Projectspace

Christmas Shopping Night

2011-12-06T11:34:00.001+13:00

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

2011-10-26T12:40:00.002+13:00

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...

Summer School 2012 interview series: Beck Wheeler

2011-10-26T11:34:00.002+13:00

“I think art and play should be the same thing.”

CEAC staff member Kyla Mackenzie interviews Beck Wheeler in the lead-up to her Mixed Media Summer School class in January 2012. Click here for a full description of Beck’s class & enrolment details.

KM: Beck, in 2008 you were named one of Australia’s Top Ten Creative’s by Design Quarterly, you exhibit internationally (Japan, UK, USA, Australia, Spain and New Zealand) and now back in West Auckland, New Zealand, you are offering an exciting workshop at our 2012 Summer School:

Did you ever dream you could have a career using your imagination and immense sense of play?

BW: I always wanted to be an artist, but when I was younger I didn't know how to become an artist. I thought it might be something that just magically happened.

I got stuck in art school for awhile. I found art school quite conservative, instead of inspired I felt very confined. At art school if you weren't doing minimalist text based paintings or conceptual installation you failed.

It took me a few years away from art school before I started to embrace my creativity again. I looked at the things I collected and the things I loved for inspiration. I learnt to paint in every medium available, I learnt ceramics, textiles and a variety of sculptural techniques. I allowed myself to play and make mistakes. And then 10 years later I realised I was making a living full time as an artist.

KM: Your course offers the student the creative environment in which to create visual narratives using paint and found objects: how will you guide the class to mine their personal memories for this purpose?

BW: Our minds are a great big filing cabinet filled with our memories and experiences. Maybe you want to do an artwork about a childhood memory, or maybe you want to do an artwork about your morning walk to the dairy.

I think art is about being honest with yourself. What excites you about art/life, might not excite someone else. There are no right and wrong answers, its very personal.

Everyone has things they have collected, things they love, colours they are drawn to.
I think the key to keeping creativity alive is to identify the things that excite you. Then not to judge these things as being either good, bad or ugly.

KM: What should they bring?

BW: You will need to bring in the materials on the materials list, which includes acrylic paint and brushes. Additional materials to bring in will be discussed on the first day of the course. This might be reference material, family photos, paper for collage, or objects that you want to work with. We will be working predominately with acrylic paint, however we will discuss how to work in mixed media. A limited amount of inks and watercolours will be available to experiment with. If you have your own watercolours or inks you are welcome to bring them in.

KM: What are some of the sorts of found objects you yourself have found evocative in your own works?

BW: I am drawn to domestic objects. I use old kitchen utensils, broken childrens toys and all sorts of random odds and ends. I work mainly in wood and plastic.

KM: You provide some understanding of colour theory in the workshop – what are some of the emotional resonances and perceptual effects that you find particularly compelling?

BW: In my own work I try to use the brightest colours I can find. I will use one bright colour and then I will find or make its opposite (relating to the colour wheel). I am inspired by how you can create harmony in an artwork through the use of opposing/complementary colours. Even when you are using a very colourful palette you can still create harmony and balance.

Colour also has the ability to communicate without words. I love how passionate people get about a colour, or a palette of colours. If you want to see how passionately geeky you can get about colour palettes then head to www.colourlovers.com This website is where people can go to upload their favourite colour combinations it has 1,815,625 different colour combos uploaded so far.

KM: What textures and colours from your own childhood memory have informed your own work?

BW: I was bought up in the late 1970's and a lot of my childhood books and toys were in citrus greens and oranges with splashes of hot pink and muted shades of blues and browns. I am definitely drawn instinctively to using a similar colour palette in my work.

The textures and patterns I use developed as I experience different cultures and environments. I use a lot of textures from the bush since moving to Piha, but when I was living in the city I tended to use more geometric forms.

KM: Childhood or references to are often delightfully universal in much of your own work: do you think we should actively embrace ‘the child’ within?

BW: I think childhood themes are popular because they remind us of a time when it was okay to play. In play there is no right or wrong. But as we grow older we start to analyse everything in terms of being right/wrong good/bad and we lose the freedom of play.

I think art should embrace play. I think art and play should be the same thing.

KM: How important is play, fun and beauty for our mental health?

BW: I think play and fun are very important to our mental state.

KM: Who are some of the artists who have inspired your art and philosophy along the way?

BW: Edward Gorey, Jon Pylypchuk, Quentin Blake, Chris Ware, Winsor McCay, Shaun Tan, William Morris, Richard Kearney, Bosch, Brian Boyd

KM: What do you look forward to most about your upcoming Summer School workshop?

BW: Sharing knowledge: I am passionate about art materials and using traditional painting techniques in a contemporary way.

Empowering creativity: I think everybody is creative, but we just get trained out of it as we grow older. I think it is important to get the creative juices flowing.

Tabatha Forbes

2011-10-25T16:32:00.001+13:00

I don’t know your name (but I’ll call you…)

The series title: I don’t know your name (but I’ll call you...) refers to the early processes of naming / identification and the need to categorise and label in order to perceive the value / place of the specimen (flora or fauna). The weeds or unintentional plants of this place, are given placement and value in their documentation, painted and preserved on the original fruit crates, which like many of the plants here no longer have any human use.

Prior to this series, I have actively sought to identify plant species using botanical and local / Maori names. In this series despite the inclusion of some obvious species (.i.e. dandelion) the names have been removed as if the plant is being newly claimed / discovered. The result is an expression of our confused understanding ; a last minute attempt to appreciate and consider, to place, value and in a sense, take a fresh responsibility for.

Each plant is renamed to include forbesii, based on a typical c18th dedication to the botanist/naturalist who originally ‘discovered’ the plant. In this case I have walked around the site to collect my plants, renaming and reclaiming them for the purpose of my work.

Their representation is faded; a constructed history reminiscent of the original function of the boxes and the original status of the ‘exotic’ introduced plant long since fallen from grace and demoted to ‘weed’.

More obviously, the collection of weeds and crates refers directly to how we perceive waste, and what constitutes as value.

Written by Tabatha Forbes for I don't know your name (but I'll call you...) on show at the Corban Estate Arts Centre until the 4th of December.

Summer School 2012 interview series: Anna Browne

2011-10-12T16:13:00.000+13:00

CEAC staff member Kyla Mackenzie interviews Anna Browne in the lead-up to her Summer School class Material Effects in January 2012. Click here for a full description of Anna’s class & enrolment details.

Anna Browne

KM: In what way have some of your own works paid some sort of homage to your own family history and or domestic arts in that history?

AB: My own work does not directly comment on domestic arts in a post-modern, self conscious sense. Instead I see my work as a continuation of the crafting skills family members have/had. I have vivid memories of my maternal grandparents using wool (knitting and rug making). My mother taught me to sew and crochet. Craft techniques interest me as a mode of physically producing art work.

KM: When did you first get inspired by the concept of re-purposing/recycling/up-cycling secondhand or vintage fabric?

AB: Two things inspired me: My love of textiles and necessity (lack of money!). At secondary school a friend and I used to remake or modify clothes bought from the Sallies. At the time there were a lot of beautiful dresses from the 50's and 60's in the second hand shops. I also remember making a beanbag out of old school jerseys. I'm keen to make that sort of thing in the Summer School Class.

Remnant Wool Cushion

Woven Blanket

KM: What do you think the trend towards re-using existing materials says about society today?

AB: Hopefully it means a growing awareness of the finite nature of resources on Earth. Re-using materials is something humans have always done - a majority of societies in the world still do. In the west our prodigal use of 'consumable' items is predicated on cheap labour and commodities. A consequence of being removed from the production of goods is our ignorance of the toil and resources that go into making them.

KM: Is the intersection between ‘craft’ and ‘art’ an interesting one to navigate, for you?

AB: I don't see art and craft as two poles on some sort of a spectrum - perhaps they once were? They are intertwined, particularly at the moment with the current popularity for 'craft-based' artwork. Just because something has an assigned function doesn't mean it's without 'art-content', and vice versa. Many pieces of art are carefully crafted.
Looking at this issue in a political way (high-brow art vs. low-brow craft) is not an issue for me personally.

Jersey Pouffe

KM: What are your thoughts on the feminine history associated with 'home-craft'?

AB: It's easy to forget how limited the choices were for many women, even forty years ago. Home-crafting wasn't just about thrift, but an important way for women to express themselves, to personalise house-hold items and clothes etc. Home-crafts can also have broader significance. I'm very interested in the history of quilt making; the stories they tell, the evolution of the patterns and the social roles they played. The quilts from Gee's Bend, or Durham Quilts are wonderful examples of this.

Living the Arts: The Fabulous Five Go Teach

2011-10-05T10:51:00.002+13:00

The typicalworking week; longing for Friday and dreading Monday, was never an option forfive creative, resourceful women; Claire Inwood, Kelly King, Anna Browne, Kaz Bosand Pamela Wolfe. A bread-maker (caterer and doll-maker), traditionalweaver, textiles artist, jeweller and painter, their lives, livelihoods andinterests, are combined.

All the women practice skills traditionally associatedwith the ‘feminine arts’. How may thesearts be reviewed afresh? It is up to theindividual. At Corban Estate Art Centre’s Livingthe Arts, from Sat5 – Sun 6 November, participants will be inspired and empowered by theskills and philosophy these tutors have to share. A collectiveenterprise, Living the Arts, is an opportunity to relax in a creativeand companionable atmosphere; a welcome break from the routine and pace of theweek.

Claire Inwood

ClaireInwood, a caterer, bread-maker and doll- maker, combines passion andindustry. For her, enjoyment and beauty should be intrinsic to life. Shehad an epiphany years ago when gazing at a collection of Native Americanartefacts, when it occurred to her that everything they used was intended to bebeautiful irrespective of function. Foodshould also be visually appealing, she feels. Furthermore, the enjoyment to behad from making, giving and receiving tried and true traditional recipes likeItalian ciabatta, is something she looks forward to sharing. A popular caterer,she has successfully combined activities that bring her and others pleasure,and her The Art of Breadmaking is sure to do the same.

For many, cell-phone and internet are the life blood of working life. For Kelly King, however, her life as a weaving instructor extraordinaire is so absorbing her cell-phone often lies forlorn at home. Her abilities and dedication to the art of Maori weaving is such that she featured in the important exhibition The Eternal Thread (2003) which honoured the tradition and its innovations over time. King’s work-shop Raranga Harakeke allows the beginner to acquire sustainable harvesting skills and the construction of storage vessels. This then, is an easy introduction to a technology that is rich with potential as a stand-alone art-form as King’s own exhibited works attest to.

Anna Browne, who was “always asewer” has a long-standing background in textile design and its use in interiordesign. The last decade of exhibitinghas seen her employ the concept of fabric as a powerful medium for artistic andpersonal expression, fusing life and art together. “I hope to makepeople more aware of the significance of textiles, [as they] are with us all our lives and are imbued withmeaning. Browne says, that with this inmind, the class by ‘re-purposing’ vintage fabrics will work, on their secondday, on “…abiographical piece…- making lives into art”. Her life, art and teaching reflect ashift towards ecological thinking, locally and globally.

'Mound' Anna Browne

She says;

The 'domestic arts' are very fashionableat the moment (the online/etsy.com phenomenon, craft fares etc) and thereare many forums and outlets for this sort of work. But … courses like these atCEAC are a great way of networking and drawing inspiration from others.

Thetransformation of materials into treasures was a desire obvious in Browne froman early age – a clear indicator was her girlhood wonder at the fairytale ofRumpelstiltskin and the spinning of straw into gold. Ultimately,Browne is hopeful that Livingthe Arts mayhelp people to alter and sharpen their vision and their perspective on life: to“…become more sensitive or mindful of 'the art' in everyday activities and beopen to creative possibilities.”

The drive to be resourceful was alsoa natural impulse for Kaz Bos. LikeBrowne, she was inspired by stories as a girl such as the quilted coat madefrom beautiful scraps for Joseph in the bible. Bos, an all-round ‘crafty’ artisan, whospecializes in jewellery, came from a very practical family where manual skillswere a given. Her mother was aleather-worker and her father, a thrifty Dutchman with impeccable carpentryskills, instilled a strong ‘waste-not-want-not’, ‘do it yourself’ ethos in hisdaughter.

Fabric necklace Kaz Bos

Recycling –reusing – has been me since forever; this is partly from mythrifty up-bringing. I fix everything,cut down old knitted jumpers and re-fashion them, and make cushions out ofvintage ties... Broken jewellery pieces,buttons, beads, vintage fabric, old family necklaces… these things I recycle for people intosomething they can treasure and wear or use. Anything you do with your hands in this way is a gift of love, time andeffort…

Perhaps unusually, it was a strangerwho grudgingly taught her how to crochet. This stranger at a retirement village was a “crusty old bat…who Iremember distinctly as I sat behind her …”. Intent on a gripping episode of Coronation Street, her hands busy withcrochet, the attentions of an avid 10 year old were reluctantly received. Nonetheless, this was the young Kaz’s first‘instruction’ on handicraft.

Flour,flax, old textiles and broken jewellery are turned into ‘gold’, no less thanthe raw material of paint. Pamela Wolfeemploys paint, brush and sheer hard work. Her visual catalyst is the blooming lifeimmediately surrounding her house and home – the flowers in her garden. Themuscularity of her flowers projecting from dark backgrounds encourages theviewer and student to consider the still life genre in new ways. Thestill life genre was a tradition that, by the 19^th century, was associatedwith ladylike accomplishment. A ‘lady painter’, she is not, any more so, she says,than painter of colourful gardens, Karl Maughan…

Pamela Wolfe 'Inseminator' 2010

Oil on canvas

Pamela Wolfebegan painting from home when she had her first child. The flexibility of the hours; “…you can choose yourown hours”, and the companionship of her husband, art writer, Richard Wolfe,are two great benefits for this full-time artist. She notes the potentialisolation of the studio; “Loneliness can be a problem forthe self- employed, so having someone to talk to and have a coffee with makes all the difference.”

Pamela Wolf

Pamelaalso cuts through certain popular notions about art as a career, citing thecommon message in Richard Wolfe’s recent book ‘Artists at Work’, whichaddresses a misconception:

That anyone can do it. It takes a lot of time and hard work, sometimes with little reward, butyou do it because you are driven, and can't imagine your life without it. It really takes an obsessive nature, and great determination. It is not aboutmoney, it’s about ideas and idealism.

Likewise, her new tutoring role isabout “giving back to the community”. Wolfe says the idea took root in her mind and she thought, ‘Yes! [It’s]my time to take on a new challenge’.

For all the women heading the Living the Arts workshops their arts and interests have become their living. None of them can imagine their lives without them. Living the Arts is an opportunity to acquire the skills to enhance life. The power to transform using ones hands in an accomplished way is both restorative and satisfying for the creator and equally meaningful for the viewer or receiver.

Kyla Mackenzie

Summer School 2012 Interview Series: Alexis Neal on print-making and teaching

2011-09-21T16:05:00.001+12:00

Alexis

CEAC staff member Kyla Mackenzie interviews Alexis Neal in the lead-up toher Summer School class ‘Te Mata Kia Mahi ‘To Work the Surface’ in January 2012.Click here for a fulldescription of Alexis’s class & enrolment details.

KM: I think Ifirst saw your printmaking in the 1990s when you were producing beautiful,mysterious mezzotints of taonga – at that stage you had left Elam SFA and werestudying at the Slade School of Art in London. In what ways did being sofar from home affect your print-making practice and perspective on yourself?

AN: I felt I needed to go and see thingsfrom another perspective to explore another side of my Identity and myplacement within that context. And I achieved that, I come back a lot moreconfident in my ideas and had a better understanding or over sight of where myposition could be developed.

KM: Do youthink there are still misconceptions about the medium of printmaking? Theword alone is often confused with straight reproductions.

AN: Unfortunatelyin New Zealand we are consistently defending Print and to educate the public isnot an easy thing. The diversity of the medium and its layers is verytechnically demanding and challenging just for the artist alone, let alone theaverage person to understand the process. So yes the conversation betweenlimited edition print verses reproduction is a difficult one. And it’s value.

KM: How hastutoring over the years affected your perspective on your own work – if at all?

AN: I have reallyenjoyed the teaching aspect as I love to share knowledge and its reallyrewarding when you see your students achieve their goals. It certainly hasinformed my practice and made me look at aspects of my own work, the directionsI have gone through and the surfaces I have been creating.

'Exchange for a musket'

KM: You’ve gotfour days to get students into creating their own imagery: what do you enjoyabout teaching others?

AN: Introducingstudents to new ways of working, asking them to consider layers and how theybuild those layers. Being resourceful with found materials, how they could usethem within their work and just to experiment.

KM: How shouldor can students generate ideas? A work-book?

AN: A work book is great as itis a place where we can develop our thoughts and working drawings, a place tostore research in a particular area and a place to revisit later on. My self mystudio wall has become that work book. But honestly I say to my studentssometimes we need to work through the process to understand our ideas. Makingmistakes, learning what doesn’t work and what does.

KM: What kindsof materials can add to the rich layering possible in printmaking?

AN: Re- cycledmaterials like fabrics, organic surfaces, anything that can give you an impression.Multiply printing using a number of plates inked up and printed on top of eachother creating constructed compositions. Chine Colle to collage or to add thinwasi Japanese paper can enhance areas of imagery.

KM: Whatqualities do you think are particular to printmaking as opposed to painting?

AN: Firstly theyare very different applications and processes, both giving very differenteffects. The surface quality, the subtly of constructed line and tone and thematerials used on works on paper sits very different than paint on paper. Theprint allowing us the multiply, and the painting, the original.

KM: Alexis,you’ve claimed elsewhere that printmaking and its processes appealed to anorganized, methodical person such as yourself. Is there a balance to befound and encouraged between the method, procedure and the happy accidentsalong the way?

AN: I thinkyou’re either attracted to print or not, for me I enjoy the technical layers asit allows me to develop my ideas through the process. And that unknown happyaccident draws me in even more to discover ‘what if’?

KM: Howdoes one incorporate playfulness and spontaneity with the discipline of makingeditions of the same (consistent) image?

AN: Well theedition is there to be challenged, but there is something quite rewarding whenyou have spent a lot of time working on plates, creating your relief layers andworking out the order of what layers are going down first is where you start tosee the work take shape. There’s a technique in getting things consistent. Andto really answer your question, it’s in the mark making and the above surfacesthat keep it playful and fresh.

KM: What do you find each process within printmaking offers to your ownpractice and development? For example, a mysterious quality with the darkmedium of mezzotint

AN: There hasbeen a continuous area of research and investigation made so far in my careerand sometimes print isn’t the best medium for my ideas. But print is thebackbone of my practice and it informs everything else that I do. I see printas my working drawings, but those drawings have been made on plates allowing meto manipulate in any way, giving me options. But I have chosen certain printprocesses because I am seduced by the velvety black of a mezzotint, I amseduced by the layers I can create through woven surfaces and the endlesspossibilities of what if.

KM: Whatelements do you feel make a picture, regardless of medium, compelling? Meaningfulconcepts or rich allusions for example, or can a work stand on its formalelements alone?

AN: Content isreally important to me and good execution of those ideas. Sometimes we can’talways get it right but if you demand the viewer to look closely at your work Ibelieved it has worked on some level.

KM: What wouldyou like to see in terms of raising the profile for print medium in New Zealand– to receive the same reception and exposure as painting?

AN: Ithink it’s about time that the big gallery institutions start putting printshows together that celebrate how rich print is in New Zealand. We need to showcase celebrity artists working in print through to emerging artists andcommunity based artists all in the some space. I’m in the process of curating aWorks on Paper show at Art Station in October 4^th where I will beinstalling print within a large Poutama wall installation to start thatconversation.

I think also maybe the more established galleriesshould be show casing print more to meet the market and to educate them. We arein a turbulent time where most people can’t afford to buy an original paintingand that’s where print should come in, making it more assessable to the publicto purchase at an affordable price depending on the edition size and who theartist is.

Up close and personal with some of Peter Sauerbiers work…

2011-07-27T16:53:00.007+12:00

Over the next few weeks I will be having a closer look at some of Peter’s work from our current exhibition, Re-Made: the Assembled World of Peter Sauerbier.
First up is the many spouted oversized teapot aptly named Almost Functional. I love this work and the story behind it (see below in Peter’s own words). Personally, it puts me in mind of the Mad Hatters Tea Party or some sort of magical pot used to concoct potions and spells.
If we jump back to real life though, part of the charm of Peter’s work is figuring out what all the pieces are from and where he may have got them.
The brass jardinière’s original use would have been as a plant pot, probably placed outdoors on a porch or in a landscaped garden setting. The legs and top were from two different Edwardian lamps – electric lighting was only just being introduced into homes during the Edwardian period (1901 – 1910) and would also have been limited to those who could afford it so the lamps would have been originally very expensive items. The stylised plant/leaf motifs decorating the brass lid of the pot are Art Nouveau and are likely to have come from a Tiffany style lamp, popular during the Edwardian time period.
My stepfather pointed out to me that the small dangling bell like objects on the bottom are probably curtain weights – he remembers having something similar on the bottom of the curtains in his parents ‘front room’ when he was a child – they were used to keep the curtains from blowing about when the windows were open.
The fabulous clawed feet, from a different, possibly silver plated lamp, are particularly anthropomorphic, making me wonder if Almost Functional has a life of its own… I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes to life at night and has a wander around the gallery, chatting to Peter’s bird sculptures on its way!

Lisa Rogers curator

Almost Functional

1993
Materials: Brass Jardinière (approx 100 year old), Top: Cast iron door knobs, Legs and Top: Part of Edwardian lamp, Hanging: Lid from lamp fittings, Victorian kerosene lamp, pewter coffee pot spouts, gas pipe tubing.

“My favourite place for fossicking among the junk and second hand items is at flea markets. On one occasion I was browsing as usual when I asked an old man what was in a cardboard box he had on his stall. He said “How do I know, have a look for yourself,” so I opened it to discover 14 tea or coffee pot spouts. A find like that absolutely made my day. A few weeks later I saw an old lady setting out her bits and pieces, amongst which I noticed an old brass flower pot. It was really on its way out, so I didn’t take much notice at the time, but a bit later I realised I could use it to make the 14 spouted coffee pot! I went straight back but it seemed to have been sold. Then I saw it in her van and she said that when I had asked the price she had changed her mind about selling such an old family heirloom. It had been in the family for about a century and she couldn’t bear to part with it. However when I told her what I had in mind to do with it I could see the twinkle in her eyes and she said, “It’s all yours.”

Peter Sauerbier

Q &A with New Art Tutor Kathryn Stevens

2011-07-11T14:21:00.009+12:00

Kathryn Stevens

'Pulse', 1200 x 1000mm oil on canvas 2010

Viewfinder at bath st 2008

“Painting ... is just so... open and endless. Painting can be anything that you want it to be."

Kyla Mackenzie interviews CEAC's new tutor Kathryn Stevens in the lead-up to her Adult Art Classes in August. Click HERE for the full class descriptions and enrolment details.

KM: You will be launching a new beginners 6 week art class at Corban Estate Art Centre from 17 August to 21st September; after 10 years of teaching painting and drawing, what are some of things that you enjoy most about teaching others?

KS: The thing I enjoy most is students surprising themselves, both in what they can achieve and in how much fun they can have in the process.

KM: What do you start with first when teaching beginners?

KS: I start very much at the beginning, with building practical drawing skills, learning to really look at whatever it is you are drawing, and gaining trust in your creative process.

KM: You like your students to loosen up and play; what are some of the exercises you teach to allow the creative process to flow?

KS: I think that creative flow is about engaging with painting in a curious way so I like to work on developing that curiosity. To approach painting with a desire to find out ‘what happens if...’

KM: What are the best ways to overcome painter’s or artist’s ‘block’?

KS: New materials or even just a new paint colour can change the game enough to get the ideas going again.

KS: The most important thing though is to just keep showing up and doing the work regardless of, in fact especially, if you have that feeling that you aren’t getting anywhere. Working always generates the inspiration and ideas not the other way around.

KM: Are there other areas of ‘play’ or hobbies that you enjoy?

KS: Making things with my seven year old daughter, cardboard, glue, paint etc...

Learning anything new.

Yoga

Gardening, I like to keep a vege garden and even when I don’t get much time in it I love the fact that it is growing and I can walk out and pick something to add to a meal.

KM: What are some good working habits for artists to learn?

KS: To make time and space for your art making and then just stick to it.

KM: What value do you place on the creative process for a person’s overall happiness?

KS: Being creatively active is normal and essential and benefits us in most areas of our lives. People are usually happier, more stimulated and better to be around when they are creatively engaged.

KM: What was the catalyst or catalysts for your own foray into art making? You began with engineering..., so what made you change tack?

KS: My studying engineering was largely as a result of being directed (at School) in an academic direction, and at that time that was to the exclusion of art. I guess the catalyst for the change was pretty much dissatisfaction and a determination to find my right place.

KM: You’re also a make-up artist for the fashion and advertising worlds – do you find there’s any overlap between the layers of colour and texture that you play with in both fields?

KS: I guess there is but they never seem linked to me. Painting for me is just so much more open and endless. Painting can be anything that you want it to be. Everything about my painting is driven and evolved by me and that makes it ultimately challenging and rewarding.

KM: What are you looking forward to most with this new course at Corban Estate Art Centre?

KS: I just love starting people off on the journey of painting, and showing them that they can do it!

Donna Sarten wins the Fieldays No. 8 Wire National Art Awards 2011

2011-06-20T10:37:00.005+12:00

High art and agricultural products are not things which are normally associated with one another but that is the beauty of the Fieldays No. 8 Wire National Art competition.

No. 8 wire is not easily malleable, it’s a difficult material to work with and it takes months to create a sculpture, but when an artist can create something faced with such complications, you can be sure it’s something spectacular. No. 8 Wire National Art Awards takes the humble kiwi invention and asks artists to put an innovative spin on it.

Judge Carole Shepherd chose Donna Sarten’s work from amongst 14 other finalists; Shepheard said she found ‘Unsolved’ to be beautiful and mesmerizing.
“It is a work that that genuinely stirs the imagination and challenges ones understanding of both art and the law. It is successful in a way that most influential political work is. It raises the issue, creates the structure to best explore the idea and leaves some questions for the viewer to resolve.”

Shepheard commented on the obvious attention to detail that Sarten had given and labour intensity that the piece took in its construction; “It shows a real tenacity, doggedness and commitment to the clear uncompromising concept. This work speaks of justice and conscience as much as it does contemporary art. It also goes beyond speaking of a specific event in New Zealand’s criminal history to the more pressing concern of child abuse and neglect."

Unsolved

41 years ago there was no bigger story in New Zealand than the killing of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe.

Killed in their Pukekawa farmhouse and dumped in the Waikato river, the murders cast a shadow over rural life in a country proud of its farming heritage.

The Crewe's daughter Rochelle was found crying in her cot 5 days after the couple died. An innocent man was jailed for the crime and then pardoned.

The case remains unsolved.

BUSINESS OF ARTS 2011 Master Class Series Ann Robinson, glass artist

2011-05-23T12:22:00.004+12:00

Ann in her studio - photograph Kieran Scott

Ann Robinson is acknowledged as one of the great glass artists in the world and is indisputably New Zealand’s leading exponent of cast glass. Her work has received numerous national and international awards, with widespread and on-going critical acclaim.

The source of her inspiration is clear, she says. “I have a great reverence for the plant world – plants are so sensual. When I walk in the bush, I observe detail very closely – the crisscross of the nikau, the pattern at the base of the flax, the pattern of life emerging from the source. I respond to the rhythmic patterns. The eye picks out the harmonies. I like the idea that my pieces encapsulate the music of the forest.”

She points out that the qualities in the natural environment that she sees emerge in her work are those of light and mood, pattern and rhythm, strong simple form, strong contrast, strong sharp colour. Also the persistent evidence of erosion by water and wind, the rubbing of one element against another.

“I used to say that my ambition was to take one's breath away, to suspend the ordinary, to create a moment of stillness,” she says. “But glass is also wonderfully expressive material – magical to live with. Light changes reflect as a change of mood in the work. It’s a very human quality.”

Funded by the Creative Communities Scheme, Business of Arts seminars are low cost, accessible, relevant and specialist. Created especially for arts groups and individuals in the arts sector, each Master Class will contribute to a better understanding of the key factors that promote the survival of your arts initiatives.

In this Master Class Ann talks with arts consultant Tara Jahn-Werner about the realities of creating her work in an often harsh economic environment; the way she operates her new studio near the Whau River in Glendene, and gives her thoughts about how she has remained sustainable over the years.

BUSINESS OF ARTS 2011 Master Class Series
Ann Robinson, glass artist
Thursday July 7th
Corbans Estate Arts Centre
9.30am – 12.30pm
$30 each (includes light refreshments)
Bookings essential: Email info@ceac.org.nz or phone (09) 8384455

Che Fu to headline at Mean Matariki Mean

2011-05-23T12:11:00.006+12:00

One of New Zealand’s leading hip hop/R & B and reggae artists, Che Fu, is set to headline at the Mean Matariki Mean concert at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson on Queens Birthday Weekend.

Mean Matariki Mean is a family event that’s been organized especially for primary and secondary-aged children to celebrate Matariki, the Maori new year.

Organisers for the event say Che was chosen because of his ability to capture and move audiences of all ages.

“Matariki is a time of new beginnings and we hope that this show – a mix of successful and up and coming performers might encourage budding artists in the audience to pursue their dreams,” says Martin Sutcliffe, the director of CEAC.

At the young age of four, Che Fu was inspired to become a musician when he stood stage left at the legendary Bob Marley concert in Auckland in 1979.

He went on to become one of the founding members of the iconic kiwi band, Supergroove, while he was at Western Springs High School. The band did a world tour and their debut album, Traction, went triple platinum in the mid 1990s.

To date Che has had more top-ten singles in the New Zealand charts than any other artist.

Che will be joined by a host of other acts at the Mean Matariki Mean concert 5 June between 1-4pm. They include kapa haka, DJ Poroufessor, 2011 NZ Junior Hip Hop Champs, Lil Saints and comedian Mike King’s daughter, Alex King. Alex King won three bronze medals at the World Performing Arts Championships in the States last year.

MEAN MATARIKI MEAN
With Che Fu, Lil Saints, Alex King, kappa haka, and more.
Sunday 5th June (Queens Birthday Weekend)
1pm to 4pm
At the Corban Estate Arts Centre, Henderson
PH 8384455 more informatin on our website

Viky Garden - BlueGirls

2011-05-23T09:24:00.002+12:00

Don't miss out on these limited addition prints from Viky Garden. More information here

Question Session

2011-05-18T14:05:00.002+12:00

Location: Old St Michaels Church, Corban Estate Arts Centre

Time: Saturday, 04 June 2011 19:30

This is a music event!

$5 concert of creative music emerging from a jazz tradition! Featuring: Matt Steele on piano, Matt Bray on guitar, Song Bae on bass, Reuben Jelleyman on kit!

Also for those who read the newspaper, this event is not on the 7th of May!

Kids Art Festival 2011

2011-05-10T10:00:00.008+12:00

Visitor numbers were up and the rain stayed away, the Kids Art Festival 2011 was another full-on day of art classes, performances and fun.

Most art classes were held in the sheds this year and as such, they were a bustle of non-stop creative activity which lasted all day, an impressive feat of stamina from our brilliant teachers and their assistants.

The performance stage was a real highlight, showcasing the talented music and performance groups from local primary and intermediate schools. Other groups such as Lil Saints blew the crowd away & MC’s Kasina and Taups from New Native Dance Company did a great job of keeping the crowd entertained between acts.

Well done to the schools who participated in the ‘Proudly Kiwi’ exhibition displaying some real originality and ability with the visual arts. Schools involved this year were: Bruce McLaren Intermediate, Royal Road School, Kelston Int School, Rangeview Intermediate, Te Atatu Intermediate School, ACG Sunderland School (Primary & Intermediate), Western Heights School, Henderson Intermediate, Sunnyvale School, Peninsula Primary, Henderson Valley Primary, Henderson North Primary, Glen Eden Intermediate, Nga Kakano Christian Reo Rua Kura, Glen Eden Primary, Swanson Primary, Green Bay Primary/ Intermediate, Konini School.

Thanks to the Children’s librarians for their wonderful story time, Captain Fantastic and his mobile library & the Henna & face painters.
And a huge thank you to our excellent volunteers who came from Massey High School and Waitakere College.

We hope to see everyone again next year!

Art classes in the Sheds

MC's Kasina and Taups on the performance stage

Backstage

Schools art exhibition

Story Time with Auckland Library Children's Librarians Christine and Erica.

Captain Fantastic

Our excellent volunteers from Massey Highschool and Waitakere College.

Interactive sound installatio in the old Corbans wine vats by Sound Artist Sam Morrison.

Dampa bread with Riki Bennett.

Local Talent II

2011-05-02T12:17:00.009+12:00

Students test their flying machines in 'Leonardo Always Wanted to Fly' class with tutor Eilis Galuszewski

A selection of art from the talented students who took part in our recent Children’s Easter Holiday Classes.

We would like to credit the individual artists, so please comment (below) if you recognise any of the artworks.

Life-sized self portraits with a difference with Tutor Mandy Patmore

The Enchanted Ocean with Tutor Boe Busch

The Enchanted Ocean

Oh What a Circus! with tutor Claire Hey

Oh What a Circus!

Maintenance work on the estate

2011-04-20T14:34:00.003+12:00

On Monday the major maintenance work to the buildings of Corban Estate kicked off. Work is going to include re-roofing some of the buildings, earthquake strengthening and improvements to some of the infrastructure services below ground, such as water supply and sewage.

On the whole, CEAC is operating ‘business as usual’ fitting our classes and events around the work. However many of our artists have to vacate their studios while their roofs are being fixed, and (as pictured) the Pop-up Café is now camped in Shed 2, a VAST warehouse on the estate. Here they are, nicely set up in the left corner, keeping company with the whale.

Open Studio Weekend @ CEAC

2011-04-01T12:24:00.008+13:00

A busy, rewarding weekend – if a little wet.
Photos in no particular order...

In conclusion

2011-04-01T10:16:00.011+13:00

Rachael McKinnon reviews Selene Simcox: In Residence

After completing her BFA at Whitecliffe College Arts and Desgin, Selene Simcox is now in the
second year of her Masters of Arts Management.

The exhibition on March 11 was the culmination of her period as artist in residence at the Manthel van Reijn Studio. And it was her residency in the studio that was key to her artistic output.

Simcox's pieces negotiate the space within which she worked. There is a sparse, breeze-block, concrete and steel interior area and a modern courtyard with large concrete slabs on the exterior. Simcox collapses these boundaries by bringing textures from each area respectively into the other space.

By applying duraseal to the courtyard tiles and using a squeegee of warm grey paint to capture the surface, she is able to bring the surface inside and adorn the walls of the studio space. Inevitably, through the vehicle of Simcox herself, a human, organic and kinetic element is transferred onto the industrial texture. This also occurs as she paints onto vinyl on the breeze-block brick surfaces. The brick outlines are clearly visible but so is the curving of the squeegee held by the artist's hand; so is the dripping of the paint and the inconsistencies of pressure.

Simcox's work derives its meaning from the materials and processes that, in creating it, are employed. The Duraseal creates painterly illusions that cover adhesive factory-made building materials. The process creates dynamism and aesthetic, visual texture. The exhibit is not tactile, but serves to satisfy aesthetically. The sewn pouf installed outside on the courtyard as a means of creating some indoor space outside, invites touching and invites collapsing into - and yet its purpose is derived from the way it has escaped its boundaries as a indoor household item. More so, I think it becomes a significant element of hand-made labour nestled amongst the rigid lines of modern architecture.

There is a transience in the works. By imprinting - a nostalgic act for many people who have made rubbings of various textures when they were children - there is a documentation of textures that may one day be destroyed or changed. The imprints capture these surfaces as they were in one particular moment and then they are solidified as documented art. The textural repetition, created by her squeegee impressions of the various textures, prompts the viewer to consider the spaces they occupy and the textures that surround. These are textures that may once have resided in many people's blind-spots and are now being elevated through process. Yet, in repetition there is an emphasis on Simcox's role as artist - the way her hand is at work through each application of paint and the naturalistic movements juxtaposed against modern industrial and commercial spaces.

Selene Simcox in Residence at Manthel van Reijn Studio 2011

Selene Simcox Jump 2011 Acrylic on vinly 1220 x 300mm

Selene Simcox Repeat Repeat & Sideway Glances Acrylic on vinyl 1080 x 1240mm

Selene Simcox Repeat & Jump 2 2011 Acrylic on vinyl

Selene Simcox Sidewalk 2011 Acrylic on Duraseal on board 800 diameter

Selene Simcox Sidewalk 2 2011 Acrylic on Duraseal on board 570 x 600mm

Selene Simcox Untitled 2011 Acrylic on vinyl, polystyrene balls 1300mm diameter

Thrash it out in the creative moshpit @ ART Generator Network*

2011-03-31T13:55:00.005+13:00

A series of events for entrepreneurial people working in the creative sector, talking about some of the big issues and bringing them down to earth.

We’re back, we're bold, we're loud and we're proud. ART Generator Network has taken some time out to restock and have four events where we'll thrash some things out - some could say entirely appropriate, as we are hosting these events on K’Rd… Our first event is:

Good luck is hard work
with Otis Frizzell and Qiujing Wong
Good luck is a collision of preparation, timing and connections - that's how a creative career evolves. Hear from Otis Frizzell and Qiujing Wong about their 'lucky' careers.
See below for more about Otis and Q…

Wednesday 13 April, 6.00 to 9.00 pm
@ The Function Room [Club Seven], upstairs at The Family and Naval, cnr Pitt St and K Rd
Come for a drink and some nibbles, a great time, some excellent networking and an inspiring room full of smart, creative people!
Tickets ($25) are limited! Get yours here

ART Generator Network | meet, network, know, grow & enjoy!
For more about the other fab guest speakers we have coming up, and tricky topics we are thrashing out, see here

ABOUT our marvellous guest speakers

Otis Frizzell is an artistic innovator, style leader, artist, hip-hop performer, radio personality, tattooist and graphic designer. Otis entered public life in his late teens as half of popular hip-hop duo MC OJ and Rhythm Slave. He has performed as Joint Force and Stylee Crew.
Otis has more than 20 years of public graffiti art experience. His first solo exhibition Opto 2000 produced with pop culture manipulator Mike Weston, marked the beginning of an innovative art production and management collaboration that has produced a playful and challenging stream of works, repeatedly setting a benchmark in artistic and technical achievement in the chosen media.
His work can be found at the Parnell Gallery, Lethams Gallery (Herne Bay) the Saatchi and Saatchi offices, Robbie Williams’ London management office IE Music, on KFC packaging, Breast cancer T shirts, Grand Prix Racing Cars, Drag Strips, Playstation Ads, numerous walls and backdrops, TV2 promos, record sleeves of pop artists such as Che Fu and more recently Tiki Taane and Fat Freddys Drop.
His broadcasting partnership with Mark “Slave” Williams carried the duo into a long running Wednesday drive-time radio slot on 95bFM called The Wednesday Special and then to hosting the Base FM breakfast show. The duo’s radio celebrity transferred to television with the award winning Mo’ Show.
In early 2005, Otis abandoned TV celebrity and the offer of a fourth Mo Show series, to focus on art projects working out of The Area studio with Mike Weston as half of the Art Brand, Weston Frizzell. As a solo artist and art collaborator, Otis is now enjoying life as a full time artist, print-maker and illustrator.
Borderless is led by Qiujing Wong, an entrepreneur and social change agent. At a personal level, Qiujing is committed to creative excellence, authentic leadership and building strong and meaningful relationships. She has a degree in Commerce and a Post Graduate Diploma in Communications and continues to further her own development in areas of leadership, business and social change.

Borderless is a Social Change Agency dedicated to inspiring positive change through commercials, films and creative campaigns. Since 2005, the Borderless team has been committed to change in a number of ways with highlights that include; inspiring support for grandmothers in Africa, moving youth against drugs in North America, driving press freedoms in Nepal, creating better relationships with China and most recently leading change in New Zealand through the creation of New Zealand's first nationwide accessibility programme.

Pop-up Cafe at CEAC

2011-03-27T13:35:00.007+13:00

Delicious Kokako coffee and a selection of light culinary delights are now available You can find the pop-up café at CEAC on Tuesday - Friday from 9.30am - 3.30pm and on Saturday
10am – 4pm with live music.

Richard Ingamells and Sarah Roberts

SELENE SIMCOX IN RESIDENCE

2011-02-15T16:50:00.006+13:00

Manthel van Reijn Studio presents - SELENE SIMCOX IN RESIDENCE

Monday 21 February – Friday 11 March 2011
OPEN STUDIO: Monday 7 March – Thursday 10 March, 10am – 6pm
ONE NIGHT ONLY EXHIBITION: Friday 11 March, 5.30 – 7.30pm

Auckland artist Selene Simcox is in residence at Manthel van Reijn Studio (Mt Eden) from 21 February to 11 March and continues to explore the relationship between paint and vinyl and the role that performance plays in her work.

“There are workman-like approaches in this work, rules and boundaries evolve like a fairytale or narrative around the development of each artwork. These rules and boundaries are given form by measurement, time and props that provide the framework for creativity to move through”.

The vinyl surface allows for the fluid movement of painting-in-performance to act upon it. The paint is moved with a squeegee, tracing the artist’s performance, stripping painting back to the barest moment, leaving a mark that becomes the only evidence that the artist has been there.

Selene Simcox graduated from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in 2009 and has exhibited at The Bluecoat (Liverpool, England), Massey School of Fine Arts (Wellington) and recently at Corban Estate (Auckland). This is her first solo show.

Selene Simcox at Manthel van Reijn Studio, Banklink House, 12 Normanby Road, Mt Eden, Auckland, 21 Feb-11 Mar 2011. Entrance through Normanby Road Foyer or the Edwin St Carpark.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Selene Simcox, selenes@clear.net.nz, mob: 021 169 9084, www.selenesimcox.wordpress.com

UPDATE:
Selene Simcox was recently interviewed by Amy MacKinnon from The Aucklander,and by Karley Feaver.

Local Talent

2010-12-08T10:28:00.012+13:00

A selection of art made in our Children’s Holiday Classes, Term Classes and School Education programme over the past few years.

We would like to credit the individual artists, so please comment (below) if you recognise any of the artworks.

Family Ties with Mandy Patmore

Super Junk Fusion with Andrew Hall

Mask Making with Kris Kell

Portraiture with Anne-Sophie Adelys

Tapa Mono-prints with Joy Tiumalu

Sun prints with Lynn Houghton

Cartoon Self-portraits with Victoria Scott

Clay Cupcakes with Kairava Gullatz

Clay Castles with Kairava Gullatz

Kiwiana Clocks with Joy Tiumalu

Comic T'shirts with Grant Cole

Artwork by Alex Terzaghi

Summer School Tutor Interview Series - Bridget Brandon

2010-11-16T12:18:00.008+13:00

CEAC staff member Kyla Mackenzie interviews Bridget Brandon in the lead-up to her Summer School class ‘Igniting the Creative Fire of Writing’ in January 2011. Click HERE for a full description of Bridgets' class & enrolment details.

KM: Your upcoming writing course in January Igniting the Creative Fire of Writing revolves around each participant's own life story. Is this focus on understanding one's own life, a crucial step for meaningful writing of any kind?

BB: I feel the core of my work is about creating the platform for individuals to dive into themselves and at the same time into their creativity...It seems we have a lot of hang ups about our writing in particular. In addition people think their life is ordinary and they can’t express themselves. Given the right circumstances and encouragement most people are creative.

KM: A previous student of yours said:
“I feel that 'writing' my life is also like 'righting' my life - setting it out before me, so I can look at and understand the reason for decisions I have made throughout the years I have been writing about.” (http://storyworks.com.au) Is this a common experience for your students?

BB: Yes it is!

My goal is to allow people to see their life is not ordinary. No ones life is ordinary. (It is) quite the opposite and telling their stories and having their stories listened to in a non judgemental way allows them to appreciate the uniqueness of their life. With the feedback I focus on what works and I get the group to provide feedback on what works. Once someone is feeling confident, sometimes then I introduce the element of what else or what if...

KM: What is an example of one of your ‘loosening up’ exercises to get thoughts and memories flowing?

BB: One example is to draw a word out of a hat and write about what it means for 5 minutes.
Another is to choose a colour and then keep observing where you see that colour and next day write for 10 minutes on that colour.

KM: What's an example of a writing discipline you get your students to use?

BB: Just do it, just have a go. Early on I give out 5 writing principles. These really help people deal with their critic and issues. Each day they choose one to work with and at the end of the day we check in to see how they have gone. So the key is active engagement and not letting them get away with saying they can’t do it.

…. Focus on the story and the words will follow whereas if you focus on the words paraylsis sets in and the story is lost.

An excerpt below is written by someone who I think sums up my approach:

I arrived at the Larapinta River without a story in my mind and no idea whether I would actually be able to write anything. I have never had any confidence about writing and this was my first experience of putting my stories onto paper. The week was full of insights, friendship, grace and fun. Thinking about what made it possible for me to get so much out of it. Here are some thoughts.

The written hints we were given (eg the Basic Prinicples/ Seven Rules//Haiku guidelines) were sufficient to give practical help and to set a tone of freedom without being prescriptive (ie that there was a "correct" way to write and a benchmark to achieve).

No activity went for too long - most of the exercises were quite short in duration and I had a sense that even if I wasn't sure I was "on task" it didn't matter as the time spent doing it was limited and the next task would come along shortly. I didn't have time to "get stuck".

The reading back to the group was great - it gave me a sense of each person's uniqueness and that there were a lot of different ways of approaching a task - all of which were valid and which, therefore, validated my own voice/expression.

The fact that it was compulsory to read aloud was important - it helped to know that you "could run but you couldn't hide"(as it were). At some point you had to put into voice the words written on the page.

I arrived at the Larapinta River without a story in my mind and no idea whether I would actually be able to write anything. I have never had any confidence about writing and this was my first experience of putting my stories onto paper. The week was full of insights, friendship, grace and fun. Thinking about what made it possible for me to get so much out of it. Here are some thoughts.

The written hints we were given (eg the Basic Principles/ Seven Rules/Haiku guidelines) were sufficient to give practical help and to set a tone of freedom without being prescriptive (ie that there was a "correct" way to write and a benchmark to achieve).

No activity went for too long - most of the exercises were quite short in duration and I had a sense that even if I wasn't sure I was "on task" it didn't matter as the time spent doing it was limited and the next task would come along shortly. I didn't have time to "get stuck".

The reading back to the group was great - it gave me a sense of each person's uniqueness and that there were a lot of different ways of approaching a task - all of which were valid and which, therefore, validated my own voice/expression.

The fact that it was compulsory to read aloud was important - it helped to know that you "could run but you couldn't hide"(as it were). At some point you had to put into voice the words written on the page.

I did find that once my secrets became stories they were set free. There was an alchemy that took place. The stories still belonged to me but they didn't have the same grip on me as before. They became things to respect as the experiences that had shaped me and I didn't feel scared that people would judge me.

Telling my stories allowed my light to shine. Active listening was important - you knew that at the end of your reading there would be comments which kept me grounded in the experience (not able to quickly slam the book and pretend it had never happened).

Working with metaphor was really useful. It was helpful to step outside my own reality and to use the language of "tree/landscape/nature" to write more evocatively. It allowed me to experiment with language and to look at situations from a different perspective.

The process of rewriting the "hard" situation using the language of the landscape was particularly helpful. It changed the language and tone of the story completely and that was a revelation to me.

The process of drawing the life scheme (rapids/billabongs/flowing) was very useful. To then take a "chapter" and break it down into "moments" made it easy to approach the story. It also allowed me to see how rich each of those "chapters" was and that there was a wealth of material for stories. I felt proud of my life when I thought of it like that - such a rich life!!

The consistency around the time keeping was good. Knowing that there was a set time to complete a task and that we would be kept to that made it possible to concentrate on the task at hand - your instruction to "find a way to finish the sentence" meant that the task didn't "bleed" into the time available.

The clarity of instructions and permission to take the task wherever it wanted to go. It meant there was both structure and freedom.

Bridget’s management of the "subtle “level to the group was masterful. Especially on the morning that Paul left - you brought us back to a a more centred space. You did this by naming the tension that was in the group and by asking us to renew our commitment to the process.

Having all the logistics taken care of was fantastic - it freed me to concentrate on the tasks at hand - no distractions and no rushing to ensure that I was on time for tasks - I was free to chill out and follow my own thoughts.
~ Participant 2005

Make Do. Get By. Live Life

2010-11-15T10:01:00.010+13:00

The Vigneron at the Corban Estate Art Centre Gallery - December 5th 2010.
Writing by Kyla Mackenzie.

In the former living room of the Corban family homestead, built in 1923, the 100 year life of Najib Corban is celebrated in the exhibition The Vigneron. Son of pioneering winemaker Assid Abraham Corban and Najibie Corban, this humble, hard working family-man is remembered through images, words, and wine. Fittingly, the ArtSpeak for this exhibition took place in the estate's cellar, built in 1907 by Najib's father. His son Brian, grandson Ben Corban and Peter Gough from Ngatarawa wine (owned by Brian and Alwyn Corban) spoke before a gathering of largely friends and family.

Born in 1909, Najib was the youngest of four older brothers and sisters, a large family typical to this era in New Zealand. He left school at age 12, a norm in those days, to work at Corban Winery Estate set up by Assid and Najibie, his enterprising and hardworking parents from Lebanon. Large families and their labour resources enabled the “human engineering”, as Brian Corban puts it, required for surviving and building a future. Najib's failing eyesight from the age of 9 was not to prevent him from making a full contribution to the family business.

Najib worked a long, often hard but productive life as vigneron, or vine grower. A man who worked much of his life using the simplest of make-shift tools, he also pioneered other vineyards in Henderson Valley, Whenuapai, Kumeu, Taupaki and Gisborne. In his 90s he was still working hard cultivating his and his family's properties. Principled and persevering, in the words of his son Brian Corban, Najib was “the greatest man that I ever knew”.

As Najib was reaching his 100th year, the decision to recognize his life and philosophy was developed into an understated but compelling tribute by design studio Alt Group. Ben Corban, grandson to Najib and managing director of this award-winning design company, was inspired by the man and grandfather who instilled such a strong work ethic in his children and their children. The quality of the design has won them numerous awards, including Gold and Silver Lions at the Cannes Lion Awards in France and a Pinnacle Award at the AGDA awards in Australia this year.

The book entitled The Vigneron is central to the project. Selected images and text from it are reformulated into an arrangement on and against the walls of the gallery. Beginning with its simple uncoated card packet, the unbound, hand-stitched book, was designed to have a low-key, “hand-made feel” both for his blind grandfather to touch and to reflect a life of simple means. The font on front and back covers is hand-painted, raised, and glossy. Gold surfaces on pages inside also provide textural contrasts.

The exhibition includes contextual historic images of the early site and dwellings. The main gallery showcases images of Najib’s handmade and repaired tools, photographed by Alistair Guthrie. Ben recalls of the worn pitchfork featured in the tribute book, “I spent endless summers on the end of those pitchforks”. The tools, humble items in themselves, vividly illustrate the do-it-yourself, waste-not-want-not values of the times and of the man himself. Some are cobbled together with wire or bound with rags. Others are modified, reshaped and fused with other items to form new uses. Though an historical tribute, isolated on the page, they also become iconic and timeless. They illustrate the pithy maxims towards the end of the book: Make Do and Get By. Live Life is followed by Full Stop, which marks the end of the story and a long and full life.

Diminishing orbs of gold on pages of black suggest the disappearing sight of Najib, who worked on the estate until he was in his 70s. Whilst flicking through the pages from back to front, or viewing them on the wall, however, the gold spheres also suggest the growth cycle of the grape.

We are given particular entry into the personality and philosophy of this man through a selection of his engaging poetry which is sometimes droll and often contemplative. They come from his published collection, Footprints in the Sand, printed in 1983.

The Other Side:

Two sides to an argument,
Two sides to a coin,
Two sides to anything,
That we try to join,
Two sides to a person,
Two sides to reveal,
But often there's one side,
That we like to conceal.
Look in a mirror.
What do we see?
Just the exterior image,
Of you or me.

True Story

I bet on a horse,
He ran in a race,
I lost all my money,
He couldn't make the pace.

His son Brian notes him as being a “humble man”, and a “tough task-maker”. A short, candid poem describing the dark, compressed sensations of depression points to further complexity. A regular church goer of St Michael's Church nearby (and which is now on the estate), Najib's faith in God is revealed through his open wonder at nature and gratitude for life's gifts: family, marriage, and the strength to endure hardship.

The fact that Najib left school at 12 like many children of pioneering families, and had impaired sight, may seem surprising in view of his literacy skills. Ben relates that his grandfather “always had a poem on the boil” and recalls him as loving language and story-telling. His love of poetry also reflects the times. Much more so than now, the writing and reciting of poetry was once a comfort as well as private and social entertainment.

Najib would note his verses in chalk on the blackboard and family members would transcribe them to paper. His grandson recalls the importance of momentum, and upon interruptions by phone, being asked; “Ben, Ben, would you make of note of this for me, please”.

The blackboard and chalk then, was emblazoned on the memory of Ben Corban. It was given meaningful form on 100 special edition magnums of red wine in honour of his grandfather and the 100th year he reached. (Najib died 2 months before his birthday in 2009). The bottles, coated in blackboard paint and editioned in chalk, greet the viewer as they enter the exhibition space. The number 100 provided a governing principle. It is the number of pages in the book, The Vigneron. ($100 is also its price.)

However, the project also took on timely universal values in the face of recession with its messages of resilience, perseverance and gratitude. The context of the bleak economic environment of 2009, meant this project took on added personal meaning for Alt Group. The man who extolled the virtues of making do, getting by and the pride to be gained through hard work, experienced, as Ben says, “Depressions, recessions, boom-times and bust-times”. The sayings in the book became potent “studio mantras” at work.

The recession continues. The quiet story they present of Najib Corban and his inspiring approach to life, therefore, hits just the right note.

Coming Up @ the Corban Estate

2010-11-10T18:11:00.002+13:00

For more information contact Yaw 021 0316293, Missy 021 1491977 email info.roots.art@gmail.com or visit their website

Sewing School with Sarah Bird

2010-10-27T10:20:00.006+13:00

"It was like being in Project Runway (one of my favourite shows!) – but without the competition edge. It was just pure fun! Four of us lined up in an arts studio, with our machines, piles of gorgeous vintage fabrics, books on sewing and appliqué, patterns and accessories to drool over."

Aimee from On Top Of A Lily Pad reports back on a practice run of the 'Sew Inspired' Summer School Class with Sarah Bird.

Read the full story on Aimee's BLOG.

Metonymy Closing Event; Awards and Performance Night

2010-10-20T09:01:00.010+13:00

Photos from the Metonymy performance evening and awards night.
These were stollen from Renee Liangs facebook album...

The Most Dedicated

2010-10-06T17:23:00.003+13:00

Watch TMD create SubUrban Development. We'll let you know when TMD's next painting event takes place so you can watch in real-time.

Video by Askew

Margaret Lewis wins Style Pasifika 2010 Street Wear Award

2010-09-29T11:43:00.007+13:00

Special congrats to Margaret Lewis for her winning Street Wear design in Westfield Style Pasifika 2010. Margaret has shared the story behind 'Rattle your Daggs' here . She also came runner-up in Resene Asia Pasifika with an entry called 'She was a Skater Girl' inspired by Avril Lavigne going Harajuku. Among Margaret's many talents she's also The Big Idea Marketing and Business Development Manager.

Waitemata Theatre Presents

2010-09-29T11:39:00.004+13:00

Charlies Aunt
Opening Night: this Thursday September 30th at 7:30pm.
The season runs till October 9th.

They are also building the "Christmas Wonderland" set. Construction is planned from November 7th. The Wonderland is open to the public every evening from December 8th through till Christmas eve.

Get into The Big Room @ The Big Idea

2010-09-27T16:24:00.005+13:00

Inaugural Digital Artist in Residence, Luke Munn is creating The Big Room - a room that explores our everyday work spaces. He describes The Big Room as “a fluctuating sonic space - a combination of concrete floors, motorway ambience, conversation snippets and ambience which is constantly shifting, and only possible through the online medium."

Luke invites anyone to contribute their own acoustic to this unique soundscape, by submitting a short audio recording and image of their room.

There’s no need for elaborate equipment. No technical skills or editing are required. It's about listening to your space and attempting to capture that - whether that's very quiet (silent), loud, chaotic, or 'uneventful'.

To record your room, you can use a variety of free and low-cost equipment. Windows users can utilize Sound Recorder software that comes pre-installed, while those on the Mac can bring up Garageband to also easily record. If you want to crop your audio, change the volume, or make other basic edits, He recommends Audacity - an open source, cross platform audio editor (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/).

If you have a microphone, plug that in and start recording, or use the built-in microphone on your laptop. He'd also encourage you to listen to your space while you're recording - moving your hearing outwards to capture filtered sounds, hums, clicks, and vague tones that form the subtle sonic backdrop to your space. Then simply export the audio as WAV, AIFF, or MP3 format, and send it through.

http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/colab-tbi-digital-residency

SubUrban Development

2010-09-22T15:42:00.006+12:00

Corban Estate Arts Centre (CEAC) has been working with Waitakere City Council and Graffiti Art Crew TMD (The Most Dedicated) and have formally agreed that a wall at Corban Estate will be adopted by TMD for their high end artwork. The project titled SubUrban Development links to their project Urban Development at Rhubarb Lane in the central city.
TMD certainly lived up to their name as they painted their way through last weekend's storm. A spokesperson for the graf art crew, Askew says, "TMD took it to mothernature this past weekend and managed to pull off a pretty impressive wall if I don't say so myself. Fighting wind, cold and driving rain and armed with paint, towels and a never die attitude the guys got in there and smashed it like the champions they are..."
TMD is a group of urban artists at the top of their game in NZ, with an international reputation and linked to a worldwide network of graf artists.
Other graf artists wanting to be involved need to contact CEAC in the first instance.

Photos below are by Rimoni, for more see Rimoni's blog

Word Up! 2010 photos

2010-09-20T16:03:00.009+12:00

Photos by Molly

Robbie
- aspiring West Auckland Poet

The Latin Soldiers
- an exciting hip hop abd RnB group on the rise

Gabrielle
- singing her origional works

3DOM
-3DOM are an all family hip hop group, who make their own beats & songs & record them at their home studio.

As Colour Fades
-A West Auckland post-hardcore band. Their songs are written about issues that young people can relate to e.g. break-ups, fighting peer pressure, standing up for yourself... that sorta thing.

Samara and Milly
-performing their origional song

Etta
-Keen on words in this language and others

Matt and Adele
-a folky, singer songwritery duo of dreaded folk from Waitakere College, signing about life and stuff.

Summer School Tutor Interview Series - James Moore

2010-09-14T10:43:00.007+12:00

James Moore

'Untitled' 2009 - 2010

CEAC staff member Kyla Mackenzie interviews James Moore in the lead-up to his Summer School class ‘Drawing Beyond the Boundaries’ in January 2011. Click HERE for a full description of James's class & enrolment details.

KM: You are holding a three day workshop, Drawing Beyond the Boundaries, 18 – 20 January 2011, at Corban Estate Art Centre in Henderson. How would you describe your approach to drawing in this class?

JM: It’s a broad and explorative approach, covering a wide range of media, techniques and perspectives on the notion of drawing.

KM: Paint is used in this class and you have taught both painting and drawing for 15 years. Are drawing and painting as categories in art potentially confusing?

JM: Categories of drawing and painting may have a large area of overlap. Rather than being confusing it just means that the categories shouldn’t be seen as being too separate. If I make a preparatory study in painted line then it can be a drawing and a painting.

KM: What do you love about teaching art?

JM: It is really satisfying to see students make progress in their work. It is powerful to help instill and support the self belief that students need to make keep making art.

KM: Is it hard to find the time for your own art?

JM: Yes. Sometimes. It can be frustrating to have the ideas and motivation but have other commitments keeping me from getting in to the studio… It’s a matter of grabbing the windows of opportunity when they come along and hope the opportunities coincide with some inspiration.

KM: I have asked painter Viki Garden if she considers painting to be “... a difficult pleasure”. Is a certain amount of struggle simply part of the creative process?

JM: Yes. I would describe it as a difficult pleasure. I generally run into problems in a painting sooner or later even with things quite well planned before hand. Problem solving is a big part of the art making process. A lot of people want to believe that it’s all feverish emotional outpouring and soul bearing split by a lightning bolt of inspiration.

KM: Some of your own work is montage-like. Objects are placed together within the frame creating intriguing combinations. Could you describe them as ‘picture-poems’?

JM: Yes in the sense that the combinations of elements in my work do not necessarily have literal narrative connections. They resonate in more oblique ways so yes it’s more like poetry than prose I guess.

KM: What are some of the things around you that inspire your own work?

JM: I’m interested in certain elements of popular culture at the moment. Computer games, still-frames from T.V. dramas, urban street art, street signage, shopping mall interiors.

KM: Do you keep a work book/diary with ideas on you?

JM: Yes. I have always kept a visual diary and encourage my students to do the same. It’s good to have your thoughts, doodles and pictures collated in one place.

KM: You’re also a musician. Does this have any influence on your visual art?

JM: Music and art work separately for me. When I am not teaching I am either doing a music project or painting project but generally not both. I feel I absolutely need to be doing both music and visual art and they complement each other rather than one being a direct influence on the other.

KM: Who are some of the artists, historical or contemporary, who inspire you?

JM: James Ensor, Francis Picabia, Anette Messager, Alex Katz, Neo Rauch, David Salle, Martin Kippenberger, Sigmar Polke, Bill Hammond, Andrew McLeod, John Pule, Joanna Margeret Paul, Julie Mehretu, Beatrize Milhazes.

Metonymy 2010 - forging new creative connections

2010-09-07T12:58:00.027+12:00

CEAC Staff member Anne-Sophie Adelys photographed the opening of the Metonymy 2010 exhibition. Metonymy is on show at the Corban Estate Arts Centre Gallery until the 17th of October.

Click here for more information and other Metonymy events.

Quotes from the 2010 Metonymy selection panel.

"Some of the works in the show have a very simple and simplistic approach to the collaborative process with two ideas or concepts placed together or juxtaposed.

The more outstanding works in the exhibition shows that the collaboration has occurred at all stages from the initial ideas through the development of those idea and the production process,
culminating in an expanded work which has gained in complexity and density."

Joint comment by Panel - John Daly-Peoples, Simon Ingram, Riemke Ensing, Sam Sampson

"This is an unusual and innovative exhibition, where you can dig deep and discover diverse, sensitive, surprising and sometimes puzzling imagination at work in a wide and exciting range of media. I found these collaborations an enticement for the mind, eye and ear ."
- Riemke Ensing (one of the Panel).

CEAC Director Martin Sutcliffe at the Metonymy exhibition opening

'Miss Communication-Mr Communication' Jeong Yeung and Callum Stembridge

'Erstwhile' Kate Sellars and Penny Somervaille

'Erstwhile' (detail)

'Layers of cold' Natalie Rogers and Maddy King

'Human Archeology' Paul Woodruffe and Renee Liang

'Isis' John Eaden and Jane Griffin

'Pupa' Alice Wong and Julie Ryan

'Pathways we carry with us' Isla Osborne and Miriam Barr

'Blind' Dianne Rimmer and Rata Gordon

'All our lovely ladies' Ian Peter Weston and Janet Charman

'The tobacco tin and other distractions' Hana De Roo and Rosetta Allan

'Omphalos' Paul Brunton and Michalia Arathimos

Anne-Sophie Adelys and Helen Sword

Viewing 'The Sound of Silence' Erin Gaffney and Leigh Fitzjames

Renee Liang with her work 'Human Archeology'

Summer School 2011 Tutor Interview Series - Viky Garden

2010-09-07T10:52:00.011+12:00

'New World Virtues' 2007

Oil/acrylic on jute
83.5 x 63.5cm

CEAC staff member Kyla Mackenzie interviews Viky Garden in the lead-up to her Summer School class ‘It’s All About You’ in January 2011. Click HERE for a full description of Viky's class & enrolment details.

KM: How long has your work been preoccupied with autobiographical element and the figure – referenced from yourself?

VG: There’s a self portrait on my wall that was in my fifth form art folder – that’s going back almost 35 years now….

KM: Your recent works, from 2009 and 2010 are quite different in effect. Rather than frontal portraits with exaggerated features, in the works from ‘nature/nurture’, a young girlish figure in black-silhouetted profile features in various allegorical scenarios. Did anything in particular spur this approach?

VG: I’m forever noting things in my workbook, drawing compositional sketches etc., because I’m always looking for new ways to represent the figurative within a narrative context. When I drew the silhouette, I knew that it would add more abstraction and ambiguity (even though it’s still my profile). The initial idea came from a profile in Arabesque (2006), which I adapted into the Passenger series (2009). While playing with ideas for Nature/Nurture (2010), I drew inspiration from the Pahiatua girls from Any Given Day (2002). I enjoy having a large body of work that I can constantly reference, and from which develop a unique language and individual set of motifs.

Private collection
'Self Portrait - Some trace of her' 2009
Oil/acrylic on hessian
800 x 600mm

Huia I
oil/acrylic on linen
50 x 70cm

KM: You have explored younger 'selves' previously in self-portraiture, such as ‘Seven”. What does ‘girlhood’ mean for you?

VG: It’s a very, very vulnerable time, a time of absorbing and grasping ideas, of innocence and fragility. In Nature/Nurture, I have been exploring notions of merit and value, juxtaposing youthful innocence against the implicit presence of societal violence and sexualisation, so it was crucial to use a very young protagonist for this series to give emphasis to vulnerability, impressionability and the potential for corruptibility.

KM: What do red lipsticked lips mean for you?

VG: Lipstick is face-paint, a feminine tool. I use it in a number of ways, partly to convey or accentuate sadness, irony, and artifice, but also to suggest individual projection and power.

KM: Familiarity breeds contempt, as the saying goes. Does this have any relevance to your own repeated use of your face and body in your works?

VG: Not at all. If an idea is strong, I’m like a bull at a gate. It’s more about how to use her than me.

With regard to her. I start a composition that has a portraiture element to it - I include myself within the context of the narrative. In the process of doing that, the portrait becomes more a figurative element, a slight disassociation that somehow allows both intimate reference (subjective 'the me') but also universal resonance (objective 'the her'). Which is why when other women (in particular) when viewing a painting, often see themselves.
I don't think they're buying a portrait of me. I've had experiences (one in particular) where two women came to one of my shows and one woman broke down in front of a painting. It wasn't because she saw me, she saw herself.

All the paintings become 'my girls' - when I see a work I've not seen for a while, I think, god, isn't she lovely!

KM: I've heard that 'good' models are hard to find. The artist's face is often the most convenient subject and talking to yourself is optional... Do you ever get asked to produce portraits of others?

VG: Talking to myself is mandatory, not optional. I have been asked to paint commissions, however, painting someone else would mean interrupting a process that I have worked at for nearly twenty years. When I am painting, my mind is already working out how to move and expand (or reduce) the idea – so I’m already prepping the next canvas in my head and have worked in this way for years now - very much to the exclusion of all else. I’m rather protective of the way I work because ideas are fragile things and often the strength of a body of work is in the continuation of various thematic threads. It is very difficult to apply or impose these personal thematic strains on someone else, someone with their own set of expectations.

KM: You have gained a strong following, particularly over the last decade, and your works have a depth, truth and integrity. Is painting for you, as Australian painter Brett Whitely put it, ‘a difficult pleasure’?

VG: Very much. It’s a difficult pleasure on various levels. I live in a city that has a high cost of living and I paint full time, so I’m dependent on my work selling. The compromised lifestyle isn’t something I’d recommend in a hurry – not when you consider that inspired work has to come from it. Facing a blank canvas is daunting enough, then comes the time - the very alone time – of creating art. When it works, it’s a moment of personal celebration.

KM: As a young painter, you were tutored by another painter, Vivian Lynn. She later became Lecturer of Drawing and Design, Schools of Architecture and Design, Victoria University. Did anything about her approach encourage your own hard edged painting style or did that evolve much later?

VG: Vivian tutored me for five years during my mid-teens. I am immensely grateful for that time with her. They were formative years and I was in the best of hands. Her dedicated, disciplined and focused approach is a constant inspiration to me. An artist for nearly sixty years, Vivian’s work is as topical, relevant and vital as when I first met her. I began painting when I was 27 and my practice is drawn primarily from my time with her.

KM: Who are some artists and or artworks that have impacted on you and your work in some way?

VG: Many artists and artworks have stopped me in my tracks. Shani Rhys James is a Welsh painter who also uses herself within a narrative framework. Marianne Kolb paints dark figurative studies that I sense are autobiographical. I’m also very passionate about the work of Ben Nicholson and Paul Nash. Their work has a high level of emotional intelligence, more feminine in expression than masculine. The sculptural work of Beth Cavener Stichter is inspiring. Another artist who greatly impresses me is Valerio Adami. My work is vastly different to his, but I completely understand his use of line and colour. His sense of composition is flawless.

KM: How do you recognise long-term potential and drive in the work of students and emerging artists?

VG: If someone is able to articulate thoughts visually, devoid of superficiality (unless that’s their intent and they express it well), then that’s a good place to start. Much depends upon motivation, discipline, good fortune and good timing. I am very interested in subtext (which I apply to my own work), and I look for it in the work of others. I’m attracted to art with conceptual depth, a sense of mystery and modesty – these are a few of the things I look for that speak to me about the inherent individual quality of an artist.

KM: Your paintings are instantly recognizable as yours. How do you encourage others painting their self-portraits to find their own iconography and painting style?

VG: I think if I can get others to feel relaxed with what they are trying to do, then something will come of it – perhaps not even in the week that we have together. That’s fine. The pressure can be immense, a blank canvas can be intimidating, let alone a mirror in unflattering light. I simply want students to realize that painting is a process, and that observing oneself for long periods can be very rewarding.

KM: What are your thoughts on University art schools?

VG: This is a difficult one for me to answer because I didn’t have the opportunity to attend an art school. However, after twenty years as an exhibiting artist, I’m aware that had I been in the class of so-and-so or under the tutelage of whomever, it would have been very handy for dealers, funding councils etc., enabling them to more easily contextualise my work. It’s a privilege to be able to spend time within an arts facility, and to build up one’s practice without the pressure of exhibiting each year and having to make a living.

KM: Your upcoming class on self-portraiture, ‘It’s All About You’ at Corban Estate Art Centre in Henderson, runs from 17 to 21 January 2011. Teaching painting must be quite a contrast to the solitary activity of painting in your studio. What are your thoughts on this?

VG: Yes, it’s vastly different. I please myself in my own studio, so the discipline of having to achieve something within a strict timeframe is going to be interesting.

KM: You have taught in this capacity before – what do you most enjoy about guiding other painters?

VG: I love seeing people quietly bloom. It can be very poignant. Unlike still life or landscape painting, the trust and courage required to approach this type of self-examination cannot be underestimated. Seeing what one is capable of can be very revealing, but it can also be a very rewarding experience.

KM: What sorts of ideas and approaches should your students bring to their class in January?

VG: The only thing I would suggest is to leave the Greek chorus of nay-sayers at home. Everyone will come with their own ideas, aspirations and hang-ups, so if I can get on track with each person and support and encourage them, then I’ll be more than happy, and hopefully they’ll enjoy what they’re doing and not feel it’s an examination.