New patrons

GUS and Irene Fisher are the recipients of the fifth annual Arts Foundation of New Zealand Award for patronage. As well as being honoured for their significant contributions to the arts, Gus is also well known in the fashion industry as the leader of the House of El Jay for 50 years. The Fishers received $20,000 to donate to artists or art projects of their choice, and in line with past winners, they doubled the amount with their own money, and announced they would make four donations of $10,000.

For the creatives

THE University of Auckland is proposing to introduce an option for creative practice to be incorporated into PhD research from July. The examination for students will include both their presentation of a body of creative work (such as fine art, performance, or films), as well as the written thesis. The University acknowledges that creative research can reveal cultural and artistic knowledge that cannot be purely expressed through a written medium.

NZ Post Book toast

ART related books score well in the 2010 NZ Post Book Awards. Among the 16 finalists Auckland University Press has three nominations with The invention of New Zealand Art & National Identity 1930 - 1970 by Francis Pound, Marti Friedlander by Leonard Bell, and Mrkusich: The Art of Transformation by Alan Wright and Edward Hanfling. Art at Te Papa edited by William McAloon and Cone Ten Down: Studio Pottery in New Zealand, 1945 – 1980 by Moyra Elliot and Damian Skinner round out the art nominations.

Homage to Morrie

NIKO Thomson has won the Waikato Sculpture Trust E: Scape People’s Choice Award with Parlez Lentement. The work, developed out of a desire to pay homage to the Morris Minor, had Thomsen covering a wreck in forged steel flowers. Thomsen and his wife also compiled a folder of Morris Minor stories, leaving space for more to be added. Sculpture-in-the-Park 2010 opens on 21 November, and runs through to March 2011.

Pah excellence

THE TSB Wallace Arts Centre at the Pah Homestead opens its doors on August 15. The new arts venue in Auckland’s Hillsborough houses the collection of the James Wallace Arts Trust. James Wallace began collecting New Zealand art, particularly that of emerging artists, in the mid-1960s. In 1992, he transferred his collection to the newly formed charitable trust with funding so it could continue to add to the collection. Nothing is ever sold, so the works, now numbering 5,000, remain a cultural resource for present and future generations. The Pah Homestead where the Arts Centre is to be located is a heritage building that has been restored by the Auckland City Council.

Popular spots

WELLINGTON’S City Gallery had huge success for its Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years exhibition. Groups of three or more tripled to 35% – a big change from past exhibitions, where nearly half of all visitors came on their own. The gallery also saw an increase in the number of families visiting, and had four times the average number of under 18s.

Art in Melbourne

WORK from two developing artists, Campbell Paterson and Seung Yul Oh, has been commissioned for the Project Rooms at the Melbourne Art Fair, 2010. Three NZ galleries, Tim Melville, Orexart, and Jensen, are showing at the fair, which takes place from August 4-8. In 2008 seven NZ galleries showed.

Top Tate judge

VICENTE Todoli, director of London’s Tate Modern will judge the $50,000 Walters Prize, 2010. The winner will be announced on 8 October at a gala dinner and exhibition in Auckland.  The finalists selected are: Dan Arps, Fiona Connor, Saskia Leek and Alex Monteith. Todoli, who leaves the Tate this month after seven years, has been a prime mover in the Tate’s global success. It is now the most visited modern art museum in the world. Auckland Art gallery director Chris Saines said “There could hardly be an art museum director anywhere in the world so perfectly qualified for the task.”

Globgobs in Newmarket

A new sculpture in Auckland’s Newmarket has been unveiled. Auckland artist Seung Yul Oh has created nine brightly coloured egg-shaped Globgobs, a symbol of the marriage between old and new, on Teed and Osborne Streets. The work was commissioned by the Newmarket Arts Trust, and adds to the flavour of Osborne Street’s recent $1.67m upgrade.

City Scape additions

SEVEN new large-scale temporary public artworks will join four of Christchurch’s permanent works, to form a public art walkway. The new walkway will start at the Convention centre in Kilmore Street, and finish at Wilson’s Reserve at the entrance to Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology during SCAPE 2010. This the sixth event presented by the Art and Industry Biennial Trust. The Trust is commissioning temporary works by New Zealanders Darryn George, Joanna Langford, Richard Maloy and Ruth Watson. Ash Keating, Ahmet Ogut and Hector Zamora round out the international commissions. SCAPE 2010 runs from 24 September to 7 November.

Peacemaker steps in

SIR Don McKinnon, a former Commonwealth Secretary-General with a reputation for peace making, has stepped in to help Auckland Museum put a troubled period behind it. He has been appointed by the Museum Board as interim director. Since former director Dr Vanda Vitali resigned in March after two controversial years, there have been calls for the Board to quit and be replaced by a commissioner. However, the Museum legislation states it must have a director. McKinnon says he is not going to pass judgement on what has gone wrong, and will instead look to the future.

A hummer

A wind sculpture by renowned sound artist Phil Dadson has completed Wellington’s Evans Bay Meridian Wind Sculpture Walkway. Dadson’s Akau Tangi consists of 10 poles with cones on top that pivot, spin, hum and light up at night as the wind flows through them. The poles are staggered from the water to Cobham Drive. Akau Tangi is the largest of the five sculptures commissioned for the Walkway, at a cost of $330,000.

Through the veil

CATHRYN Monro is one of the next artists to be exhibited in Wellington’s Courtenay Place Light boxes. The project is an initiative set up by the Wellington City Council to exhibit art outside in weather proof boxes. Cloudfold is a photographic series of cloudscape glimpsed through net curtains. This is not the first of Monro’s works to be seen in Wellington. The weathered steel Per Capita is outside the Museum Hotel on Cable Street.

A new intern

ROMAN Mitch is the sixth recipient of the Artspace Curatorial Internship. Mitch graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from AUT in 2006 and gained experience as an exhibition technician, artist and curator. The internship established in 2004 offers budding curators an opportunity to learn in a mentored relationship with Artspace director Emma Bugden. The internship is supported by Creative New Zealand and private funds.

South Auckland art centre

UENUKU the Maori god of creativity is the inspiration for the naming of Manakau’s first purpose built art facility. The Mangere Art centre – Ngã Tohu o Uenuku opens at the beginning of September. The centre will feature a 250 seat auditorium, two art galleries, a community kitchen, café and large outdoor courtyard.

Michael in Venice

PORIRUA-BORN artist Michael Parekowhai has been invited to represent New Zealand at the 2011 Venice Biennale. He was recommended to Creative New Zealand (CNZ) by an external advisory panel convened by 2009 and 2011 Venice Biennale Commissioner Jenny Harper. “He is at an ideal stage in his career to take on the challenge of Venice,” says Harper. “Michael’s work is topical and polished; he can be relied on to create a sense of drama and surprise.” Parekowhai is currently developing a proposal for CNZ, which will invest $650,000 into the Biennale.

Public art boost

BRIDGET Sullivan and Bruce Richards are the first trustees appointed to the Art in Public Places Trust, established by the New Plymouth District Council. Established to increase public art in the New Plymouth District, the independent trust will administer the district council’s $250,000 fund, raise additional money, as well as commission new artworks. Sullivan is a trustee of the Govett-Brewster Foundation and a member of the Friends of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Richards is the deputy chair of TSB Bank and a trustee of the Taranaki Art Festival.

Creative move

CREATIVE New Zealand’s (CNZ) board and committee members look to be reduced from 28 to 13. A more streamlined service is needed to allow staff to concentrate on responsibilities “rather than servicing bureaucracy,” says Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Chris Finlayson. Under the proposal, CNZ’s four governing bodies (Arts Council, the Arts Board, Te Waka Toi and Pacific Arts Committee) will become one. The move could save about $200,000 a year. The new board will include four members with knowledge of Maori arts and at least two with Pacific arts knowledge.

Govett-Brewster turns 40

THE Govett-Brewster Art Gallery celebrates its 40th birthday this year. To mark the milestone the gallery hosted an artist-led multimedia and performance event on March 27, and commissioned the new John Reynolds exhibition and a short three week season of Len Lye’s kinetic sculpture Trilogy (A Flip and Two Twisters).

Fisher Scholarship

AUT University Masters student Anthony Cribb is the new recipient of the Iris Fisher Scholarship. Named after a founding member of the Pakuranga Arts Society and the driving force behind the creation of the Fisher Gallery, the $5,000  scholarship aims to encourage tertiary-level visual art practice.  “We are thrilled that that scholarship has been awarded to such a talented artist,” says director of Te Tuhi James McCarthy. “And to a student of another of our city’s highly regarded art institutions, reflecting the calibre of art students in post-grad study.”

Size matters

Weighing in at 13.5 kilos and 2400 pages long, The Compendium Finale of Contemporary Jewellers is a two volume behemoth featuring 1044 jewellery makers from 54 countries. Fingers Gallery in Auckland have 24 artists represented. Darling Publications in Cologne, Germany is responsible for this mighty tome. A range of binding options are available including goatskin, snakeskin and cobalt blue calf leather.

New internship

Artspace has created a new position as part of an initiative to attract Asian audiences to its exhibitions. The inaugural Education and Media Internship has been awarded to Vera Mey.  Currently finishing an MA in Museum and Heritage Studies, Mey has gained curatorial experience at Porirua’s Pataka Museum and Wellington outsider art gallery Roar.

Seoul searching

CHRISTCHURCH’S Scott Flanagan has won a South Korean artists’ residency. Flanagan will be the fourth New Zealand artist to take up the three month Asia New Zealand/The Arts Centre Christchurch, residency. He will be based at South Korea’s National Museum of Contemporary Art’s Goyang Studio on the outskirts of Seoul until June. The annual exchange was established in 2006 as an annual exchange to increase artistic and cultural dialogue between South Korea and New Zealand. Hee-Kyoung Bae will be in Christchurch for the New Zealand side of the residency.

Bright artist wins

KAPITI Coast’s Harriet Bright won the 2010 Adam Award for her portrait Kayte. Bright beat 93 entrants to take home the $15,000 prize. “The wining portrait possesses a real quality of truth,” says awards judge Andrew Sayers. “There is a strongly evident sense of rapport and trust between artist and subject, and a real quality of friendship comes through.” The runners up are Rosalind Fair for her portrait of artist Philip Butler, and Donna Demente’s portrait of Oamaru restaurateur Fleur Sullivan.

Museum director out

CONTROVERSIAL Auckland Museum director Vanda Vitali resigned in March. Issues between the Auckland Museum Trust Board and Vitali arose over the installation of a bronze memorial sculpture honouring veterans of World War II, and an 18 month battle with the family of Sir Edmund Hillary over written articles and photographs bequeathed to the museum.  The Canadian was the first woman appointed as director, and took over from Dr Rodney Wilson in September 2007. Vitali previously worked as vice president of public programmes and director of content development at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in California.

Balanced design

ROBERT Foster of Australian design company FINK & Co will speak at the Balance design symposium at Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery, on May 8 and 9. Foster will be joined by Gretel Harrison who will talk about the marketing and business model for FINK. Other designers and commentators attending the design symposium include Candywhistle, Chris Jackson, David Trubridge, Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Genevieve Packer, Katy Wallace and Lucy Hammonds. Symposium delegates are also encouraged to compete for cash and prizes in the F. L. Bone Balance design Challenge. Winning teams are rewarded for their energy, innovation and quick thinking.

Photography fiesta

Harvey Benge is this year’s patron of the Auckland Festival of Photography. Now in its seventh year the festival has developed into two distinct programmes. Signature encompasses 25 main exhibitions while a Fringe programme includes 44 events ranging from digital online shows to cafés, shop windows and dealer galleries.

Waswas was here

Te Papa has purchased a piece of art from Papua New Guinean artist Daniel Waswas. His Auckland gallery Okaioceanicart said the $18,000 price for Look Within 2 was a record for a Melanesian work of art. Waswas initially came to New Zealand to do an art degree but ended up staying on for ten years. Now back at home he is pleased to have left something of his behind. Te Papa is yet to confirm when the painting will be displayed.

Art for homeless

FUNDS raised from a new exhibition at Auckland’s Artstation gallery will be donated to Auckland City Mission. House-to-House, curated by Artstation’s Domestic Craft and Contemporary Art Group aka the Knitterati, has asked community groups, schools and artists to create “house artworks” for the installation. Knitterati’s previous project, Shelter, involved a giant shelter made out of hand knitted blankets which were donated to the New Zealand Red Cross for newly arrived refugees.

A silver lining

Artists and property developers are working to fill empty commercial sites in Wellington through a new project. Letting Space is a visual arts project funded by Creative New Zealand and the Wellington City Council. The project sees the effects of the recession on the property market as an opportunity to explore creative ideas and fill empty spaces. Curators Mark Amery and Sophie Jerram are preparing a May 21 exhibition with Artist Kim Paton for 38 Ghuznee Street.

Auckland gallery closes

City Art Rooms is closing after three years. Conceived by Kylie Sanderson as a venue for ambitious artist projects from New Zealand and abroad its programme was steered by curator and artist Young Sun Han. Though the exhibition programme continues until June, Young will be leaving in April for New York after one last exhibition.  Dance of the Cockatrice will include a live performance paying homage to Yves Klein.