Arpillera (pronounced ‘ ar-pee-air-ah’) literally means ‘hessian’ or ‘burlap'. This sacking fabric was used as the base of traditional Chilean tapestries created by women during the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s as a means of resistance, subsistence and expression. They have since been made in several countries by women speaking out for justice and peace.
The Wellington Arpilleras Collective (www.arpilleraswellington.com), a group of (mostly) Latin American women based in Wellington, has been sewing arpilleras together since 2014. In this exhibition, we share some of our individual and collective pieces, which explore aspects of our migration stories; work, identity, relationships, historic memories, and the re-creation of meaningful lives.
In the exhibition, we are also very humbled to share a number of arpilleras from Memorarte, a fellow group of arpilleristas based in Chile. Their work involves keeping memories alive and giving visibility to contemporary issues of social and environmental justice.
Come and join us to thread stories and places, and to celebrate a part of Wellington's diverse and rich community fabric.
Alongside the exhibition, we’ll be showing a documentary on the history of arpilleras on Friday evening and hosting a workshop on Saturday.
More details can be found on our facebook event page here
This event is held as part of Tiwhanawhana's fundraising week, Whakapapa and Histories: Keeping Our Stories Alive, in celebration of Queer History Month.
Featuringt Tiwhanawhana artists Elizabeth Kerekere, Jack Trolove and Peri Te Wao.
Margaret Little has produced a series of innovative works that, with playfulness and subtlety, gently remind us how women are influenced by our media.
By using vintage magazines, fashion journals, etiquette manuals and comics as background for the drawn nude and collage, Margaret has created art that is colourful, entertaining and meaningful.
Tales explores the relationship, stories and connections we share with, and pass down to, our children. Using a range of different media including collage, painting, miniature scenes and kinetic sculpture, Tales aims to evoke feelings of universal connection, independence and uncertainty.
Tales has been an on going collaboration between retired Theatre Maker and Artist John Downie, and Visual Artist Leda Farrow (both Wellington based). It combines stories and images used, shared and recontextualised between a father and daughter over a generation.
This exhibition aims to stimulate the viewer to consider an intimate relationship which is universal, that between a child and parent, but also, from within it, to consider how we relate to, understand, and interpret the politics of the wider world.
Leda is a First-Class Honours graduate in Fine Art from Massey University, and has spent time studying at University of California Berkeley School of Art, and at Bread and Puppet Theater, in Vermont. Her current practice is in drawing, puppetry, and animatronics. She currently works as an art tutor at The Learning Connection.
John has had a long professional career as an artist and teacher, in a number of artistic disciplines, but particularly as a playwright, director, and experimenter in performance and media arts in the UK. He retired four years ago as Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Film at Victoria University.
An exhibition Inspired by apothecary, alchemy and high street perfumeries the Jelly Archive tells the nostalgic story of one of New Zealand’s favourite desserts through an interactive and theatrical exhibition. The exhibition is the creation of Jellyologist - Jessica Mentis. Jessica set up Mentis Studios at the beginning of 2015 in order to fuse her two passions, architecture and food. She aims to approach food and flavour-based experiences from an architectural standpoint, using technology and processes usually used to design objects and buildings. She doesn't set a table, she builds a set.
As part of the exhibition Jessica is offering “Mad Labs” – where apothecary meets high street perfumery. This is a ticketed event where participants make their own mould and concoct their own special jelly flavour to take home and create their own masterpiece!
Wellington Stories interviews Jessica on Facebook - video link.
Jelly sculptures wow at Wellington On a Plate - stuff.co.nz
Proudly supported by the Wellington Culinary Events Trust and Resene
Opening hours: 11.00am - 6.30pm
This is a retrospective of my work since arriving in Wellington in 2010.
The arts community in Wellington has been a huge source of inspiration for me, providing educational opportunity and giving me the courage to persist in my artistic endeavours.
My work is generally a response in abstraction to a wide range of subjects both physical and figurative. I find painting to be a contradictory process - both a struggle and a meditation, and always driven by a certain longing. It is an investigation into a personal space - the way I see things.
The imagery has its roots in my observation of everyday objects and includes structures in decline, organic shapes, particularly in relation to water, and the exploration of landscape forms. The intent of my work is to display an appreciation for the beauty I find within these images.
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” Thomas Merton
The opening speaker will be historian Malcolm McKinnon.
Opening hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 10.00am - 6.00pm
A truly unique exhibition is due to open in early August at Thistle Hall in Upper Cuba Street. Wellington: ink and clay is a collaborative exhibition of watercolour and three-dimensional images depicting buildings around Wellington by artist Lorraine Tarrant and sculptor Peter Rumble.
Lorraine Tarrant’s words
‘My regular painting arm was put out of action by a frozen shoulder, so I picked up a pen with my left hand and discovered a new style. Using watercolour pencils to bring out the colour and a dash of water to create the desired effect, I’ve captured glimpses of some of our favourite buildings.
So far, I’ve painted buildings in Island Bay, Berhampore, Lyall Bay, Kilbirnie, Cuba Street, Aro Street and Newtown. And there are so many other interesting corners to discover.
Particularly appealing are familiar shops and businesses clearly still operating today, and when you look up, historic Wellington is just sitting there on top. I am excited to be joined by Peter Rumble, who has created three-dimensional versions of some of the same buildings I have painted.’
Peter Rumble’s words
‘I am a late starter on the art front. Sculpture is my preference, with an emphasis over the past three years on works with clay. My art is driven by a need to ‘make stuff’. Subjects are many and varied, but I am particularly attracted to architectural and geometric forms.
I have had two very successful solo exhibitions and I am now looking forward, in 2016, to two collaborative exhibitions.
As a member of the Wellington Potters’ Association, I am on the Firing Team for the annual anagama (wood-fueled) firing and salt-kiln firings, processes I find, at once, exhilarating, confounding, demanding and rewarding.’
Open: 10am - 4pm Daily
The Ghost Hunters at Thistle Hall is an exhibition of Antoinette Ratcliffe’s current sculpture, photography and prints, including a collaboration series with artists Mica Still, Sean Duffield, Ema Frost and jeweller Kate Esther.
Antoinette’s pieces are mixed media wall mounted and free standing sculptures made from combinations of cast plaster with taxidermy (birds, mice, rats, bunnies, ducks and a hedgehog), bone, semi-precious gem stones, butterflies, bumble bees, surgical instruments and found cat whiskers. These media are combined to bring the anthropomorphic association of motive, ambition, sadness and grief to the raw plaster casts.
Antoinette completed her Master of Arts (visual arts) at the School of Media Arts in 2011 where she created an installation based project that has become ‘The Sick Bay’.
Her work explores thematic narrative derived from hybridity, horror conventions and anthropomorphic association. B-grade horror films continue to influence her current body of work, giving the installations and sculptures an awareness of a quiet sinister suspense as the visitors are watched by the taxidermy and plaster ‘ghost hunter’ creatures that scale walls or sit quietly on their own.
Please note all pieces are cash and carry, so don't miss out on the perfect piece for your collection!
(no eftpos available sorry) X
Margaret Ledgerton
Margaret was born in Liverpool, England, and came to New Zealand in her 20s. Since then she has lived mostly in Wellington and for shorter periods in Hawke’s Bay, Auckland, and Melbourne, working as a teacher, union researcher, and a public servant.
Painting and drawing have been her life-long interests, with increasing time devoted to them in recent years. She has worked with pencils, oil pastels, acrylics and oils to create still lifes, portraits and landscapes. Oils are the medium she currently enjoys most, and landscapes around the Wellington region, including coastal areas, provide the inspiration for most of her recent paintings.
Jane Duncan
Jane lives mostly in the Wairarapa where she says the light is so magical and, as an artist, is the perfect place as inspiration is all around her. She began painting properly in 2013 while recovering from a serious illness, first in acrylics but now mostly oils.
Under the tutelage of Jane Sinclair, she discovered ‘dark and light.’ ‘I was challenged to paint in the style of the Scottish Colourists, with their intense colours, looser brush strokes and subtle modulation of light and shade, which has led me to where I am today’ she says.
Completely absorbed in her art, Jane paints views through rooms, landscapes based on her father’s Scottish homeland, or still lifes with deep intense colours. ‘Painting takes me out of myself,’ she says. ‘It is my joy, great love, and addiction. The journey of an artist is a huge adventure. Come on it with me.’
Mark Peck
Mark has spent most of his adult life in public service: trade unions, politics, the Smokefree Coalition, and latterly as part owner of Little Peckish Café in central Wellington.
He is new to art. ‘My interest in painting developed when a friend introduced me to fine art,’ he says, ‘and after experimenting with a couple of cast-off canvasses in my garage, I signed up for lessons.’
Under the tutelage of Stephanie Woodman, Mark is discovering the nuances of technique, colour and form. He is fascinated with the effects of dappled light.
‘I am grateful to those who have encouraged my early development, including Margaret and Jane who have been hugely supportive. I am looking to grow further on this journey of discovery. For now, I’ll just keep painting.’
Ambrose Tiso is a young cartoonist. He spends lots of time drawing and thinking of new stories he can turn into comics. His preferred medium is felt pens.
As he gets older his aim is to lengthen his work into more substantial stories and hopefully turn them into movies.
Talei Peckham
Wellington based spokenword poet, set designer and photographer enthusiast
She believes that there are ballpoint pens that tell more truth then men. These are the poems that demand to be heard. Through each poem she aims to express the light and not hide from the sour tales through her mixed media
Toni Ann Alamani
Wellington based Hand-Lettering artist
Lettering for Toni Ann has always been a way to encourage and inspire others with beautifully written words to serve as reminders of their potential and worth, to push them further and believe in more for their life.
Janice Lum
Wellington based artist, illustrator and typography enthusiast
Passionate about exploring themes of God, nature and everyday truths through the medium of watercolour and ink. Her work encourages creative exploration and boldness through embracing the failures that push you forward.
Harriet Bright
Harriet Bright's work breathes immediacy and fluidity. She captures the spirit of her models with lively line work and a free, loose style of painting.
Born in Norfolk in 1973, Harriet emigrated to New Zealand ten years ago. She won the Adam award for Portraiture in 2010, and was a finalist in the NZ Art Show signature Awards. She has held many solo and group exhibitions, most recently a collaboration with Elspeth Shannon at the New Zealand Portrait gallery.
Harriet works directly from life, and for many years has been engaged with the simple and expressive qualities of line.
Harriet's work can be found at www.harrietbright.co.nz
Denise Durkin
In 2001 I made a commitment to drawing and painting. I first began drawing the figure at Wellington Polytechnic, and when I wanted to increased the fine arts direction of my life I returned to the human as a subject. This started my association with Inverlochy Art School and their untutored life classes. There I was able to develop my drawing and painting skills and increased my confidence with the figure.
I have been helped immensely by Inverlochy Art School and the personal micro community I have found there, particularly artist friend Patricia Fry who has pushed my oil painting and drawing along with encouragement and a painter's eye over my work.
Represented by Gilberd Marriott Gallery:
www.gilberdmarriottgallery.com
www.denisedurkinartwork.com
Artist Noel Faifai born and bred in Lower hutt now residing in Wainuiomata having my first exhibition in 11 years.
I am a painter at heart but for this show I'm using more than one medium Oils, acrylic, spray paint, Natu -Tongan tapa cloth & photo transfer.
There will be 12 pieces exhibiting to show case a style in which I feel give a different perspective on pasifika art, some paintings are steeped in Samoan culture, some have social commentary & Religious elements & some are just pure expression.
Sarah Jamieson is a Scottish visual artist who recently moved to Wellington. This exhibition is a direct response from her journey to and around New Zealand. Her work focuses on the environment surrounding her, and how people explore and connect with it. She focuses on patterns in nature, geography, landforms and found objects that she collects along her travels.
She looks at the idea of place through mapmaking and the language that maps deploy, like a cartographer she uses the process of selection. In her work she also looks at the idea of an ever-changing landscape using organic forms, subtle tone changes and mark making.
www.artistsarahjamieson.com
How does it feel to be between states of change? Can you imagine the gradient of saturation as one sense takes over from the other? Chora Carleton and Tyler Jackson exhibition Between presents an exploration and interaction of their art practices, offering two ways of approaching the effect of colour perception and space on the viewer.
Chora Carleton's practice indulges on the phantasy of colour, sensation and space through beautiful soft watercolour abstract paintings. On the other hand, Tyler Jackson's practice entails an avid enquiry into the phenomenological role of light and colour, materiality and aesthetics through intense saturated colour objects that enrich in form and interaction.
The exhibition Between will present these two different approaches to handling colour, the artists' wish to spark conversations into how one perceives and experiences colour.
Welcome to the fascinating world of string art, the creative craft working with wood, nails and string. My exhibition shows a range of techniques used including abstract, representational designs, 2 and 3 dimensional, layered, paired and a few string sculptures.
A special section devoted to the "spider-man series" featuring 10 pieces showing various body positions strung in alternative styles.
Personal statement
For me thread design started back in the mid 70's with my brother bringing homework home of geometric patterns (symmography) from college. theses were later handed onto me to do, I soon revised that this was a great way to make a piece of art. Slowly over the years I continued to gather and collate resources leading into some original designs of my own. My passion for working with nails and string motivates me to create. I like the idea of the artwork being with all who appreciate beautiful pictures which can enhance the home, office or workplace.
The Dinner Party
Ceramics by Aimée McLeod
Fast food, take away coffees out of paper cups and plastic containers, eating on the run or in front of TV, hurry, stress…part of the daily routine for many these days. Consider sitting down with friends at a table with plates and dishes that are worthy of the food and enhance the pleasure of eating . Aimée’s ceramic tableware is unrepentantly non- recyclable and non-disposable.
Urban Trees
Photographs by Roland Idaczyk
Urban Trees is a story of survival. These trees have apparently assimilated to their surroundings. They even adapted similar colours. Although these trees look deprived, they are full of life. The images for this series were mostly taken during winter. While this reduces the appearance of the trees to their essential structure, in all their nakedness they also convey a very special beauty. Unfortunately, several of the Wellingtonian trees in this series have had their lives taken.
Electron Micrographs
John Patterson
The Electron micrographs were taken using the 30 year old JEOL 733 microprobe at Victoria University. John looked after this analytical microscope for 11 years. Some of these images were recently interpreted in oils by Linda Ćihařová, an artist in Prague.
I am an amateur photographer with a love of black and white street photography and portraiture. Wellington’s urban environments are rich with opportunities to observe and capture life in the city. With the images in this Cuba People series I aim to celebrate the everyday, the surprising, the humorous, the beautiful, and the sad aspects of people out and about in this unique street in central Wellington, Aotearoa-New Zealand.
As noted on a Cuba Mall display board:
“Everything you ever wanted........and more
acupuncture, antiques, art, automobiles, beauty, books, chainsaws, Chinese medicine.... skates, tattoos, technology, travel, vinyl...........plus much much more
and the most fascinating mix of people in the country”
Cuba People is my third street photography book; the others are Three Cities (2015), and Newtown Forever (2016).
Mary Hutchinson
May 2016
“...They have a story to be told. I want to tell it, I want to be a voice for the unfamous people. They are the people who interest me. Whether it’s a guy in Miami who goes to a dance or its someone who’s dying in Ethiopia, they are the unfamous people that I care about. I feel a certain purity in them that’s real, and I want to document their lives...”
Mary Ellen Mark in The Photo Essay (Photographers at work, a Smithsonian Series, 1990).
Kirsty Oliver’s work explores the concept of home, identity and belonging by borrowing visual elements from cultures she is connected to.
A recent trip to Bahrain (the Middle East) sparked already growing feelings of connection to this Islamic country, and influenced Kirsty to explore the cultural identity of the country she was born in. Due to her family connection to the Middle East, Kirsty has a strong foundation for her artwork.
Kirsty’s current work includes 2D ink drawings on paper using Islamic patterns and wood carvings using New Zealand native wood. These materials and visual elements show the connections between Kirsty, the Middle East and New Zealand which portray her identity and concept of home and belonging.
constellation |ˌkänstəˈlāSHən|
noun
a group or cluster of related things
a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form.
CONTACT
A delegation of Optiv101 Studio Artists visit Wellington in an exhibition to enhance the global and local relationships we have with the capital city of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
The State Visit will be the chance for Optiv101 Fine Arts and Multimedia Studios to exhibit at Thistle Hall again. Discussions of New Zealand and our place in the world across economic and cultural indicators of education, wealth , media, commerce, and politics.
Image: Neil Buddle, Get Up, Get on Up (Feel Like Being a War Machine), 2015, Linocut