Art installations in many forms at Corban Estate Art Centre

Corban Estate Arts Centre's latest exhibitions by Judy Darragh, Elliot Collins and Robert George are three distinct art installations assembled out of objects, text, moving image and sound, on display from 25 October to 1 December 2013.

Judy Darragh’s newest floor and wall based installation is constructed out of consumer by-products and everyday objects that are attacked with intense colour. Infamous for her resourceful use of non-valuable materials, Darragh contorts these materials into new and unrecognisable assemblages.

Artist Elliot Collins fills the gallery space with text, sculpture and photography in his latest exhibition based on The Odyssey by Homer. Collins visually relocates the story line to take place within the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, representing his on-going interest in the perception of New Zealand as a vibrant place for exploration and discovery.

While artist Robert George captures the interior landscape of the human mind through large scale moving images and sound. He creates a space in which the waking mind gives way to the unconscious mind, where dreams, memories and symbolism take over.

On offer is a full range of free art gallery activities. Artist Elliot Collins will run a kids workshop on Saturday 23 November and the curator will give a guided tour of Judy Darragh’s latest exhibition on Saturday 30 November. 

Find more information about this exhibition and associated activities on our website: www.ceac.org.nz

Te Hā O Te Whenua (The Breath Of The Land)

Simon Kaan

By: Kathryn Tsui, Curator 

Artist Simon Kaan examines whenua (land) issues in this latest exhibition through landscapes that depict the connection of land to water, and land to sky. To consider the responsibility that belonging and living in a place has. 

These hauntingly sparse vistas relate to Kaan’s political concerns toward land and access rights. Sparseness is essential in the work, he explains it allows room to breathe, pause and meditate on what is not there. It alludes to the unseen spiritual and physical connection his shared ancestors would have had in the past. 

Kaan’s landscapes are ancestral, within the landscapes are a combination of visual motifs inherited from the artist’s Kai (Ngāi) Tahu and Chinese heritage. Ancestral balance is important to Kaan and this is demonstrated by neither image dominating the other, but rather coexisting within the picture plane. Structurally his landscapes follow the traditions of classical Chinese landscapes in which there is often a flow top to bottom, left to right.

“The landforms that Kaan creates are often loose adaptions of actual views or embedded memories, in which he captures the rhythms of the land.  These portrayals of land are once again accompanied by images of water, that seem to simultaneously divide and synthesise, in the form of rivers, waterfalls, mist and oceans,” Sanderson Contemporary Art.

As land, sky and waterways continue to dominate Kaan’s art practice he is able to capture scenes that are not only shaped by natural physical and political forces but also by absence and ancestry.

Artist biography
Simon Kaan is a renowned painter, printmaker and multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Dunedin. In 1993 Kaan gained a Diploma of Fine Arts with Honours, majoring in Printmaking from the School of Fine Art, Otago Polytechnic. Since then his work has been exhibited publically and with dealer galleries in New Zealand, Australia, New Mexico USA and China. Kaan was awarded the Creative New Zealand Red Gate Gallery Residency in Beijing in 2004. In 2012 he presented an installation at the International Symposium of electronic arts in New Mexico, USA.

 

Mrs Chrysanthemum patiently waits...
Kim Lowe
By: Kathryn Tsui, Curator

In Mrs Chrysanthemum patiently waits..., artist Kim Lowe employs a diverse range of printmaking techniques to depict the varied extracts of her family's mixed New Zealand Chinese and Pakeha history.

Lowe draws upon the wealth of stories surrounding her ancestral history and the marginalisation of pioneering NZ Chinese migrant families. The prints in the exhibition relate to her paternal grandmother of Chinese origin who was born in Cuba and then brought up in New Zealand. “Even though she had been in New Zealand since she was 6 or 7 she still kept her Cuban passport so was classified as a NZ alien because she refused to denounce her Chineseness”, says the artist. 

Akin to her grandmother the artist resiliently represents her mixed cultural heritage, through her chosen art medium of print. Both printmaking and working on paper connects to European and Chinese art traditions. Even the fundamental act of making prints requires a negative image to create the positive printed image, this relates to the artist’s interest in the Chinese concept of polarity where opposites are necessary to create balance. Also embedded in Lowe’s works are visual symbols and motifs from Chinese and European art history and antiquity.    

Cultural hybridity, elements of Taoist Philosophy and nature are often starting points for the artist. A more recent influence for the Christchurch based artist has been the 2011 earthquake. Making the best out of the aftermath Lowe has incorporated by products from this destructive natural disaster.

Earlier works in this exhibition, 96 Lotus Feet (2007) and Underbellies (2007), were damaged by liquefaction during the quake.  The artist has chosen to retain the liquefaction on these works and new post-quake works adopt the same grey palette. Not only as a response to the quake the grey also symbolises Lowe’s recollection of visiting her ancestral house in China, where everything was caked in a similar coloured dust. 

The overall narrative in Mrs Chrysanthemum patiently waits... is themed around cultural hybridity based on the artist’s ancestral roots. Lowe describes hybridity today as, “being less infused with biological cross breeding and has lost some of its negativity. It has become a term which describes more of an exchange, borrowing, mixing or combining of different cultures.”

Artist biography
Kim Lowe is a Christchurch based artist with an art practice grounded in printmaking and painting that centres around mixed cultural identity. In 2009 Lowe completed a Master of Fine Arts from Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury. Recent art projects include coordinating the Sendai-Christchurch Art Exchange in response to the 2011 quake and tsunami events in Christchurch and Japan. Lowe recently returned from presenting at IMPACT8 International Printmaking Conference in Scotland.

Beauty Through The Four Hands

Sang Sool Shim & Keum Sun Lee 

By: Kathryn Tsui, Curator

Sang Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee are self-taught potters, together they collaborate on ceramics that incorporate both traditional Korean and contemporary ceramic techniques. Their works reflect their cultural heritage and a life set in the Waitakere Ranges.

Their two-way clay practice is an extension of their relationship as husband and wife. Pottery became their self-selected career in 2001, it meant the couple could work together full time in their home based studio. Primarily their small and large scale ceramics are hand built by Shim and then intricately decorated by Lee. 

Shim is a renowned 8th Dan master in the Korean martial art Tae Kwon Do, he was the former national couch for Brunei and instructor to the Brunei royal family. Now he tackles the intense physical nature of clay, often starting with 15cm thick slabs of clay he paddles and hand forms this dense material into delicately thin oversized vessels and sculptures.

Lee has a Doctorate in public administration and since living in New Zealand has turned her academic mind to study classical Korean ceramic decorative techniques. Many of the decorative methods featured in this exhibition come from the Bun-cheong style of ceramic ware which dates back to the Koryo Dynasty (918 -1392AD). Lee in particular specialises in several of these techniques including, Sanggam in which designs are incised or stamped before applying white clay or coloured slip which is then wiped away to reveal the design.  Another process distinctive to Shim and Lee’s work is Bakji a reverse inlay process in which the background is scrapped off, revealing a raised pattern. 

Complimentary to these customary techniques, they use equipment and materials common to the current ceramic practices in New Zealand. They fire their pottery in both gas and electric kilns and use contemporary glazes.

Their time intensive clay works are completely handmade and require a lot of patience and concentration to complete.  The couple enjoy this laborious and slow process as it contrasts with the pace of contemporary life. “In these days everything is so fast but we want to think of slow. That is why we concentrate and make fully handmade works. It is a kind of meditation,” say the artists.

Artists Biography

Sang Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee are Korean born ceramic collaborators that live and work from a studio in West Auckland. Ceramic awards and accolades include; the John Green Artist Award in 2008 and 2009, the 2011 People’s Choice Award in the Portage Ceramic Awards, being international finalists in 2011 at the International Biennial of Ceramics, Austria and the International Ceramic Accessory Competition, Korea. In 2013 they were selected to present a lecture at the The 7th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, Seoul, Korea. Shim and Lee’s ceramics can be found in the collections of Kapsenberg Museum in Austria and the Portage Licensing Trust.

Cross cultural visual inheritance

Corban Estate Art Centre

Corban Estate Arts Centre's latest exhibitions by Simon Kaan, Kim Lowe, Sang Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee, explores hybrid Asian identities through painting, printmaking and ceramics are on display from 13 September to 20 October 2013.

Dunedin based artist Simon Kaan, examines whenua (land) issues in this latest exhibition. Through multiple art disciplines the exhibition investigates the connection of land with water, to consider the responsibility of belonging to a place.  This exhibition features landscapes that combine visual motifs inherited from the artist’s, Kai Tahu and Chinese ancestry.

Kim Lowe is a Christchurch based artist and printmaker of New Zealand Chinese and Pakeha descent. Lowe’s latest exhibition of prints features new works based on past events and snippets of her diverse family's history.

Sang Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee are self-taught potters, together they collaborate on large and small scale ceramic works. Hand thrown by Shim and intricately decorated by Lee, they work with both traditional Korean and contemporary ceramic techniques. Their artworks are influenced by their cultural heritage and a life set in the Waitakere Ranges of Auckland.

On Saturday 14 September, 10.30am artists Simon Kaan and Kim Lowe will present a joint exhibition talk, presenting an opportunity to hear these two South Island based artists.

Image captions:

Simon Kaan, Untitled (detail), 2013. Courtesy of Sanderson Contemporary Art.

Kim Lowe, Mrs Chrysanthemum patiently waits.... (detail), 2013.
Sang Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee, The Eclipse Jar (detail), 2012.

Exhibitions details:

Exhibition: Te hā o te whenua -The breath of the land

Artist: Simon Kaan                                          

Exhibition dates: 13 September – 20 October 2013

Exhibition: Mrs Chrysanthemum patiently waits....        

Artist: Kim Lowe                                              

Exhibition dates: 13 September – 20 October 2013

Exhibition: Beauty of the four hands      

Artists:  Sang Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee          

Exhibition dates: 13 September – 20 October 2013

Public programmes                                       
Exhibitions opening:                                                                                       Thursday 12 September, 6pm-8pm

Joint artist talk – Simon Kaan and Kim Lowe:                                        Saturday 14 September, 10.30am            
Entry:                                                                                                                    Free, all welcome

If you'd like more information about these exhibitions or for media inquiries please contact the curator, Kathryn Tsui: 09 838 4455 extension 203 or kathryn@ceac.org.nz

Circle of Riffs
Dane Taylor
By Kathryn Tsui

Auckland based artist Dane Taylor works on pre-existing images that he then overlays with painted abstractions.  In Circle of riffs, Taylor’s latest exhibition, he continues to use these found images as the basis for interactions between the recognisable world and the supposedly abstract.

Many of the works centre on hand painted kaleidoscopic abstractions that refract the image, surrounding them in a visual exchange. The artists says, “the work is intended to facilitate visual thinking, to exercise the part of the brain that explores and understands visual language without necessarily being able to translate what is said into spoken language.”

Rather than methodically sourcing images, Taylor prefers to follow a rendezvous style of approach, a concept used by artist Marcel Duchamp (1887- 1968) known as the predecessor of conceptual art. The rendezvous between the artist, and the object they appropriate, functions as a random element in the artwork connected to the artist’s daily life.  In the case of this show, many of the images are from rare old books and postcards Taylor discovered hunting through the Avondale markets near his home, which he frequents weekly. 

Taylor’s painted and printed image compositions combine hand painted elements with digital methods. He often adapts the original image reworking the composition to suit, before applying the opaque gouache medium to render a multi-layered portal between unique artwork and reproductions, abstraction and the representational.

Artist biography
Dane Taylor is an Auckland based artist with an art practice grounded in abstract painting and photography. Taylor graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours), from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2009 and completed a Bachelor of Arts Majoring in Film and Anthropology, Victoria University in 2001. In the past four years his works have featured in a variety of galleries including Robert Heald Gallery in Wellington; and in Auckland, the George Fraser Gallery, Papakura Art Gallery and Snake Pit.

Kids art workshop with the artist
Saturday 31 August, 11am-12.30pm FREE
In this art workshop with artist Dane Taylor we will explore the possibilities of collage with existing images and get to colour in your own crystalline jewel shape!  All materials provided!

Black+White+Red
John Parker
By Kathryn Tsui

Artist John Parker presents new ceramic works in black, white and red, a colour palette that he believes encompasses New Zealand, Aotearoa as an evolving nation. This series refers to the colour range of the national Māori (Tino Rangatiratanga) flag which was identified through a nationwide consultation process. 

As an artist Parker plays on ceramic traditions and discourse. His pieces are typically recognisable as bottles or vases, however he pushes these forms beyond the traditional pottery vessel shape towards stark minimalism.  The artist says, “my concerns are with finish and control and the infinite possibilities of minimalism.” His semi functional forms contribute to the debate between functional and non-functional objects.

His works exist in the territory between handmade originals and mass produced ceramics. Highly finished and faultlessly geometrical, Parker’s clay forms look industrially made yet they are all thrown by hand and turned on a potter’s wheel. This relates to his on-going interest in reworking industrial ceramic styles by New Zealand born Wedgewood designer Keith Murray (from the 1930s), and his intern Earnest Shufflebotham  (during the 1950s),  for New Zealand’s iconic factory ceramic ware manufacturer Crown Lynn.

Influences on Parker’s clay practice are vast, from modernist ceramics to traditional and contemporary Chinese ceramics. In 2007, Parker was part of an Australasian residency at the FuLe International Ceramic Museum in Fuping, China. This influential international exchange for contemporary ceramists was an opportunity for him to work with Chinese clay and experience first-hand China’s vast ceramic history that he had previously only studied in books. His time in China is referenced by the red glaze, red being an auspicious colour.

In Black + White + Red, Parker’s ceramic pieces combine as one overall staged scene, in an interplay of forms and colours to create a unified whole.

Artist biography
Based in West Auckland John Parker is considered to be one of New Zealand’s leading studio potters and has been exhibiting ceramics since 1967. In 1975 Parker completed a Master of Arts (ceramics) from the Royal College in London. He has received numerous awards for his work including the respected Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2010. Parker has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally in the UK, Italy, USA and Australia. His work is held in major New Zealand and Australasian public collections including, Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Dowse Art Gallery in Wellington. Recently Parker undertook a residency at Sturt Pottery in Mittagong, outside of Sydney. Multi-talented Parker is also a renowned theatre designer.

Resolution
Liyen Chong
By Kathryn Tsui
Resolution by visual artist Liyen Chong is a new series of work developed since travelling to South Korea, on an AsiaNZ Foundation artist residency in 2012.

This exhibition represents a sample of Chong’s research into 60s and 70s visual imagery, sourced from encyclopaedias and Britannica yearbooks. Combining national and international visual subject matter Chong responds to her time living in a contemporary Asian society that allowed her the distance to reflect on what it means to be an artist based in New Zealand.

Theories based on comparative mythology are relevant to Chong, as they provide a framework for finding collective myths across different civilisations. In Resolution, the works point to archetypical myths across a selection of disparate encyclopaedic pictures. Visually these found images are scanned and enlarged, then interrupted by pictorial studies to translate their shared mythic and iconic qualities.

The artist describes these works on paper as, “performing interventions on the surface of these reproduced images, finding new visual possibilities with a combination of media and methods.” These painterly and print grain-like interventions draw attention to the external meaning of factual photographs and give the images new potential associations.

Primarily an image maker, Chong’s multi-faceted art practice continues to be based on an in-depth engagement with diverse disciplines and media. To date this has included embroidery with hair, printing on ceramics, text-based graphic design work and photography.

Artist biography
Liyen Chong is an Auckland based artist with a multi-disciplinary art practice. In 2003 Chong completed a Master of Fine Arts from Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury. Recently her work has featured in solo exhibitions at Blue Oyster Project Space in Dunedin, Gus Fisher Gallery and Melanie Roger Gallery in Auckland.   She was the recipient of several prestigious artist residencies including the McCahon House Artist in Residency, Titirangi in 2011 and in 2012 the Asia New Zealand Foundation artist residency in Goyang Art Studio, South Korea. Chong’s work can be found in major public collections including: the Chartwell Collection, Auckland, The University of Canterbury Art Collection, Christchurch and the National Gallery of Australia Collection, Australia.

Stories Explode at Youth Film and Theatre Festival

Young performers and filmmakers will compete for supremacy at the Phase 1 Youth Theatre and Film Festival in West Auckland on Saturday 31 August at Corban Estate Arts Centre, as part of this year’s Going West Books and Writers’ Festival.

“We never know how important our voice is until it is taken away from us” says Lavinia ‘Uhila, a Ranui based actress, who is currently preparing for her debut as director of a collaborative theatre piece that explores how domestic violence affects women. “Our play focuses on bringing hope and encouragement to women and daughters going through any struggle, to speak out about injustice” continues ‘Uhila. 

Lavinia ‘Uhila (25), graduated from the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (NASDA) in 2009. Among her successes since graduating, have been her performances as a soloist in Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park 2011 and in the lead role in Sinarella, a joint production between the Auckland Theatre Company and the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts.
Actor Jason Wu (22), a graduate of Unitec’s Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts, will premiere a short documentary about the formation of a new band, Midnight Trips, and the skyrocketing success of its music on local radio. He will also act in a theatre piece about men discovering and coming to realise the effects of their violent behaviour on their families and themselves.

Wu, is perhaps best known for his lead role in Michael Bennett’s award-winning feature film, Matariki (2010). Since graduating from Unitec in 2012, he has performed in Titus at Q Theatre and in Te Manawa at Corban Estate Arts Centre. 

The Phase 1 festival, only in its third year, is shaping up to include the highest standard of original theatre and film-making seen yet at the festival, and is funded once again by Creative Communities. “This year’s event offers a fresh platform for many young people with undiscovered talents, to take their creative energy to the stage and onto film” says Jay Williams, Director Phoenix Performing Arts, based at Corban Estate. 

Film and play entries are expected both from teams of young participants connected to Phoenix, as well as teams from several local high schools. These will be judged for their originality, script and overall production, by leading directors and scriptwriters from the film and theatre industries at the festival’s ‘heat nights’ on Thursday 29th and Friday 30th August. The judges top choices will compete for the glory of the supreme award at the Phase 1 Gala Night on Saturday 31st August. All the performances and film showings begin at 7pm and take place in Shed 1, Corban Estate Arts Centre. Further information and bookings can be made at info@ceac.org.nz or by phoning 838 4455. 

For further information please contact: Patricia Aguilera | Marketing and Communication Manager Corban Estate Arts Centre | p. +64 (09) 8384455 ext. 208 | e. patricia@ceac.org.nz | w. www.ceac.org.nz. 

PHASE 1

A 3-day festival of original short plays and films by young writers, film-makers, directors and actors.

FILM HEAT NIGHT
Thursday 29 August, 7pm
Shed 1, Corban Estate Arts Centre
All films accepted into the festival will be shown and a panel of judges from the film industry will select the best to be presented at the Gala Night.
Entry: $10 (EFTPOS & cash door sales only)

PLAYS HEAT NIGHT
Friday 30 August, 7pm
Shed 1, Corban Estate Arts Centre
All plays accepted into the festival will be performed and a panel of judges from the theatre industry will select the best to be presented at the Gala Night.
Entry: $10 (EFTPOS & cash door sales only)

FILMS & PLAYS GALA NIGHT
Saturday 31 August, 7pm
Shed 1, Corban Estate Arts Centre
The best works as selected by the judges in the preceding nights will be presented and a Supreme Award will be awarded by a panel of judges.
Entry: $20 (Tickets include a light supper. Limited seating, so pre-bookings advised. Limited door sales available. Cash bar. EFTPOS & cash door sales only)

[Note: Some content in the festival programme may offend some people. Parental guidance is recommended. Not suitable for those under 15]

More info:
www.ceac.org.nz
info@ceac.org.nz

ABOUT CORBAN ESTATE ARTS CENTRE
The Corban Estate Arts Centre is located at the historic Corban Winery Estate in Henderson, Auckland. The arts centre utilizes the historic winery buildings and is home to galleries which feature a changing programme of exhibitions, as well as a café, gallery shop, and artist’s studios. CEAC also offers a wide range of arts and cultural events and education programmes, including art classes for adults and children and a schools education programme. The Centre is open 7 days a week, 10.00am – 4.30pm. 

ABOUT PHOENIX
Phoenix NZYP is a youth performing arts company, based at Corban Estate Arts Centre. Phoenix takes a holistic approach to performance, beginning with shared stories which form the themes that are crafted into original drama and music pieces. Through participating in this creative process, young people learn more about the world in which they live. The company is renowned for its innovative performances which do not shy away from strong themes that are renowned for moving audiences.

ABOUT GOING WEST BOOKS AND WRITERS FESTIVAL
Now in its 18th year, this festival celebrates all that is inspiring, challenging and unexpected in the words of our New Zealand writers and performers. As well as the Phase 1 Festival, Going West includes a theatre season with Auckland Theatre Company, a Poetry Slam and the key event, the Books and Writers’ Weekend.