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31st July 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Creative New Zealand 21st Century Arts Conference
26 & 27th June 2008, Aotea Centre, Auckland
Why Does Your Institution Matter?
Report by Kathryn Mitchell
The recent Creative New Zealand 21st Century Arts Conference posed many challenging questions for the New Zealand Gallery/Museum sector. The question that seemed, for me, to address one of the primary concerns relayed by the keynote speaker, Diane Ragsdale (The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York, USA) was "Why does your institution matter?" Ragsdale's presentation explored issues facing the Gallery/Museum sector in the US and identified that many arts organisations were unable to effectively communicate why what they do matters. While some institutions can brag commercial or economic success, we are asked to question whether this is what matters. Are we seeking new, contemporary facilities and abundant funding or are we seeking to create "meaningful impact", to engage with people, to inspire our communities and to win "hearts and minds"? Managing a small regional public art gallery, perhaps can, in this debate, seem to be an advantage. The survival of such an institution is very much dependant on the support or "buy in" of the people. One is also, perhaps much more aware of changes in the community. However, this does not necessarily make the job of understanding your organisation and its relevance much easier. Winning the hearts and minds of people is challenging no matter what sector you work in, perhaps, we have not been focusing on our relevance enough. Perhaps we have been so busy delivering an agreed number of exhibitions and events every year that we have forgotten to ask who has attended them, and how they felt about the experience. Maybe we have developed tunnel vision. Ragsdale speaks of institutions which have lost their way whose "mental map" tries to make reality conform to its expectations rather than seeing what's actually there. Ragsdale challenges us to ask the question, would we rather close our doors than change what we do? So what is the way forward for Galleries/Museums who may relate to these issues? The challenge is to make a new mental map of where you are. To develop a vision/mission in relation to people. To "-attain, maintain, or regain-." relevance. Assess the value of your organisation, do you plan your exhibition programme in accordance with what matters to your community? Is Coca Cola doing a better job than the Gallery/Museum sector at winning the "hearts and minds" of the people. Ragsdale speaks of surviving the culture change, in order to do this our organisation must first accept that things do and have changed. The social and cultural context in which we operate is not static but continuously evolves, this can be difficult to navigate when many of us may feel that we simply don't have the time or resources to examine the ways in which we can better serve and understand our audience. Andrew McIntyre (Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, UK) believes even the smallest of institutions can proactively engage with their visitors and encourage them to comment on their experience. Based on the largest ever UK visitor study which included 120 focus groups and 50,000 interviews McIntyre breaks down the visitors experience into 4 areas: social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual. Visitors were surveyed before entering exhibition and afterwards. It is interesting that on a number of occasions expectations did not correspond with the visitors outcomes. For example before visiting the British Museum's "Power and Taboo" people's expectations were measured as a primarily intellectual outcome, after visiting the exhibition people communicated a primarily emotional response. So do we in the New Zealand Gallery/Museum sector understand what the expectations and outcomes of what we do are? Do we organise our programmes in such a way that aims to target a particular visitor/sector of our community. Do we understand, or even try to understand what the outcome of particular exhibitions may be? In many instances I would say no we don't. Therefore, is there any relevance in exhibition programmes which do not actively seeking to engage people? Although I myself have filled out my share of visitor response forms in Galleries and Museums, one does have a sense that this method of seeking feedback has limited effectiveness due to the fact that without prompting only a small number of visitors may fill these out. A more proactive stance may be required in order for us to maintain strong convictions regarding our place and value to the people.
Alastair Carruthers (Arts Council Chair, Creative New Zealand) accurately conveys that the start of the 21st century has been a productive environment for arts, culture and heritage. The government has taken the sector seriously, and we have clearly benefited from a Prime Minster who holds the Arts, Culture and Heritage Portfolio. Based on recent research Creative New Zealand maintains that 75% of New Zealanders have high levels of support for the arts and believe it should be funded, that it defines our identity, contributes positive to the economy and that their communities would not be as well off without it. This is good news but those of us working in the sector know how quickly the external environment can turn. There is no time to rest on our laurels. Helen Bartle (Audience & Market Development, Creative New Zealand) and Andrew McIntyre (Morris Hargreaves McIntyre) propose a way for the sector to respond to some of the challenges discussed. This is conceptualised as "7 Pillars": brand-driven, vision-led, personalised, interactively-engaged, insight-guided, outcome-orientated and inter-disciplinary. Those who attended the conference were asked to rate their organisation from 1 to 10 in each area forming a map of where your organisation was, needless to say this was a sobering activity for many of us indicating that there is much work still to be done. Recognising where you are, however is a positive starting point to move on from - self assessment, internal discussion and measuring progress are steps along the way to ensuring your organisation rises to the challenge and asks itself "Why does our institution matter”. Further information on the conference is available at www.creativenz.govt.nz
Contact: Kathryn Mitchell 11th June 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Calling All Fire Eaters, Stilt Walkers, & Performers Jane Venis
Frequent Viewing
19th July-17th August 2008
Opening Saturday 19th July 1.30pm
Jane Venis's upcoming exhibition "Freakquent Viewing" is the culmination of her Master of Fine Art candidacy at the Otago School of Art. Venis graduated some time ago and has since added new works to her carnivalesque creation. "Freakquent Viewing" is an interactive installation which invites viewers to take part. Venis encourages viewers to take part by attending the opening dressed as carnival folk, freaks or reality television personalities therefore offering participants the opportunity to become truly immersed in the work. "Frequent Viewing" invokes a fairground or circus - carnival booths conceal television screens with content which critiques the contemporary phenomenon of reality TV shows such as "The Swan", "Extreme Makeover" and "Monster Garage". Venis's fairground organ or "Snurglaphone" has been constructed from parts of vintage cars. Shiny copper horns sprout from its top and sides, emitting music and strange sounds. A control panel presents the viewer with a number of buttons which when pushed change the sounds produced, from elephants trumpeting and horses galloping to a selection of musical works composed by and played by Venis and other band members on her own constructed instruments. In Venis's world everyday objects become wild and warped musical instruments which are capable of producing all manner of unexpected blaringly loud animistic sounds, and soft and comical tunes.  Although Venis explores thought provoking and sometimes disturbing issues, Venis captivates her audience drawing them into what feels like a Dr Suess-like fantasy adventure to partake in the guilty pleasure of the voyeur who comes to view the freaks. Venis reminds us that in a contemporary society one is able ton indulge from the comfort of ones own home thanks to the advent of reality television. For further information or if you wish to take part in the opening please contact Kathryn Mitchell at the Ashburton Art Gallery. Thank you to Creative New Zealand's Creative Communities Scheme for providing funding. This is a free event. All welcome. Images available in jpeg format on request Contact: Kathryn Mitchell
31st May 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Ashburton Art Gallery Exhibition to Tour Australia
In late 2006 the Ashburton Art Gallery began work on coordinating its first touring exhibition "Modulations: Cantata ReConfigured" by Lyn Plummer. The exhibition tour began in Ashburton where the show opened in July 2007. The exhibition then toured to Southland Museum and Art Gallery (Invercargill) where it was attended by over 10,000 visitors. The exhibition will open at the Forrester Gallery in Oamaru on the 27th June and will travel onto Eastern Southland Gallery (Gore) in September. In 2009 the Australian leg of the tour will begin, the Gallery has been in talks with La Trobe University Art Museum (Melbourne), Albury Regional Art Gallery (NSW), Bega Regional Art Gallery (NSW), Ballarat Fine Art Gallery (Victoria), Wollongong City Gallery (Victoria), Benalla Art Gallery (Victoria) and La Trobe Regional Gallery (Victoria). We have recently been advised that an Australian institution is interested in partnering with the Ashburton Art Gallery to tour Lyn Plummer's exhibition to even more regional Australian galleries. "We are very excited about the possibilities of the Australian tour and the opportunity to form partnerships with other like minded institutions. Lyn Plummer's 'Modualtions: Cantata ReConfigured' is an incredible exhibition which changes form and includes new work at every venue. The Ashburton Art Gallery has been fortunate to have the chance to work with an artist with extensive professional experience who is extremely driven and passionate about her work." Kathryn Mitchell, Manager/Curator,Ashburton Art Gallery  "Modulations: Cantata ReConfigured" is a series of installations which presently incorporates two dimensional and three dimensional elements of mixed media, (including fabrics, plastics, threads, paints and mediums and glass beads) and sound. It has been visualized as a series of installations which constantly re-form, create new forms and re-configure, to take into consideration the atmosphere, colour, lighting and configuration of each new gallery space. They not only interact with the space, but also with the viewer on a personal level. Over the past seventeen years Lyn Plummer's work has investigated the relationship between public ritual and private instincts; between the references to historical cultural mores and contemporary personal desires and experience. This has been manifest in an interest in the nature of space and especially in the secular, ritualized space of the gallery and its relationship to the religious, charged, ceremonial space of the spiritual. There has been a concentrated focus on changing and charging the gallery space into one which demands that we reflect upon our private responses to ceremony and ritual and their multiple readings and meanings. Images available in jpeg format on request Contact: Kathryn Mitchell
27th May 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Ashburton Society of Arts donates the Ashburton Art Gallery another $1000 towards light fittings for its Galleries
The Ashburton Art Gallery is delighted to have received confirmation of a $1000 donation from the Ashburton Society of Arts towards the purchase of light fittings for its galleries. The Ashburton Art Gallery replaced its lighting track in 2006 and has since this time been fundraising for light fittings. The Gallery has benefited from grants from the Ashburton District Council, the Ashburton Trust, and the Community Trust of Mid and South Canterbury towards its lighting. The Ashburton Society of Arts donated $1000 to the Gallery last year for this purpose and has recently agreed to once again contribute to the Gallery's lighting. "These fittings will be directly transferable to a new facility and so will be of use to the Society and other exhibitors for years to come, we are very pleased to have the support of the Society who also facilitate one of the Gallery's significant annual fundraisers: catering for the Society's 44th Annual Exhibition opening hosted at the Ashburton Art Gallery." Kathryn Mitchell. The Ashburton Society of Arts 44th Annual Exhibition opens of Monday the 23rd June and tickets are available from the Ashburton Art Gallery. Contact: Kathryn Mitchell
17th May 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Joanne Woolley Vanishing Ice 17th May-15th June 2008 Opening Saturday 17th May 1.30pm
"I have always been one of those people who Lucy Lippard describes as having nervous energy to spare, and like them I find tramping across wild back country and in the mountains to be a particularly compelling form of meditation. It stills my internal dissonances and opens some inner part of my being to the 'spirit of place'. It was during one of my excursions into the Dart Glacier region of the Southern Apls as part of my field work for my master's degree that I discovered the remnants of a mountain hut which had been destroyed by avalanche some years earlier. With the help of a group of friends and the Department of Conservation I recovered those puny remains and installed them in my art school studio. They and the rapidly retreating Dart Glacier became the seminal influences for my research into huts and wilderness and glaciers and later on for that which grew to encompass looking at the effects of global warming. The glacier's recent accelerated decline and increasingly fragile ecology suggests a system under significant stress. What has come to fill my field of vision is not landscape but the mountain of evidence which now exists to confirm that we are in a serious ecological predicament. Retreating glaciers and melting ice caps, like the bleaching of coral from growing ocean acidity, are barometers of global climate change. Global warming, which even at this late stage is still presented as an academic quibble among competing scientists by economically and politically self-interested groups and individuals, has become a global emergency requiring urgent intervention. My work offers no false platitudes of hope for a future filled with foreboding. My dismay at the myopia of self-interest that wreaks ongoing degradation upon our planet is unequivocal and the intent of my work is to add my voice to the chorus of dissent and to drive home the point that the consequences of inaction will be nothing less than catastrophic. The Dart Glacier in Mount Aspiring National Park is in the heart of the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand. The closest towns are Wanaka, Queenstown, Glenorchy and Te Anau. It is one of New Zealand's larger parks at 355,543 hectares, approximately 140km long and 40km wide, it lies alongside the largest, Fiordland National Park. Mount Aspiring National Park is a mixture of remote wilderness, high mountains and beautiful river valleys. Its major glacier are the Bonar, Volta, Therma, Dart and Olivine Ice Plateau. The park is part of Wahipounamu - the Southwest New Zealand World Heritage Area." Reference: Woollley, Joanne. Vanishing Ice. Dissertation. Otago Ploytechnic School of Fine Art, Dunedin, New Zealand. 2007 Images available in jpeg format on request Contact: Kathryn Mitchell 15th April 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Bridget Anderson Caring for the Dead A photographic essay on the funeral profession 26th April-25th May 2008 Opening and Artist's Talk Saturday 26th April 1.30pm
Over the course of a year, Christchurch based photographer Bridget Anderson worked closely with staff in the funeral profession, as well as with the deceased and their families, to produce a series of photographs. The works capture the care and attention afforded the deceased as the body makes its transition from the realms of the living to the realms of the dead. Anderson's images allow the viewer a rare insight into the personal and professional domains of the funeral industry. Photographs taken in the clinical environs of the mortuary, at the graveside, in the chapel, and at the home provide a thoughtful and broad understanding of the profession, one which ultimately seeks to demystify a world that is usually left to the imagination. Caring for the Dead is a compelling series of photographs that dares to explore potentially difficult subject matter. Described as sensitive yet matter-of-fact, Anderson's photographs are at once beautiful and challenging, harrowing and humorous. "My aim is not to be sensational or gratuitous...it's to show something, hopefully sensitively but in a real way, about the funerary process." Bridget Anderson Toured by the Centre of Contemporary Art Images available in jpeg format on request Contact: Kathryn Mitchell 4th April 2008 MEDIA RELEASE David Elliot The Adventures of Sydney Penguin: The Story of a New Zealand Picture Book 12th April-11th May 2008 Meet the Artist Saturday 12th April 11am-12.30pm
Discover the journey made by award winning, Ashburton born author and illustrator, David Elliot in developing a New Zealand picture book. Travels to Antarctica, runaway gnomes, an Antarctic medal, penguin stamps, a voyage past the Auckland Islands, maps, sea monsters and ships, romance at the Edinburgh Zoo - some of the many ingredients the author has brought together to conceive The Adventures of Sydney Penguin - a series of New Zealand children's books based around the character of Sydney penguin and his feather raising inventions. After graduating with a Diploma in Fine Arts, from the University of Canterbury's School of Fine Arts, David spent time as a designer and a teacher but, unsatisfied and restless, he sought a new direction. In the spring of 1979 David flew from Christchurch to Antarctica with the McMurdo Station cleaning/catering team. (Christchurch was, and still is, the transit base for 'Operation Deep Freeze' flights, supplying the American McMurdo and much smaller New Zealand Scott Base on Ross Island in Antarctica.) Before his departure David received the special gift of a garden gnome from a friend - Henry Sunderland. It was at this point that the adventures of 'Bullfly the Gnome' also began. McMurdo Station is an Antarctic Research Centre located on the southern tip of Ross Island on the shore of McMurdo Sound, 3,500km due south of New Zealand. The Station is operated by the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation, and is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting over 1,200 residents. "The Island at that time of year seems like another planet, bathed in a permanent ultra-violet twilight. It is the most beautiful and awe-inspiring place I have ever been and strangely makes you very aware of your own heartbeat, your own existence in the universe." David Elliot When not working on the Station, David did drawings for the scientists in exchange for trips out onto the pack ice to tag seals and to monitor orca (killer whales). David also had his 'gnome assignment' to concentrate on. He was to escort Bullfly the Gnome to the coldest place on earth - the Russian base, Vostok. Bullfly the Gnome (Guarding Naturally Over Mother Earth) was part of a project which sought to raise awareness of conservation issues. It was therefore Bullfly's role to travel and to draw attention to his mission near and far. David has achieved national and international success in recent years. Since 2002 he has illustrated seven books for U.K. author, Brian Jacques' Redwall series (published by Penguin, New York). More recently he has provided illustrations for U.S. authors, T.A.Barron (The Great Tree of Avalon Trilogy) and Time Magazine correspondent, Jeffrey Kluger's Nacky Patcher and the Curse of the Dry Land Boats. Closer to home, David's most recent picture book, Pigtails the Pirate (2002), won the Picture Book category of the 2003 'New Zealand Post Children's Book Award'. David has provided illustrations for numerous New Zealand children's books, including the best-selling 100 New Zealand Poems for Children, Jack Lasenby's Aunt Effie series, Janet Frame's only book for children, Mona Minim and the Smell of the Sun and, most recently, Joy Cowley's Chicken Feathers (to be published in May this year). David has also written and illustrated five picture books of his own. He has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and is part of the New Zealand Book Council's, 'Writers in Schools' scheme. David currently teaches drawing part-time, as part of a Visual Arts course, in Dunedin. The rest of his week is spent on his own work, in his Port Chalmers studio, under the scrutinising eye of his two teenage daughters. Images available in jpeg format or exhibition photo opportunity. Contact: Kathryn Mitchell 2nd April 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Ashburton Art Gallery's New Aquisition
The recent acquisition by the Ashburton Art Gallery on display until the 20 April, "Taniwha Spits Out Whitey" by Michael Armstrong, is a uniquely New Zealand expression of an age old, world wide, universal phenomenon. Namely, when people interact all things are changed,in big ways and subtle ways, forever. Standing in front of it you can almost feel the work morphing, changing shape and colour yet it stays essentially the same. This is a timely acquisition for the region of Ashburton as it is itself morphing if you will, but it will still retain its sameness. Still essentially a farming community but the farms certainly look different. Still sparsely populated but less and less isolated through the internet and better conditions for traveling. Flying over the Canterbury plains you can see the patchwork fields with their straight lines of maracarpa and pine/popular tree windbreaks giving way to circular patterns of the newer irrigation systems but looking more closely you can still make out the old streams and creeks described by Samuel Butler in his travels exploring this region. Always changing, yet always staying the same. The use of whitey in the title is interesting if not provocative. Does he use it as a racial term, a cultural or a class term. 'The Man' so to speak, the bosses, the ones who write the histories, who run the factories, who decide what is socially acceptable. They tend to be of British decent (English, Irish, Scots) and in looking at other Michael Armstrong works figure prominently, the chairman motif, the man in a business suit with an effluent pipe protruding from his stomach. On the other hand is whitey used as a term for the culture brought by the masses from the United Kingdom, alcohol, cigarettes, a patch of lawn to call your own. Maybe it's a straight race issue, us colliding with them. In the South Island maori took pride in adopting Tangata Pora (South Island for pakeha) ways that they believed would benefit them, while many iwi in the north took pride in retaining what they saw as their maoriness, shying away from foreign influences. Either way things were changed, changing and are still evolving. The work itself is interesting in that is it a painting or is it a sculpture? By the definition of a painting being a three dimensional representation on a two dimensional plain it is of course a sculpture. By the definition of something painted hanging on the wall, the work becomes more of a painting. Particularly when we realise painting on canvas is a relatively new form of displaying art works, a practice only 500 years old in a history of 30, 000 years of art, and maybe nearing its end, a passing phase as the reasons artists chose to use canvas are increasingly less relevant in our modern and more diverse world. Art, always changing but still remaining art. Michael Armstrong's career talks about issues confronting rural Canterbury, he is one of 'us' in that his works are about such things as the rise of milk processing plants and the demise of the meat works. The social impacts born from the reforms of the Labour Government of the 80's, great for north island urban bad for south island rural. He was and is here, Michael teaches at Aoraki Polytechnic and has recently completed the Master of Fine Arts programme at the University of Canterbury's School of Fine Art. When the Gallery purchases a work from an artist, this is about more than just an exchange of money for goods but a statement of intent and commitment to the artist and their place in our community, our culture and our identity. This is also the case for the artist, the Gallery becomes part of his/her community, culture and identity. The recent acquisition of Michael Armstrong's "Taniwha Spits Out Whitey" demonstrates the Gallery's support of both the artist and his practice. Michael has also gifted the Gallery two smaller sculptures, two works on paper, recently judged the Zonta Youth Art Award and donated his time and effort for the Gallery's fundraiser. We hope to utilise his experience in the future for the benefit of the Ashburton district. I urge all residents of the Ashburton district to visit the Gallery to view and comment on our latest taonga or cultural treasure. Images available in jpeg format or exhibition photo opportunity. Contact: Kathryn Mitchell 11 March 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Time's running out for locals to support the Ashburton Art Gallery's majorbiennial fundraising event.
Signify: A Fashion/Art CollaborationTicketed Auction night Saturday 15th March 2008Tickets $25 available from the Gallery Time's running out for locals to support the Ashburton Art Gallery's majorbiennial fundraising event.Signify: A Fashion Art Collaboration is an exhibition which draws togetherthe New Zealand fashion and fine art sectors and Gallery Manager/Curator Kathryn Mitchell says almost two years of hard work culminates in Saturdaynights auction. Garments donated by New Zealand designers and companies have been painted byselected New Zealand artists (using washable fabric paints) and theses workswill go under the hammer this weekend. The exhibition and auction takesplace every two years and is the Gallery's main fundraising event, withfunds raised going towards the development of the Gallery's services,particularly education programmes and collection based services. The Signify exhibition, currently open to the public, is made up of thepainted garments and a selected number of artworks by contributing artists -allowing visitors to see the relationship between the artist's work andtheir contribution to the garment. (Artworks will be for sale but will notbe part of the auction). Kathryn Mitchell says despite being only the second time the exhibition andauction have been held, top New Zealand designers, companies and artistswere keen to be involved, with many returning to this year's event. She'shopeful this level of support will also be shown by the local community.Tickets are available from the Ashburton Art Gallery. Official guest speaker at the auction is Mr. Chris Finlayson (MP NationalParty: Spokesman for Arts, Culture and Heritage) and Dunedin duo HauntedLove will also be performing. Some of the contributors taking part to dateare as follows: Liz Mitchell, Trelise Cooper, Vamp, Bobby's, Doosh, HelenTalbot, Petrena Miller, Sabatini, The Sander Tie Company, Silkbody, EwanMcDougall, Diana Smillie, Mark Braunias, Margaret Digby, Michael Armstrong,Lyn Plummer, David Elliot, Janet de Wagt, Bing Dawe, Debbie Lambert, Peter Cleverley and more.
Images available in jpeg format or exhibition photo opportunity. Contact: Kathryn Mitchell 04 March 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Author's Day at the Ashburton Art Gallery
On Saturday the 12th of April 2008 the Ashburton Art Gallery is hosting anAuthor's Day in conjunction with the opening of the David Elliot exhibition"The Adventures of Sydney Penguin: The Story of a New Zealand Picture Book"(12th April-11th May 2008). The Author's Day will be a ticketed eventopening at 1pm with wine and cheese and concluding at approximately 5pm.Authors speaking include David Elliot, Gavin Bishop, Owen Marshall, FrankieMcMillan, Jane Chetwynd and Christine Fernyhough. Author's latest books willbe available for sale. Tickets are $25 and are available from the AshburtonArt Gallery. Please find information on all authors taking part attached. Contact: Kathryn Mitchell
22 February 2008 MEDIA RELEASE THERES STILL TIME TO GET YOUR ZONTA YOUTH ART AWARD ENTRY IN
The Zonta Youth Art Award promotes excellence in youth art in Mid and South Canterbury. The award is open to all 16-19 year olds normally resident in Mid or South Canterbury. The winner of the Premier Award receives $500, the runner up $250 and third place $150. Each entrant may submit two works in any medium. Entries should be delivered to the Ashburton Art Gallery, Baring Square East, Ashburton no later than Friday the 29th of February 2008 accompanied by a copy of the completed and signed entry form. Entry forms are available from the Gallery - get yours now. Contact: Kathryn Mitchell
20 February 2008 MEDIA RELEASE Junk to Funk Art Awards
The Junk to Funk Art Awards which take place as part of Wastebusters WasteFest (Ashburton) will now be hosted by the Ashburton Art Gallery. Ashburton Art Gallery Manager/Curator Kathryn Mitchell has, in the past, been invited to judge the awards. "We feel that we can be a valuable partner to Wastebusters in developing and growing the Junk to Funk Art Awards. We see the Waste Fest and the Awards as a uniquely Ashburton Event which promotes Ashburton as a district of innovation and opportunity." The 2008 Junk toFunk Art Awards will be hosted by the Ashburton Art Gallery from the 19th July to the 17th August. The focus of the awards is on the use of recycled materials to create artworks. The first prize is $3000 and merit awards maybe awarded at the judge's discretion (judge still to be confirmed). Entries close on the 13th June. Entry forms and conditions of entry are available from the Ashburton Art Gallery. Contact: Kathryn Mitchell03 308 1133 info@ashburtonartgallery.org.nz
14 February 2008 MEDIA RELEASE SIGNIFY: A FASHION/ART COLLABORATION
Signify: A Fashion Art Collaboration is an exhibition/event which draws together the New Zealand fashion and fine art sectors. New Zealand designers/companies have donated garments which have been painted by selected New Zealand artists (washable fabric paints). The exhibition/event takes place every two years and is also a fundraising event for the Gallery. The Ashburton Art Gallery committee fund raises annually towards the development of services - particularly education programmes and collection based services. The Signify exhibition is made up of the painted garmentsand a selected number of artworks by contributing artists - allowing visitors to see the relationship between the artist's work and their contribution to the garment. (Artworks will be for sale but will not be part of the auction). An auction evening is being held on Saturday the 15th of March 2008 with Mr. Chris Finlayson (MP National Party: Spokesman for Arts,Culture and Heritage) as the official guest speaker. Haunted Love will alsobe performing. Some of the contributors taking part to date are as follows: Liz Mitchell, Trelise Cooper, Vamp, Bobby's, Doosh, Helen Talbot, PetrenaMiller, Sabatini, The Sander Tie Company, Silkbody, Ewan McDougall, Diana Smillie, Mark Braunias, Margaret Digby, Michael Armstrong, Lyn Plummer, David Elliot, Janet de Wagt, Bing Dawe, Debbie Lambert, Peter Cleverley and more.
HAUNTED LOVE In 2005 Rainy and Geva met on their first day at work for Dunedin CityMuseums. They discovered that they shared a love of pop music, the macabre,and teen angst. The Haunted Love duo was formed, and performed for the firsttime on Halloween that year. Geva provides a classic gothic sound and electronic beats via herliving-room organ, The Zachary Enchanter, while Rainy adds a sprinkling ofcountry with a vintage acoustic guitar handed down from her mother. The girls' complementary, though very different, voices create a sound thatis a blend of innocence and doom, perfectly suited to their preferredsubject matter. Libraries, museum ghosts, werewolves in love, computer lust,and ponies that just won't go feature among their stories of mystery andlove, the condemned resurrected, heartache and hauntings of all kinds. Theirsound has been affectionately described as being like "two teenage girlslocked in their grandmother's lounge, trying to play 80's pop hits theyheard once on the radio". The band's name is derived from the girls'collection of 60's and 70's Charlton gothic-romance comic book series. Theseare an endless inspiration for their songs. Other sources of inspirationinclude; Teenage crushes, abandoned computer graveyards, oversizedspectacles, robots, Edgar Allen Poe, Joan of Arc and zombies trying to makeit in the modern world. In 2006 Haunted Love produced their first music video, for the song"Librarian". This film noir/horror parody was filmed in the basement of theDunedin City Library and featured Haunted Love in full librarian garbdishing out otherworldly comeuppance to a boy committing library sins. Thevideo became a hit with librarians all over the world when it was posted onYoutube where it netted an average of a thousand views per day for manyweeks. Haunted Love continues to receive mail from librarians everywhere.Haunted Love are currently recording their first EP.  
Images : Haunted Love and Sander Company Tie painted by David Elliot. Additional images available on request
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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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