A taste of Germany
VISUAL artist Sara Hughes (profiled in ArtZone 4) will spend a year in Berlin as recipient of the Creative New Zealand Artists Residency at the Kunstlerhaus Bethanien. Hughes intends to use the residency to develop work exploring the political context of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 1937 Berlin Olympics. It has been a big year for Hughes, who was this year named the first New Zealand recipient of The RIPE: Art and Australia/ANZ Private Bank Contemporary Art Award (2008). She is currently working on a major new commission for Christchurch City Art Gallery.

 

New to New York
THE inaugural Harriet Friedlander Residency has been awarded to filmmaker Florian Habicht (Woodenhead, Kaikohe Demolition). The residency is valued at $80,000 and is for an artist between the ages of 30 and 40 who has demonstrated artistic output at high levels. It enables artists to live and work in New York to be exposed to a different environment from the local arts scene. The residency is run by the Arts Foundation and the Harriet Friedlander Scholarship Trust.

 

Back to Venice
PAINTERS Judy Millar and Francis Upritchard will represent New Zealand at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Creative New Zealand has decided to send two artists to the Biennale, after not having an official  New Zealand presence in 2007. Christchurch Art Gallery’s Jenny Harper will be Commissioner of the Biennale team, with Dayle Mace and Jenny Gibbs as joint Head of Patrons. CNZ has budgeted $650,000 for the project, and $400,000 is expected from sponsorship.

 

Fresh prints
WHAREPUKE Print Studio is holding courses in non-toxic printmaking for artists and printmaking. Organiser Mark Graver says traditional printmaking techniques expose the artist and the environment to many toxic materials. He developed an interest in “green” printmaking while working at Intaglio Printmaker specialist art supplies in London.

 

Pacific creation
JIM Viviaere will spend three months in Samoa this year as the recipient of the Creative NZ Pacific Arts Committee National University of Samoa residency. The residency is an opportunity for a New Zealand-based artist to share their skills with the Samoan arts community. Viviaere intends to create new work while in Apia.

 

Flour Power
WELLINGTON’S Regan Gentry has been commissioned to create a sculpture for Stewart Plaza in Christchurch. Gentry’s Flour Power will be installed for the SCAPE 2008 Biennial Art in Public Space exhibition from September 19 to November 2. The 13-metre-high work has been funded by the Christchurch City Council. Gentry says the sculpture will look like a giant has walked through the city gathering lamp-posts like flowers, collecting them into a bunch, and wrapping a tyre around them.

 

Post takes the prize
NEW Zealand Post has won the 2008 National Business Review Awards for Sponsorship for its commitment to the Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The award was presented by Prime Minister Helen Clark at a gala featuring performances by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal NZ Ballet, Tim Beveridge and his Neophonic Jazz Orchestra, and NBR Opera Emerging Artists.

 

Steel in the gallery scene
NZ Steel has opened a gallery in Franklin that will showcase local artists. The official opening in July featured photographs printed on steel by Aliah Jan. The opening marked the 43rd birthday at NZ Steel and featured the presentation of a birthday cake to company president Ross Murray.

 

Finalists on show
PATRICK Lundberg is the winner of the Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award with Strata. Judge Natasha Conland, curator of contemporary art at Auckland Gallery, selected the 30 finalists for the exhibition. At the Waikato Museum until November 30.

 

Jingle Jangle winner
JINGLE Jangle Morning, a book documenting the career of Bill Hammond, has won two major publishing awards. Published by the Christchurch Art Gallery, it won the illustrative category of the Montana Book Awards and best book in the Book Publishers Association of NZ awards. It featured essays, articles and images and was published to accompany the Hammond retrospective of the same name.

 

Kiwi art in space
NEW Zealand multimedia artist Paul Amlehn has collaborated with musician Robert Fripp on a sound installation that will be broadcast into space from the US space launch site at Cape Canaveral. Called The Seven Words, the project will also be installed in sensory deprivation tanks at galleries in London and New York, so that it can be experienced without distraction.

 

Largest scholarship
CHARLES Ninow, a student at Elam in Auckland, has been awarded the $10,000 Henrietta and Lola Anne Tunbridge Scholarship, the largest art scholarship available to students in New Zealand. Ninow is in his final year of honours at the Elam School of Fine Arts and is an accomplished watercolourist.

 

Mazda winner
MYAH Flynn, a 23-year old master of Design student at UNITEC Institute of Technology, has won first prize at the sixth national Mazda Emerging Artist Award, winning $10,000 cash. Judge, John Daly-Peoples chose from 57 fine art students from throughout New Zealand. An exhibition of the entrants and winners runs until September 30 at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland.

 

Million dollar leg
ARTKLICK designer James Stewart is auctioning off space on his leg to promote awareness of his art website, www.artklick.co.nz. Stewart hopes to raise a million dollars in sponsorship by getting Kiwi artworks tattooed onto one of his legs at $500 per square centimetre. If successful he will use the money to promote the site, which went live in June with 20 contributing artists.

 

Resale right gets tick
THE Artists’ Alliance has welcomed moves to help artists profit when work they have sold increases in value. The Copyright (Artists’ Resale Right) Amendment Bill currently before Parliament entitles visual artists to a royalty each time their work is sold on the secondary art market. The Bill only affects dealer or auction sales and will not apply to private sales between individuals.