and attempt to interpret them without the inevitable connotations of such loaded symbols/words.  Furthermore, the saturation of the picture planes with these marks almost serves to drain them of their significance and operate on a level independent from traditional interpretation.

Since 2000 his passion for painting has been supported by Toi Ora Live Art Trust, a community arts centre providing studio space and tuition for people who have experienced mental illness. Andrew has been exhibiting his works over the last ten years.

Andrew is also showing at Darren Knight Gallery in Sydney and has work in a group show at Roar Gallery in Wellington.

Andrew Blythe's artwork will be on exhibition at CEAC Gallery until 15 April.

2012 Open Studio Weekend
Arts are alive and happening at Corban Estate Arts Centre!

Open Studio weekend provides two days of free entertainment, exciting events and engaging activities. We have put together a full programme of activities around different arts expressions that visitors can enjoy over the weekend in one place.

The programme features on-going performance presentations that include both established artists and young performers groups. Some of the performance companies that will share the stage are Atamira, a professional contemporary dance company; Phoenix, a company that uses the performing arts to teach young people through their shared stories; Mixit, a youth arts project that brings refugees together with local and migrant youth; Interacting, a disability arts theatre company that helps to develop the potential and capabilities of disabled people and Kelston Kweens, a sisterhood of like-minded Fa'afafine/Transgender and Gay performers. There will also be Flamenco music and dance. MC for the day is the vibrant and entertaining, Mema Maeli.

On-site ceramic, painting, sculpture, and printmaking artists will showcase their skills and invite people to visit their studios and see their works. There will also be free drop-in workshops where people can create their own printmaking, graffiti on vinyl and junk and pre-loved books sculptures while learning different media and techniques.

Arts exhibitions will be held in multiple locations including Neighbourhood group exhibition, artists’ exhibitions in the CEAC gallery, the Waitakere Central Community Arts Council members’ exhibition at Old St. Michael’s Church, and a collection of art from senior Waitakere College students. There will also be exhibitions from renowned artists such as Bro’town illustrator Maka Makatoa, award winner weaver artist Matafetu Smith, painting and dry media artist Valerie White and glass artist Susan Brogan.

This weekend will also include live demonstrations from TMD (The Most Dedicated) renowned graffiti art crew and Pacific crafting the Pacifica Arts Centre. People can purchase art and craft pieces from our gallery shop or artists’ studios and enjoy organic café at Coffee Studio.

Date: 24 & 25 March, 2012
Time: 10 am – 4 pmVenue: Corban Estate Arts Centre. 426 Great North Rd., Henderson. Waitakere City. Intersection of Great North Rd., Lincoln and Swanson Rd. (Free entry and parking)

We have prepared a full programme of events and activities over the weekend available on our website: www.ceac.org.nz. We would love to see you there!

Love is in the air...

At Corban Estate Arts Centre we believe in love!

That’s why Valentine’s Day has inspired us to invite our friend, New Zealand award winning writer & performer, Courtney Meredith to share this lovely poem with you. Enjoy!

Wolf menuet

Courtney Sina Meredith

Pecking my palms blue

stolen swallow cowers

in sleep I form us both

cotton mouth mud heart

Christ peers rose mesh

my arms fold my love. 

Can you hear that town?

burnt cars tall men fallen

firework hills marching

cinematic balloon launch

my arms unfold my love

your body is open country.

I walk the platinum lake

throwing rice to saints

eyes on me are so white

no love can love enough.

About Courtney 

Courtney Meredith

Courtney Meredith was born in 1986, she has a degree in English and Political Studies from the University of Auckland, where she also studied Law and co-edited Spectrum 5.  She was the writer in residence for the LiteraturRaum Bleibtreu Berlin 2011. Courtney was the first New Zealander, the first Pacific person and the youngest artist to be selected. While in Germany, she featured in Mau Theatre’s world Premiere of Le Savali.
She describes her works as an on-going discussion of contemporary urban life with an underlying Pacific politique. Courtney has been published within Mauri Ola, Pulp, the New Zealand Herald, Landfall, Colorado’s Amphibi.us and more. She has forthcoming publications in Berlin and Indonesia. Her first play Rushing Dolls won the Aotearoa Pasifika Play Competition 2010, and two Adam NZ Play Awards including Best Play by a woman playwright and Runner-up overall. Her realisation of ‘Rushing Dolls’ seeks to artistically represent a new breed of Pacific and Maori women, actively engaged with their dreams.

Courtney will tour Indonesia in April for the Puisi International Poetry Festival. She is of Samoan, Mangaian and Irish descent.

Valentine's Day at Corban Estate

At Corban Estate Arts Centre Love is in the air!
Celebrate love on Valentine's day! Find exclusive pieces of art from New Zealand artists & gift vouchers for $10, $20 and $50 in our gallery shop. There are lots of great artistic and creative ideas you can give your loved one on this special day!

Emeralds & Greenstone, a blend of Maori-Celtic music

Emeralds & Greenstone, a Christchurch folk fusion group, will delight Auckland’s audience with captivating compositions of Maori and Celtic music.

"Ethereal...a spellbinding re-working of traditional songs along with their own contemporary offerings...they ooze character, cross-cultural credentials, multi-lingualism and instrumentalism... colourful songs and tunes which transport, enthral and inspire" - The Garden Sessions (UK).

Emerging from Christchurch’s heart, the indigi-folk band ‘Emeralds & Greenstone’ blends the essence of Maori and Celtic music styles. Their songs are full of powerful lyrics and inspiring stories written in English, Maori, and Scots Gaelic. Traditional music fusions with contemporary songwriting voices coloured with jazz, blues and pop. ‘Emeralds & Greenstone’ allures the senses by creating a unique evocative experience that evolves from their exploration of Maori and Celtic musical instruments.

‘Emeralds & Greenstone’s’ line-up includes: Ariana Tikao (vocals, taonga puoro/Maori instruments, dulcimer); Laura Tomlin (vocals, keyboard, tinwhistle, flute); Argène Montgomery-Hönger (bodhràn, tinwhistle, ukulele, vocals); Jon Hooker (guitars, ukulele); James Wilkinson* (guitar, bass, vocals). They have played a wide range of festivals in New Zealand including the Auckland Folk Festival (2011 & 2010), Christchurch Waitangi Day Celebrations at the Christchurch Art Gallery (2011), the Montana Christchurch International Jazz Festival, Garden City Summer Times, Waipara Wine & Food Festival, Dunedin Celtic Arts Festival, Festival of Flowers, the James Hay Theatre and the Aurora Centre for Performing Arts, and sellout shows at the Great Hall, Christchurch Arts Centre, the Harbour Light Theatre and The Loons.

As part of their 2012 tour around New Zealand, ‘Emeralds & Greenstone’ will delight Auckland’s audience in a fascinating concert at the Old St. Michael’s Church at Corban Estate Arts Centre. The concert will take place on 18 February from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. (Ticket $15 per person). Prior to the concert, the band will be facilitating a Maori-Celtic singing workshop for adults, where participants will learn the art of combining the sounds of two strong cultures to create original music. (Fee $ 20 per person).

There is limited seating so reservations are advised. Phone Corban Estate Arts Centre 838 4455 or email info@ceac.org.nz to reserve seats. Unreserved tickets will be on sale at the door before the event.

*Due to unforeseen circumstance, James Wilkinson will not be performing in this concert.

Emeralds & Greenstone Music:

http://www.emeraldsandgreenstone.com/music.cfm

Emeralds& Greenstone Live Performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDFhVwFKTRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y9z8za1Nu4

Christmas Shopping Night

CEAC’s Christmas Shopping Night is back this Thursday 8 December from 6pm! Opening in conjunction with the Annual Affordable Art and Recent Graduates Exhibitions, we will be having 15% off everything in the gallery shop for one night only.


The Corban Estate Arts Centre Gallery Shop is open daily from 10am – 4.30pm and features beautiful handmade artworks and crafts for sale by emerging and established artists. We stock a range of cards and publications, ceramics, jewellery, glass, craft, textiles, prints and t-shirts.

A selection of work can be viewed on our website and we are happy to gift wrap and post items to you. If you are unable to make the Christmas Shopping night, mention this offer and receive 10% off any product for the whole of December in the gallery shop excluding gift vouchers

 
CORBAN ESTATE ARTS CENTRE 426 Great North Road (Entrance off Mt Lebanon Lane) Henderson www.ceac.org.nz Phone 838 4455

Summer School 2012 interview series: Rick Rudd

Kyla Mackenzie interviews award winning studio potter Rick Rudd in the lead-up to his Summer School class Hand Built Pottary in January 2012. Click here for a full description of Rick’s class & enrolment details.

KM: You trained in England and have, since arriving here in 1973, exhibited extensively here and overseas and have featured in many publications.  

Given your extensive experience as a pottery tutor,  having taught since 1981 – what do you look forward to with the upcoming course at Corban Estate Art Centre?


RR: I really enjoy the concentration necessary of shorter courses, the level of focus required, the adrenalin...  I want the students to milk me for as much information as possible...In fact, I'll know I haven't done a good job if I'm not drained at the end of the course!


KM: What do you enjoy most about teaching others? 


RR: It is very satisfying engaging with different personalities and adapting to different needs at each course.  Are they novice or  experienced?  It doesn't matter.  The challenge of each situation keeps tutoring fresh for me as each atmosphere is new and I therefore demonstrate in a different way.


KM: Do you gain perspective on your own work while teaching?


RR: While I like working on my own, you always gain ideas during workshops – they can really spark things off for me.  


KM: Over the course of 5 days, you'll be teaching students your techniques of pinching and coiling.  What will the students gain from these methods?


RR: Any shape is possible with this process – you can have very rounded forms to the very angular; they can look 'thrown' or look 'slab built'. A great advantage is that the forms don't have structural weaknesses – and that the method allows large scale objects to be made – building up from the bottom.  


KM: I understand that as a young student, you discovered your facility with clay despite being enrolled on a textiles course?


RR: I discovered I don't think in 2D during my Textiles course...After 2 or 3 months I went downstairs to the pottery class one evening and worked with clay for the first time.  I finally twigged.  'Clay was the Way'.  Therefore, while I had hated life drawing, I later loved making torsos out of clay.


Later when working with clay, I resorted to doing 'working' drawings after the objects were done – which was probably obvious to the tutors!

KM: Were there other moments or experiences that helped you along the way?


RR: I developed an appreciation for the Oriental aesthetic.  However, it took two trips in 1995 and 1997 to Japan for the penny to really drop. I marvelled at the pottery tradition in Japan and Japanese aesthetic, ...their talents and importance.  


In fact I have a large collection of Japanese drinking vessels  - I loaned them to Objectspace recently – 100 works collected over several years.  


KM: Were there individual practitioners who inspired you along the way?


RR: There were two strands of influence for me – the Modernist was one - Lucie Rie, a Viennese potter who left Nazi Germany to live in London, and Hans Coper who she mentored and then worked alongside, were my gods.  Function informed the shapes, but the resulting object was very much an aesthetic object.  The sculpture of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth was also very formative.  I went down to London to a wonderful Henry Moore exhibition when I was still living in England. 


The other strand was represented by the domesticware of important British studio potter Bernard Leach who launched an Anglo/Japanese tradition with Japanese potter Hamada.  

Rustic simplicity was key.  


KM: And now?  


RR: I've been around so long, it's now a matter of my own work influencing me.  I go back and forwards – returning to ideas and re-developing forms in different directions.  


KM: Does function play much of a role as opposed to aesthetic considerations in your work?


RR: The teapot, for example, is an easy entry point for people.  They know what a teapot is.  A teapot of mine doesn't pour and well, it's impossible to get a teabag in... For me, it's all about form.  


KM: Your works that I saw recently are suggestively figurative, lively and playful – what are some of your visual stimuli?


RR: People see all sorts of things in my work.  It's just a form but that's ok.  People even see mountains... I never put titles on my pieces.  The shapes, line and form are suggestive of anthroporphism at times.


KM: What are your thoughts on pottery today? 


RR: There are fewer full-time potters.  Many of the existing potters went off and got 'real jobs' when cheap imports came in in the 1980s.  The 70's was the heyday – anyone could make pottery and sell it.  Now there is a discerning public and that's good.  It's healthy not to have an oversupply and more important to get quality.  


Now you get more part-time potters – who I would not call hobbyists – they are often just as professional as the full-time potters.  


KM: Why do you prefer to be called a studio potter rather than ceramicist?


RR: In the 1980s, you could go and do 'hobby ceramics' – and someone else would fire your pieces.  It was somewhat 'by numbers'.  To me, 'ceramicist', still smacks of that scenario.


The 'studio potter' makes one-off pieces so I use that description.  


KM: What are your thoughts on the status of New Zealand pottery/ceramics?  


RR: I think we punch above our weight, given our population size.  These days influence and ideas can go round the world in 5 seconds with the internet.  We're not so isolated any more.  
It never worries me when people copy or take ideas from my work.  Everyone's got to start somewhere in order to move onto something else...