Wellington artists Judi Jenkins and Lucy Jerram Moore share a passion for expressing the experiences of New Zealanders separated by war. Judi’s series of paintings and assemblage, entitled ‘Letters Home’, is based on actual WWII correspondence from her father-in-law, Southlander David Sutherland Jenkins. During his service in the Western Desert, Italy and Europe with the 23rd Battalion from 1940-44, Dave corresponded regularly with his sister, brother-in-law and father, back home running the family farm. Drawing on the history and emotion of the time, Judi has created a series of canvasses and assemblages that capture the mood of these poignant letters.
Judi specializes in paint and mixed media and has exhibited, sold artwork and taught in Wellington for many years. In April and May of 2010, this collection was shown in Southland, bringing the correspondence between brother and sister home.
Lucy’s works in paint and textiles also explore the emotional impact of separation, absence and the difficulty of communication under wartime conditions. Against a background of fragments and images reminiscent of WWI, simple symbols such as dots, dashes and grids take on a code-like historical significance. The stitch in particular becomes a poignant symbol of the desire to connect two worlds – masculine/feminine, military/domestic, home/abroad, then/now.
Lucy was trained firstly in psychology and subsequently in textile design, jewellery and illustration. She has exhibited nationally since 2000 and now produces work on commission as well as furthering her research into the history and effects of New Zealand’s involvement in World War 1.
MISSING/LETTERS HOME
Paintings, textiles & assemblage
Toi Poneke Gallery, Abel Smith Street
July 23 – August 14 2010
Preview/opening 5.30pm Thursday July 22
TLC student Sophie Taptiklis is preparing to showcase her work at Thistle Hall in Wellington. She sent us a sneak preview of what will be on display!
“The watercolours, sketches and etchings in this exhibition grow out of an appreciation of New Zealand’s fauna, and a desire to acknowledge the tension in the ability of our birds and wildlife to survive in this modified and polluted environment we live in. Some species manage well, while the forest habitats of others are replaced by car wrecker yards (like in Lower Hutt) or endless acres of sheep and cattle. Hence one of the only place to find traces of these beautiful creations is in recollections on scrap metal.”
Non-Stick Nature
Images of the intricacies of nature by TLC student Sophie Taptiklis
Thistle Hall, 293 Cuba Street, Wellington. Opening 6-8pm Monday 12 July, then open daily 10-6 Tuesday to Sunday.
Save Our Land in Time: Wellington Artists’ environmental message.
Exhibition: Our Land in Time, an exhibition of paintings from Dan Wilkinson and Sandy Rodgers at Tamarillo Gallery, 325 Lambton Quay Wellington, 4 – 26 June 2010.
Our Land in Time is a darkly beautiful exhibition from two Wellington artists: Sandy Rodgers and Dan Wilkinson.
Sandy Rodgers is a talented painter, and passionate about her country. Her latest work: ‘Protect our forests from mining’ directly addresses the mining issues facing our National Parks and Conservation areas. Rodgers is well known for her paintings referencing the history and origins of Aotearoa, and she says the body of work on display in this exhibition encompasses the history of New Zealand, but also where we are now and where we are heading. The anti-mining painting wrestles with the here and now, Rodgers says.
“Here we are today…this is just one issue that we are currently faced with. The faded flag (ensign) representing what can happen to our nation if we let the jewel in our illustrious crown be destroyed. (Our national parks and conservation areas)”
Sandy grew up in the Hutt Valley, before moving to London and spending six years travelling the world. After years of study, work, travel and general life experience Rodgers says she realised how little she really knew of not only her own heritage but all of New Zealand’s heritage and so made it her personal goal to study, research, read, question and create as much information as possible. She now resides in Island Bay, and her perspective on her home and country is enhanced by the years of distance:
“It is these places that we are still advertising on postcards inviting people to partake in our little slice of paradise.”
Her series also includes an older work titled “Adventure in Maoriland.” Rodgers explains that this piece is about the settlement of both Maori and Pakeha cultures here in Aotearoa. The title comes from a series of postcards printed at the beginning of the 20th Century in Wellington by Murray Lloyd Photography. The postcards showed photographs from all over the country of wild and tame New Zealand Scenery. At that time, New Zealand was advertised as a virtual wonderland filled with romantic images of happy and peaceful people living in an idyllic setting. There is also a huia feather in the image, which Rodgers identifies as a reminder of the danger that if we become complacent and take this Eden of ours for granted it can be destroyed, never to be restored!
Rodger’s paintings will be exhibited at Tamarillo Gallery alongside long time artist colleague Dan Wilkinson, whose works explores the physical and spiritual energy of the land. Wilkinson works from a studio on Wellington’s rugged South Coast; he says this inspirational landscape is notable in his new work: “I am interested in stripping back the land and capturing what is unseen, what makes it so powerful.” Capturing the essence of his surroundings has lead to a more specific passion for the islands of New Zealand & the stories of the land. Wilkinson says he finds Islands such as Mana, Kapiti & Matiu/Somes very special as they are places with very little pollution and contain no predators.
“These are places where trees, insects, birds and the tuatara thrive. There is maybe a hint of what it used to be like before human intrusion. Marine reserves & bird sanctuaries have been a huge step forward into returning the local environment to its most natural state; they act a bit like role models for society.”
Wilkinson’s latest works also reflect his vision for a free flowing sustainable society. He believes that the people of Aotearoa have a responsibility to take care of the land for future generations. This includes simple things like being aware of the environmental footprints each of us leave behind, with the array of things we consume on a daily basis.
Both artists studied Art & Creativity at The Learning Connexion, where Wilkinson has taught for over 10 years. Sandy Rodgers exhibits widely across the country and you can catch Our Land in Time at Tamarillo Gallery, 325 Lambton Quay from June 4 – 26.
Last term’s music video block class, tutored by Kate Logan, brought together a team of students with one goal -- to make a music video.
Students worked with a music track and concept by Wellington musician Little Bark. Each student took on a role in the crew, from directing to gaffing to art direction. After a day’s planning and a day’s shooting students began editing. Each student edited a scene and at the end they put everything together into a single video. This was quite an achievement for a weeks’ work. Many students hadn’t edited on a computer before, some hadn’t even made a video.
We’ve popped the final music video up on YouTube to share it with you all, enjoy!
You can find out more about TLC’s video classes here.
Puppetry in action
Planning the shots
Alan production managing
Lunch!!!
I’m thrilled to invite you to attend the opening of “All in between (then and now)”. This exhibition will present a selection of works from the past four years with a number of new and previously unexhibited artworks. This will be my last exhibition in New Zealand for the foreseeable future, as I’m relocating to The Netherlands to further my art practice.
The opening is from 6pm on Friday the 26th of March at J.J. Morgan & Co (3 Cruickshank St, Kilbirnie), and the show will also be open to view on Saturday the 27th. I hope to see you there! Please feel free to forward this invitation and/or bring whoever you like to the show.
Written by Aaron Frater (TLC Tutor)
The fourth biannual ShapeShifter show held at the Civic Gardens and The NewDowse in Lower Hutt is a sculpture exhibition that runs during the New Zealand International Arts Festival. It has grown over the past 10 years to be a major visual arts event, one of the country’s premier outdoor sculpture exhibitions and an important charitable event for the Hutt Valley.
The show, which runs from Friday 26 February to Sunday 21 March 2010, features sculptures from over 60 artists including top New Zealand sculptors Para Matchitt, Don Driver, Graham Bennett, Tanya Ashken, Peter Nicholls, as well as exciting emerging artists. The sculptures are chosen by the ShapeShifter artistic director and director of The NewDowse art museum, Cam McCracken are in a wide variety of mediums and a range of scale.
After many years of putting in applications for this show, I was lucky enough to be selected for the 2010 event. So I guess I am one of the emerging sculptors. The body of work I have been creating, alongside a number of other series of works, are based around the idea of symbols and signs, using a specific material to realise them. The nature of the barrier mesh material is integral to the works. The mesh is luridly bright, bold, takes up space in a virtual kind of way, and yet is more holes than substance. This form / no-form dichotomy is a hallmark of, and something I love about this industrial product used as an art material. The space in the mesh is an integral or even dominant part of the work.
The safety mesh is a grid, a manufactured woven pattern that is designed to warn the viewer away from dangers, yet it grabs attention and draws one in with its intense colour. A business suit is similar, a barrier. It keeps the corporate warrior safe. It can keep people out, make a statement of rank and demarcate socio economic and cultural boundaries. Are the identities these costumes confer upon human’s solid or primarily empty space? Are they just made up of socio cultural historical norms? Is a suit perhaps like barrier mesh? More hole than mass – like the space between protons and electrons in atoms? Physical matter in this view is more empty space than mass.
The layers of meaning in material, construction, and subject matter leave them open to interpretation. They are signs, or symbols – they are not naturalistic. The construction of these works is akin to upholstery or tailoring, referencing form and function as such practical crafts as these do. I am neither a tailor nor a costumer. I am a sculptor versed in many forms of three dimensional arts making seeking a way to express some of what it is to be human in the 21st century.
The opportunity to show these works in a public space as ShapeShifter allows is a great way for me to put these ideas out for many to engage with. A public show with the level of publicity of this one means many people will see them, interact with them and comment on them. This can be quite hard, opening up ones work to all comers, but its part of the art game. I find too that the growth in my work tends to come after people have seen it and given me feedback. I digest and filter it, and it informs aspects of my work. I still have to stay true to my ideas, but art is a visual communication and it is as much a dialogue as a monologue.
26 February – 21 March 2010
Open 10am-5pm daily and Thursdays 10am-8pm
NEWDOWSE LINK
An exhibition of paintings by TLC tutor, Anne-Marie Jean and also Karen Giles opened at Tamarillo Gallery in Wellington on Thursday night. Anne-Marie and Karen have worked together for many years, sharing studios and doing tramping and drawing trips into the New Zealand and Australian bush. The show was inspired by a trip they did to Stewart Island in December 2009, spending a week at Mason Bay in the Doc hut there, drawing and painting each day on the beach and sand dunes.
Other news is that TLC Tutors Anne-Marie Jean and Jane Blackmore have just opened Blackmore Jean Gallery and Studio at Shelley Bay in Wellington. The Galley/Studio will be open Tuesday to Saturday each week and it is just down the road from the Chocolate Fish Cafe. So get down there and check it out!
Paramount Gallery, 25 Courtney Place, Wellington.
My works for this solo exhibition explore the theme of grids and lines using a range of art methods and media –oils, pastels and acrylic paints on a variety of surfaces.
I am fascinated with the way our lives are viewed through frames of our own and others making – looking through objects such as windows and doors. As artists we are often advised to ‘frame the view’, as it is just not possible to paint the whole universe. We have to do it human sized chunks. Life goes on whether we are in front, behind, under or above these frames or grids. It is this idea of life going on whether we look out or look in that I am conveying in this group of abstract artworks, as well as the grids and lines themselves.
The idea of life being looked at through grids and lines was a large part of my career in the NZ Public Service where as a land administrator we used a wonderful way of imposing some order into the ‘chaos’ of land by working with maps – both topographical and showing tenure and title.
Contact details:
0274255334, 04 3893825 or ctrewby@clear.net.nz
The Learning Connexion
Phone +64 4 568 0320 or
0800 ART POWER
(0800 278 769 within NZ)
Fax +64 4 567 9864
www.tlc.ac.nz
info@tlc.ac.nz
PO Box 9811
Wellington 6141
Taita Campus
182 Eastern Hutt Road
Taita, Lower Hutt 5019
New Zealand
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