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The Ashburton Art Gallery presents a varied, thought provoking and innovative programme of locally, nationally and internationally sourced exhibitions. Wherever possible the Gallery supplements its visual arts programme by presenting artists' talks, education, music and performing arts events. |
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Polysynthesis : Polynesia - the islands of the central and western pacific Ocean including New Zealand, Hawaii and Samoa.
Synthesis: The combining of separate parts to form a complex whole. The combining of substances to form a compound; artificial production of a substance that occurs naturally in plants or animals. (Oxford Dictionary)
A while ago I heard an interview on National Radio with a Samoan social worker. She was called in to a Polynesian family in South Auckland to assess their situation. The Pakeha social worker who had requested her help felt the children were not cared for adequately. This opinion was founded on the basis that there was very little furniture in the house and they appeared to be living in poverty. The Samoan social worker investigated and found the children to be well cared for. They were well fed, clothed, sent to school regularly and above all they were loved and treasured. They were only poor in the material sense.
On my last trip to Samoa whilst travelling through Upolu and especially Savai'i I frequently noted fales (homes without walls) that were clear of furnishings, save for maybe a wooden pillow or (in one case) a TV on a beer crate, the fales were clear of clutter or any Western notion of furniture. Another interesting thing that caught my eye was the "mile-a-minutecreeper" that wound and twisted its way through the forest, smothering, covering and colonising the trees.I am a Pakeha-Samoan or Afakasai (Samoan transliteration of "half-caste"). I was born here in Aotearoa and raised by my mother's parents (the pakeha or palagi side) who were to all intents my mum and dad. I didn't meet my Samoan family until I was over 30. Through my work I investigate the similarities and differences between the two cultures that constitute my make-up. Niki Hastings-McFall.
With thanks to Milford Galleries, Dunedin. Town Watch : An exhibition of Works by Margaret Digby 23rd August - 28th September 2008. Opening Saturday 23rd August 1.30pm Margaret Digby has completed the series of paintings Town Watch, a contemporary look at the Ashburton township, over the past two years. From her East Street studio Digby has surveyed the roof tops. Some of the works focus on careful observation while others appear vibrant, loose and fragmented into jagged glimpses of her urban landscape. Digby's work documents and evaluates the social and physical structure of Ashburton's township from both a historical and contemporary perspective. Digby's work is both challenging and experimental as she casts her eye over the township and delivers a series of works which move between figurative and abstract depictions. One senses a tension here between the historical and the contemporary both physically and conceptually. Works featuring the Ashburton Railway Station and Somerset accentuate this concern. Margaret currently lives at Peel Forest and works in Ashburton. Digby was brought up on a sheep and cropping farm at Rokeby. Her grandparents lived in Ashburton and Digby recalls staying with them and listening to the early morning trains. |
Gallery Hours: Ashburton Art Gallery
Baring Square East PO Box 573 Ashburton Ph/Fax: 03 308 1133 Mobile: 021 105 2230 Email: info@ashburtonartgallery.org.nz Web: www.ashburtonartgallery.org.nz Admission Free (Donation/koha appreciated) Kathryn Mitchell Manager/Curator Alison Curwood PA/Exhibitions Assistant Martin McCully Technician/Marketing Distribution |
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On returning to New Zealand in 1984, I resumed work as a designer, but hoping that teaching might afford me more time to follow my interest in books (a vain hope, I'm afraid), I trained to be a teacher, and taught art to secondary students, fulltime, from 1986 to 1998. During this time, while my own two children were still young, the time available to me for writing and illustrating was severely limited and this is reflected in my creative output - three picture books, plus book covers and some illustrating for educational books.
Since 1998, however, with the support of my wife, I have been working fulltime on my own writing and illustrating and, as a result, I have been able to take on an increasing amount of illustration work.
When I was a little boy, my grandfather told me there was a wolf in the plantation, opposite his farm in Mayfield. I have been trying to draw it ever since.
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Welcome to the Ashburton Art Gallery. Officially opened on 16th September 1995, the Ashburton Art Gallery currently occupies the top floor of the refurbished former Ashburton County Council building, which is centrally sited behind the town clock tower in the Baring Square East gardens.
I was born in Ashburton and lived here for the first seventeen years of my life. I then went to Christchurch, where I studied for the Diploma in Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, graduating in 1976. I then worked as a designer for a couple of years, before travelling to Antarctica, then onto Asia and Europe, before settling in Scotland, where I was gatekeeper at Edinburgh Zoo for two years. During this period I became increasingly interested in writing and illustrating books for children.
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© Ashburton Art Gallery 2008