FOR MORE INFORMATION: WAI
THE WATER PROJECT – ASHBURTON ART GALLERY
APRIL 11 – JUNE 22 2018
FOR MORE INFORMATION: THE WATER PROJECT
HOUSEKEEPING
BOWEN GALLERIES
May 1 – May 20, 2017
The Mangawhai spit is a subtly textured landscape of sand dunes, many cloaked with layers of bleached pipi and tuatua shells. These eroding middens, evidence of extensive shellfish harvesting, are littered with remnants of oven stones, jagged igneous rocks about the size of one’s fist. Formed by the solidification of the Earth’s molten magma during the early Miocene Epoch, these rocks were reshaped 400 years ago by the intense heat of kanuka fuelled fires; exploded and of no further use, they were tossed into the middens.
A single large dune dominates the base of the spit. Deep beneath are the charred remains of a forest fire from the early 13th century. Sometimes, the blackened edges of this forest are exposed, carbon particles blasted from it by wind and rain and then submitted to mysterious forces. They blend with tiny translucent grains of quartz, themselves the product of weathering of the Earth’s crust, to form intricate
patterns across the face of the dune.
THE NORTHERNER
THE VIVIAN, Matakana
April 15 – May 24, 2017
Curated by Gregory O'Brien, works by Stanley Palmer, Miriam Van Wezel, Brendon O'Brien, Elizabeth Thomson, Andrew McDonald and Gregory O'Brien.
TIDAL
THE VIVIAN, Matakana
April 16 – May 28, 2016
TIDAL is a meditation on the littoral zone--with its flotsam and jetsam, currents, rips and backwash, its convections and processes of rising and falling. The works explore how humanity is placed within this endlessly changing schema and what we leave behind: footprints in sand, the wake of a kayak, an echoing conversation, traces and trails of being. The exhibition features work by Phil Dadson, Bruce Foster, Ian McDonald, Gregory O'Brien, John Pule & Elizabeth Thomson.