Category: Art

  • A January concert

    To begin the year’s programme of music there is to be a short concert in the town of Hokitika, south of Greymouth, at the end of January. The concert is a duo of works, Songs of Travel by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sings Harry by Douglas Lilburn. The latter, a New Zealander, studied…

  • Christmas 2023

    Christmas 2023

    It is time for the blog to take its annual rest for the Christmas celebrations, and this will be the last one for a few weeks. Thank you all for taking time to read, write and comment over the last year. Your support has been tremendous and I have loved discovering a different rhythm to…

  • The healing powers of art

    Art can help people deal with stress and tension but it has a tremendous power to help people who have experienced trauma as this interview from Scotland shows.

  • Workshops for summer 2024

    Over the next few months – after the Christmas and New Year break – the Southern Hemisphere summer really gets into its swing with workshops. Over the next few months there are lots of events and activities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here are a few that are happening up and down the West Coast. Down…

  • Left Bank Art Gallery show

    Left Bank Art Gallery show

    The Left Bank is the regional art gallery for the West Coast, housed in what was previously…wait for it… a bank! The gallery shows exhibitions every month and has two spaces, one larger than the other. This month the large space is hosting the Member’s Show, an event dedicated to the artworks of the members…

  • Eerie Pageantry

    Eerie Pageantry

    The City Gallery, Wellington/ Te Whare Toi is currently hosting an exhibition of “folk-horror-infused art” by Don Driver and Julia Robinson. Sculptures and assemblages present a view of the Gothic from the Antipodes; Julia Robinson hails from Australia and comes from English ancestry and Don Driver is from Aotearoa New Zealand. Julia uses textile techniques…

  • An interview with Caroline McQuarrie

    An interview with Caroline McQuarrie

    This week saw the first interview of the Conversation and Cloth series of textile events. Caroline McQuarrie joined Andy Ross on the couch for a chat about textiles, art practices, weaving and memory. You can watch the video of the interview below. Links to works and websites mentioned in the interview: https://www.hastingscityartgallery.co.nz/home/article/433/caroline-mcquarrie-and-shaun-matthews-prospects-fearful?t=featured&s=1 https://teara.govt.nz/en/search/teara?keys=pakeha https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=pakeha https://www.annagratton.co.nz…

  • How Shetland wool became famous

    How Shetland wool became famous

    For those who have been lucky enough to visit Shetland, the archipelago in the Far North of the UK that has an illustrious and long history of textiles, you will remember the thousands of sheep that litter the hills (and, sometimes, the roads) of the islands. These sheep are the mainstay of an industry that…

  • Bicycles on a tapa

    Bicycles on a tapa

    This amazing piece of tapa is housed in a beautiful building in Hokitika: Renton Hardware Building. The piece features what looks like columns, writing and bicycles. There is little information about it and anyone with any knowledge or ideas about its origin can leave a comment below or send an email. These will be passed…

  • Lindzeanne

    Lindsey “Lindzeanne” Gradolph is a textile artist who uses embroidery to explore and fill spaces. Basing her practice on the Japanese idea of wasting nothing – mottainai – Lindsey uses sashimi threads and hand-sewing to create dense textures and patterns on objects and cloth.