High street to the hills, Issue 41

Events worth noting around the country. Words: Ann Warnock

Te Kupenga Biennial Stone Sculpture Symposium 2012 – Seriously Hard Rock

27 December to 13 January, auction 21 January, New Plymouth

New Plymouth’s foreshore walkway is all dust and artistic action as 25 sculptors from Aotearoa and overseas transform local Taranaki andesite boulders (considered the best in the country) into works of art. The symposium highlight is an on-site auction of finished works. Daily progress on the sculptures is photographed and posted on the website, allowing potential buyers (and absentee bidders) to follow the unfolding artworks.

Phone 027 766 0036
www.tekupenga.com
 

That Was Then, This Is Now – Harry Watson

10 December to 11 March, Aratoi – Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton

Wairarapa carver Harry Watson delves into Aotearoa’s social history and past political landscape through his thought-provoking and whimsical animal, bird and human protagonists, often based on renowned historical figures. Merging Maori and pakeha techniques and traditions, he uses birds, both native and introduced, as metaphors to hone the tensions and transgressions of a fledgling colonial society.

Phone (06) 370 0001
www.aratoi.org.nz

Summerdaze

31 December to 31 January, Queenstown, Wanaka, Glenorchy, Arrowtown, Hawea

An outdoor cinema, markets, mountain-biking, rodeo, triathlons, dance, dazzling New Year’s Eve lakefront celebrations, live music and fireworks are all part of the festivities as the Queenstown Lakes region enters summer-holiday mode. Specialist kite-making workshops in Wanaka offer adults and children an opportunity to hone their design skills and then watch the action overhead while the Chinese New Year will be marked with a series of Chinese brush-painting sessions in Arrowtown.

Phone (03) 443 2700
www.summerdaze.co.nz
 

Local Knowledge

17 December to 22 April, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt

What does it mean to be at home? The broad-ranging concepts of time, location, geography and place are scrutinized in a selection of diverse works. Local photographer Ans Westra captures residents in the everyday actions of shopping and strolling while a major new installation by Auckland artist Dan Arps conjures up histories now obliterated by the earthquakes in his childhood home of Christchurch. Wellington photographer Andrew Ross depicts his subjects within their own homes or workplaces. The exhibition includes Auckland artist Fiona Jack’s unique project Living Halls, a collection of 50 paintings commemorating local war memorial halls.

Phone (04) 570 6500
www.dowse.org.nz
 

The Chaucer School “April is the kindest month”: Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

23 to 27 January (mornings only), University of Otago, Dunedin

A literary feast for Chaucer fans via an exploration of the author’s most celebrated work The Canterbury Tales (circa 1387). Under the tutorship of Dr Victoria Condie, a specialist in Middle English language and literature from Oxford University, the course examines not only the narrative and dramatic qualities of Chaucer’s 17,000-line prose but investigates how the tales reveal much about the structure of 14th-century society during a period of significant social change in England.

Phone (03) 479 9181
www.otago.ac.nz/courses/continuingeducation

Phone (03) 433 0853
www.forrestergallery.com

Submerged

5 to 30 January,
Photographers’ Gallery Hawke’s Bay, Napier

Images of the mysterious world below the water-line come from award-winning Kiwi photojournalist Richard Robinson. Away from the deadline pressures of his role as a mainstream press photographer, Robinson pursues his passion for diving, photography and oceans. The result is a collection of images from eerie shipwrecks to the raw beauty and diversity of living reefs.

Phone (06) 835 8142
www.pghb.co.nz
 

Take-a-Seat Public Art Project

22 January to 4 February,
Hokitika

Sittable sculpture is the name of the game as Hokitika searches for a new art seat for the front lawn of its local library. A stable of New Zealand artists has submitted scale models of their designs and the finalists’ works are exhibited for viewing and public voting. The project has already seen the installation of six art seats in public spaces in and around the township, adding to the cultural identity of this West Coast heritage hub. The latest art seat will be unveiled in situ in May.

Phone (03) 755 8232
www.takeaseat.org.nz

Black Flora – Matt Whitwell

18 January to 11 February,
Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington

Wellington artist Matt Whitwell, a recent Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from Massey University, creates a dynamic multimedia installation comprising sound, small handmade objects, drawing patterns and cardboard structures during his summer residency at the Cuba Street gallery. His practice aims to investigate the senses, in particular our understanding of time and space and our internal perceptions of phenomena. Experimental sound composition, self-publishing, performance and craft are part ofthe artist’s working portfolio.

Phone (04) 384 0174
www.enjoy.org.nz

Raglan Artists Open Studio Weekend

28 to 30 January,
Raglan

Thirty-three mixed-media artists living in the Raglan/Whaingaroa landscape open their studio doors to showcase their work and discuss artistic processes. The line-up includes domestic potter Tony Sly, landscape painters Jane Galloway and Miranda Caird, photographers Trevor Penfold and Stuart MacKenzie and textile artist Jean Carbon. The destination township has also produced a 2012 Raglan Art Trail Guide.

Phone (07) 825 0023
www.raglanartscentre.co.nz

New Zealand Fringe Festival

10 February to 3 March,
Wellington

Three weeks of glorious mayhem unfold in the capital as emerging artists, actors and musicians demonstrate their dexterity at a range of venues around the city with Bats Theatre as the key venue. Production workshops, mentoring and promotion are all part of the Fringe package which focuses on supporting fresh talent under the umbrella festival programme. Fringe 2011 staged 51 productions by 600 performers to an audience of 14,000 and this year’s numbers are expected to swell.

www.fringe.co.nz

Side By Side By Sondheim

11 February to 12 March
The Court Theatre, Christchurch

Four performers romp through the illustrious career of American composer and lyricist for stage and film Stephen Sondheim in a glamorous musical revue punctuated with songs from West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and A Little Night Music. Following the earthquakes, The Court Theatre moved its operation from the damaged Arts Centre to a new facility in the suburb of Addington where it has constructed a purpose-built auditorium inside a former grain store.

Phone 0800 333 100
www.courttheatre.org.nz

The 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival

24 February to 18 March,
Wellington

Artistic performance takes Wellington by storm as Aotearoa’s largest cultural event unfolds. More than 1000 artists from 35 countries are part of the mix which includes Political Mother, a new dance piece by Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter, and Circenses, a third-generation circus with a contemporary theatrical twist performed in a big top on the waterfront. The New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas L Friedman is a keynote speaker at the festival’s Writers and Readers Week which runs from 9 to 14 March.

Phone (04) 473 0149
www.festival.co.nz

NZSO National Youth Orchestra

10 February, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
11 February, Auckland Town Hall

Aotearoa’s ensemble of training musicians unrolls its talent in a programme featuring Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 1. The 80 members of the Youth Orchestra will have a lead-in period of rehearsals and workshops with NZSO principals before taking centre stage. Kiwi conductor Tecwyn Evans will be on deck along with New Zealand-based Colombian cellist Santiago Canon-Valencia.

Phone 0800 4 SYMPHONY
www.nzso.co.nz