Gallery
11 February – 25 February 2023
Inspired by her own painting ‘Navel-gazing’ (A finalist in The Adam Portraiture Exhibition 2022 and currently travelling around Aotearoa and features as the first release of advertising for the Pride Festival).
Katie Blundell Artist continues to explore the ‘self’. A collector once explained that owning her work was like having a page of her diary. Here she shares a medley of pages. Blundell exhibits a retrospective salon on the gallery wall and some new, small, mono prints based on self portraiture on the opposite of the concourse.
In partnership with Arts Out East, UXBRIDGE Arts & Culture, and Te Tuhi, the Howick Youth Council’s Youth Visual Art Showcase is back for the fifth year with over 70 submissions.
Showcasing the best of our young visual Artists, between the age of 18 – 24 living in East Auckland.
Whether it be painting, sculpture, animation, photography, or mixed media, the showcase has artists in all fields.
Exhibition dates: 9 February – 11 March
‘Perspectives: Te Tai Ao Notions of the Universal’ Exhibition has brought together artists of diverse backgrounds and ethnicity to explore the question of what constitutes the universal. Is this an outdated construct which serves to subjugate cultural differences or is it something within the essence of what unites us all through commonalities? Is it tangible or in the realms of intangible? How can it be expressed in a way that ignites a universal experience?
Eleven artists under the umbrella of the Flowers Art Collective have found different ways to grapple with these questions arriving and a collection of works which hold both commonalities and disparities. Abstract and figurative painting, photographic excursions and works that use internal illumination offer experiences which brings a sense of other world dimensions as well as earthly realities, food for thought and nourishing delights. Artists Marion Gordon-Flower, Taylen Heremaia, Jasmine Hope, Anne Shirley, Mary Shirley, Ruth Bioletti, Lynette Fisher, Max Grey, Penny Otto, Justin Sobion and Agnés Desombiaux-Sigley bring together their own artistic lenses, to create an exhibition of great diversity and depth.
Opening night: 13 May, 3:00PM – 6:00PM
Exhibition dates: Saturday 13 May – Friday 26 May
The “dairy experience” is something both Catherine Guevara and Juliana Duran can relate to as migrants in Aotearoa. There is a normalcy in entering these spaces who are generally owned by other migrants.
it is important for Cath and Juliana to commemorate the resilience and perseverance of their journeys, as it is essential to celebrate the diversity Aotearoa has to offer.
Opening night: 10 March, 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Exhibition dates: 9 March – 12 May
Pat Basse
A collection of pieces that grew from the artist’s memories as a 4-year-old evacuee during WW2. Without her family, Pat experienced extreme unhappiness from which she found respite in her dreamworld. The dreams were colourful and excitingly theatrical in stark contrast to her living world. As an adult, Pat could write down her dreams and recreate them in her art.
Tipua Sculpture Tour
12 March – March 31 2023
Community Open Day: March 25
The Tipua (New Growth) Sculpture Roadshow is a regional tour of new and traditional Whakairo Sculpture created by artists for Lake House Arts exhibitions during Symposiums and Festivals in 2020 – 2022. Created by a collection of Auckland based artists, this touring exhibition shares their award-winning whakairo and mixed media sculptures to a wider audience throughout the Auckland region.
Artists:
Andy Turner
Uenuku Hawira
Brett Evans
Luis Fernando Cabrera
Paul Brunton
Natanahira Pona
Exhibition dates: Monday 3 April – Saturday 13 May
Let Us Drink the New Wine, Together! has been curated by Alys Longley and Máximo Corvalán-Pincheira in collaboration with over 100 artists from across the world.
Let Us Drink the New Wine, Together! is an exhibition of installations, artist maps, works on paper, video and mail art, that have all crossed geographical and linguistic borders throughout 2020-2023. The exhibition seeks to account for different realities and contexts through a kind of global x-ray, proposing art as a way to continue to imagine the world anew in uncertain times.
In addition to the gallery installation, a virtual realisation of this exhibition has been developed, which takes this exhibition beyond the walls of the gallery, inviting anyone with Wi-Fi to enter and experience the work through the Malcolm Smith Gallery website.
Click below to visit the virtual exhibition!
https://dotdot.social/let-us-drink-the-new-wine-together/
Opening night: 20 May, 5:00PM – 7:00PM
Exhibition dates: Saturday 20 May – Saturday 17 June
Expansive yet minuscule, spontaneous yet during; Trees are living beings that play a role not just in the ecosystem, but also in the minds of many artists.
This exhibition explores the interpretation of this vital element of nature from the ancient Roman frescoes to the Chinese literati paintings, and sparks further inquiries to how art could better represent trees that may enable us to reconcile with our environment.
Opening event: 28 October, 2:00PM – 4:00PM
Exhibition dates: Saturday 28 October – December 16 2023
“I found myself caught in a nonverbal conversation with this Other, a gestural duet with which my conscious awareness had very little to do. It was as if my body in its actions was suddenly being motivated by a wisdom older than my thinking mind, as though it was held and moved by a logos, deeper than words, spoken by the Other’s body, the trees, and the stony ground on which we stood.”
David Abram, “The Spell of the Sensuous”
How can painting enhance our habitual ways of seeing our environment? How can it help us reconnect with the animal and plant life around us? How can it help us reconnect with the land that surrounds us? Dependent on the more-than-human natural world, we are, in the words of David Abram, “alive, awake and aware”.
We discover worlds within worlds. We understand nature, wild with its patterns and vicissitudes. We come to the realization that the landscape is expressive and sentient with shapes and sounds twisting, twitching, swerving, switching, rippling and swelling. It interpenetrates our minds, our senses and our humanity.
This sensual world is the place of dreams and yearning where everything is always changing and evolving. How can painting capture the power and energy of these rhythms, flows and forces – the exchange between our senses and the sensuous terrain?
About the artist
Ekaterina Dimieva is an abstract painter based in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. She completed her Master’s of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts in 2020 and is a participant in the mothermother curatorial project.
Dimieva has been a finalist in the Estuary Art and Ecology Awards (Uxbridge Arts and Culture, 2022, 2023), a finalist in the National Contemporary Art Awards (Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, 2022) and the Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards (Arts Whakatane, 2021). Her work is included in various collections nation-wide and abroad including the Wallace Arts Trust collection.
Exhibition dates: Saturday 24 February – 6 April 2024
Auckland-based artist Amrit Kaur takes inspiration from the natural world, producing paintings full of intention and from a place of peace. Turning towards the detail of everyday life, she brings forth on her canvas the moments often overlooked in our busy day-to-day world.
Kaur’s artworks begin in nature, influenced by her surroundings, but resolve in the solitude of her studio – a nod to the complexities of life where we are influenced by what’s happening around us but, in the end, we return to ourselves to make sense of it all.
Not interested in capturing the details but in highlighting the subtleness her of subject, Kaur collects relics from nature, sketching and taking notes while outdoors and then embedding those onto her canvas back in her studio.
Fragments of Us builds on the artist’s practice as she explores the humanity’s adjustment to its place in the natural world, highlighting the multiple personalities embodied in each of us. Bringing together her abstract and expressionist works, Kaur hints at the coming together of all our various fragments to make one of US.
The only contemporary art prize in Aotearoa New Zealand with ecology at its core.
Artists are invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki Estuary, to underscore the ecological value of this vital waterway and encourage action against its pollution.
With a total prize pool of $10,000, the winning artworks are intelligent and innovative responses to ecology in the field of contemporary art.
For more information about the Tāmaki Estuary and the work of the Tāmaki Estuary visit the Tāmaki Estuary Environmental Forum (TEEF) visit TEEF Facebook.
Call for Entries (Click to download)
EAA18 – Entry Form
Entries open 1 April 2024
Exhibition of Finalists
6 July to 31 August 2024
Awards Ceremony
Saturday 6 July 2024, 2:30PM
People’s Choice
Friday 6 September 2024
Image credit: Daisy Nicholas, Reflective Tides, 2023
‘Tokimeku’ (ときめく) is a Japanese word that beautifully captures the sensation of a throbbing, fluttering, and palpitating heart—a visceral response to the dance of anticipation. This concept serves as the inspiration for Coral Noel Yang latest collection of expressive abstract works. Influenced by her immersive experience at Tamagawa Hot Spring, a secluded mountain healing site in her mother’s hometown, Akita, Japan, these artworks vividly reflect the essence of her journey, where the heartbeat of nature resonates in captivating visual expressions.
The rich landscape of the hot spring and its surrounding terrain provides bountiful inspiration for visual storytelling. Elements such as the outflowing fountainhead, the luminous vapour, the neon-hued sulphuric fumaroles, the enchanted submerged forest, and the rare Sun Halo phenomena, are all intricately woven into the tapestry of Tokimeku. For Coral, Tokimeku became a compelling artistic exercise, allowing her to distil a personal abstract language from the natural elements of Tamagawa, capturing the emotions and ethos of her pilgrimage. Within each artwork, a palpable curiosity about the fluidity of water, the ascending glow of vapour, and the ethereal atmosphere of the land emerges.
As Coral delves into the memories of her travels, central themes of wonder, awakening, connection, and rebirth crystallise within this collection. A poignant narrative thread weaves through her heartfelt reunion with family after a period of Covid-induced separation, alongside tales of healing and the therapeutic energy found in Tamagawa. Coral’s purpose is to imbue her works with the vitality and sense of belonging she absorbed from this transformative journey.
Coral’s practice involves the application of the soak-stain method on raw canvases—a technique seamlessly blended with her upbringing in the Asian Water-Ink tradition. Breaking constraints by using water and fluid paint, she engages in a delicate dance between intuitive material play and meticulous left-brain design. Enthralled by the challenge of harnessing the unpredictable beauty of fluidity, Coral patiently crafts subtle, luminous, and transparent layers that echo the passage of time and delicate human emotions. Her works come alive with raw water marks, organic shapes, and whimsical brushstrokes, where geometrical elements occasionally serve as a nod to nature, intertwined with emotional elements that add dimensions to her paintings.
Tokimeku unfurls across four subsets: The Submerged Forest, the Sun Halo, the Golden Sulphuric Treasure, and the Colours of Dreams, each presenting its unique narratives, colour palettes, and abstract exploration. This exhibition extends an invitation to the audience to immerse themselves in the intricate layers of emotion—joyful reunions, stories of resilience, and the revitalising embrace of nature, with the hope of evoking a profound sense of wonder and elevation in the viewers.
Coral Noel Yang, an Auckland-based contemporary painter, specializes in abstract and floral art using acrylic, blending Soak-Stain techniques with Asian water-ink traditions. Her vibrant and layered works exude luminous hues and expressive marks, drawing inspiration from Aotearoa’s landscapes and florals, her 15 years of global filmmaking experience, and her Chinese-Japanese heritage. Enthralled by the unpredictable beauty of fluidity, she navigates between intuitive material play and meticulous design, crafting layers adorned with water marks, organic shapes, and whimsical brushstrokes. Her paintings capture nature’s essence intertwined with human emotions, evoking a profound sense of wonder and belonging, resonating both locally and internationally. Since 2021, Coral has held solo exhibitions in Auckland, notably including Unfurling (2023) and Tokimeku (2024). Additionally, she is invited to showcase her work at both The Auckland Art Show 2024 and Art in the Park 2024. In 2023, she received the John Wells award at the Emerging Artist Awards of Upstail Gallery and was a finalist at Craigs Aspiring Art Prize in 2024.
Instagram link: @coralnoelyangart
Coral Noel Yang, Stardust Rhapsody
The Howick Photographic Society, in conjunction with the Auckland Festival of Photography, is proud to showcase a large selection of images by award winning and emerging photographers. The photos for this exhibition have been selected from all members including beginners and covers all styles. The photographs are for sale so come along and pick out something special for your wall.
Howick Photographic Society has been active in the Eastern suburbs community since it was formed in 1956 fostering the love and teaching of photography. The Society has been going now for close to 70 years and caters for all types of photographers from absolute beginners to those more experienced. A range of activities are provided including competitions, workshops, speakers, and outings. We welcome new members and have put in place teaching programs to help them along their photographic journey.
We are a friendly, social group with our more experienced members keen to help and mentor others. For more details, check out our website howickphotographicsociety.org.nz. Or you can visit us at any of our Monday meetings!
Our meetings (both physical and by Zoom) are held on the 1st, 3rd and 4th Mondays of each month, from February to November in the basement of the Howick Bridge Club, Howick Leisure Centre, 563 Pakuranga Highway, Howick.
Image Credit: Sunrise In Wanaka – Shona Kebble FPSNZ
Dorks, Losers, Lemons is a collaborative project between Isabella Dampney and Sophie Sutherland. Together they explore the absurdity of rigid structures in urban life. The show is an invitation to confront the propriety of spaces within and outside the gallery, while drawing on humour as a means of reconnecting with pleasure and play.
Whether stealing lemons over fences or divining meaning from personalised licence plates, Isabella Dampney finds herself at odds with Tāmaki Makaurau’s suburban culture of automobilia and antisociality. Isabella’s flamboyant colours and premeditated brushwork rationalise her anecdotal experiences of social discord into objects of pleasure.
Similarly, Sophie Sutherland bends norms of installation practice, playing with forms that are inspired by systems of aid. Through her action inspired work, featuring pool noodles, rugby cones and other objects of sport, Sophie confuses and questions the role of the gallery space, creating new opportunities for play.
The only contemporary art prize in Aotearoa New Zealand with ecology at its core.
Artists were invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki Estuary, to underscore the ecological value of this vital waterway and encourage action against its pollution.
With a total prize pool of $10,000, the winning artworks are intelligent and innovative responses to ecology in the field of contemporary art.
This year’s entries will be judged by Benjamin Work.
Benjamin Work is an artist, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland-born and raised, with Tongan and Scottish heritage. Work’s evolution exemplifies the new trajectories of artists reared on American sub/pop culture, while also explicitly exploring the complexities of both cultural institutions and the Moana Oceania diaspora. He currently resides alongside the Tāmaki Estuary in Pakuranga where throughout his life he has experienced the changing complexities and pressures upon this unique ecosystem. He was awarded the 2019 CMBB Para Site International Art Residency in Hong Kong, a 2021 Finalist – Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards and author of Whenua Fonua ‘Enua and Motutapu books. He continues to exhibit both nationally and internationally and is represented by Bergman Gallery.
Call for Entries
Entries are CLOSED
Exhibition of Finalists
1 July to 26 August 2023
Awards Ceremony
Saturday 1 July 2023, 2:30PM
Image: Daisy Nicholas, Coastal Echo, 2022
The Howick Floral Art Club are delighted to be part of the celebration of Howick’s 175th anniversary with a showcase of contemporary floral art designs exhibited at UXBRIDGE. The designs are to illustrate how floral art has developed in New Zealand over the past 45 years. The Howick Floral Art Club was established in 1975 and have taken this opportunity to embody some of the many relevant changes over this time.
The current exhibition highlights and represents modern floral art. The individual pieces use a variety of structural art techniques while paralleled with the fundamentals of basic floral design. The artworks showcase excellent skill and knowledge from the makers.
We invite you to browse and enjoy this short exhibition which is much more than ‘Bunches or Bouquets’
Exhibition dates: Sunday 28 May – Saturday 24 June
The Howick Photographic Society is proud to showcase a large selection of images by award winning and emerging photographers. The public is warmly welcomed to view the wide range of styles and subjects on display. All photographs on display are available for purchase.
Established in 1956, the Howick Photographic Society holds meetings, and supports photographers in their photographic journey. The club has a strong history of successes in local, national and international competitions.
Mā Te Huruhuru Artists’ installation tells the story of Tāmaki Estuary ecology, beginning with the takutai moana shoreline, moving into wai moana the water, onto the adjoining whenua land, up to rangi sky, and reaching high to ngā whetu Matariki stars.
TURNING is an interactive exhibition of kinetic, photographic and sculptural work created in collaboration with interdisciplinary artist, Lucinda Boermans, and technician, Alan Eaton. It is a creative response to Peter Sloterdijk’s Atmospheric Philosophy. Spheres of Being, a trilogy written and conceived over a period of 6 years (between 1998 and 2004). Sloterdijk’s historically informed theory details “a shift in how humans understand the world, and an ontology of space which is concerned with the particular ‘spheres’ they inhabit.”
TURNING explores space as spheres of influence; it is about poetics of space expressed through movement and sound. It invites us to consider attention and our relational position in the world. Equally, it is about acts of relational aesthetics (of “being in spheres”) realised through process-based enquiry, collaborative exchange and interaction “in-the-making”. As Boermans notes, TURNING took shape over nine months, through the unfolding of tales, recounted conversations, note-taking and emails sent in exchange.
In addition to this exhibition, two complementary workshops will be held for children. More information can be found here.
Make Pom Poms – 15 March to 29 April 2022
Head to UXBRIDGE, Te Tuhi or Ormiston Town Centre to pick up your yarn ball and drop the pom pom off later on when you finish.
Exhibition – 9 April to 6 May 2022
Each week, all pom poms that are made by the public will be collected from the drop-off centres. These will be added to the installation, allowing the community to see the evolving artwork.
Whale Tales is an immersive public art trail, across Tāmaki Makaurau!
Inspired by the threatened (nationally critical) Bryde’s whale, the trail is made up of 80 Big Broo and 82 Pēpi Pod whale Tail sculptures dotted around Auckland’s streets, parks, and open spaces.
Explore the unique and stunning whale Tail sculptures, designed by talented artists and students, and sponsored by generous businesses and organisations. Every Tail has its own tale too, so soak up the rich stories as you journey through the trail.
After the trail ends, the sculptures will be auctioned to raise funds for WWF-New Zealand’s vital work to protect and restore the Hauraki Gulf and the Bryde’s whales that call it home.
There are seven (7) whale tails inside UXBRIDGE – can you find them all? Pick up your map from reception!
The Howick Photographic Society, in conjunction with the Auckland Festival of Photography and the Howick 175th Anniversary, is proud to showcase a large selection of images by award winning and emerging photographers.
The exhibition opens on May 30th with the public warmly welcomed to view the wide range of styles and subjects on display. This wonderful exhibition will run at the Uxbridge Centre in Howick from the opening until the 18th June. The photographs on display are all available for purchase in almost any size that you require, should you wish to have one or more of these works gracing your home or business.
The Howick Photographic Society was established in 1956 and today has a strong following of members from the very experienced through to members just starting out on their photographic journey. Experienced members regularly hold tuition forums for those wishing to improve and warmly welcome anyone with an interest in this art form with workshops, outings and competitions available for everyone. The club has a strong history of successes in local, national and international competitions.
Physical meetings, in pre and post Covid times, are held at the clubrooms below the Bridge Club at the Howick Recreation Centre Complex. At the moment, all meetings are conducted on Zoom and new members have expressed their enthusiasm for the progress that they have made whilst having only experienced this form of contact.
For further information, please contact [email protected]
The only contemporary art award in Aotearoa New Zealand with ecology at its core.
Artists have been invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki estuary – to underscore the ecological value of this vital waterway, and to encourage action against its pollution.
With a total prize pool of $10,000, this year the award ceremony will again celebrate the winning artworks chosen by our judge. Returning as judge is Francis McWhannell, who will select artworks for the 16th Estuary Art and Ecology Award based on their innovative and intelligent response to ecology and the Tāmaki Estuary. He has also selected a number of other entries for display outside the main gallery. These entries will also be open for the Rice Family Partnership’s People’s Choice Award.
Exhibition
Saturday 2 July – 27 August 2022
Finalists
Wesley John Fourie – First Prize
Perry Projects – Second Prize
Rozana Lee – Third Prize
Ramon Robertson – Merit
Alby Yap – Merit
Amanda Watson
Celeste Sterling
Agnès Desombiaux Sigley
Daisy Nicholas
Milvia Romici
Mā Te Huruhuru Artists
Jill McArthur
Richard Osborne
Gillian Green
Ekaterina Dimieva
Suzette van Dorsser
Gail Barratt
Maggy J
Phillippa Bentley
Ainsley O’Connell
Our gallery is currently not showing any exhibitions – check out our upcoming exhibitions for more information on what’s up next.
The Kelliher Art Competition, and the Trust to administer it, were established by Henry Kelliher: the founder, managing director, and subsequent chairman of Dominion Breweries. To enter, artists were required “to paint the visible aspects of New Zealand’s landscape and coastal scenes in a realistic and traditional way”. Later, prizes for portraiture and figure studies were added. The Trust’s collection largely comprises prize-winning paintings from the competition, held from 1956 to 1977, although for the last three competitions, in 1974, 1976 and 1977, the name was changed to the Kelliher Art Award for which five equal Awards were given, whether a landscape, portrait or figure study. In addition to purchases made from approximately 2007 to 2012 to update the collection a little, from 2015 the Trust has commissioned paintings by emerging landscape painters as a way of honouring Sir Henry’s original objective: to encourage the painting of New Zealand landscape.
This year’s selection does not have a particular theme. Rather, it attempts to represent the diversity of the collection. In part this is because in 2021 the focus of the Trust has been the development of a major touring exhibition, comprised of approximately a third of the collection from December 2021 through to early 2023.
The Kelliher Art Trust is delighted that Uxbridge Arts and Culture, Howick, will be presenting this collection from 24 January until 12 March.
Christopher Johnstone
Curator, Kelliher Art Trust
By Wesley John Fourie
Spanning textile, painting, ceramics, drawing, and printmaking, I Dream A Rain Forest is a show about place.
Natural places, such as Waipoua Kauri Forest, seen in Tane Mahuta, and Safe Haven (Kahurangi National Park), or through botanical sampling, like Kowhai Park. Places inscribed with memories, such as Woodhaugh Gardens (I cant stop thinking about our first kiss), and Forest Floor (where we lay together in love), drawing out these places as they are remembered in time through stitch.
This show also presents places we go to in our mind, specifically the artists mind, in states of deep insomnia. In these works, the insomnia portraits, we see a series of imagined landscapes, the artist’s internal “green space”, in both drawing and painting.
Though diverse in its media, the works in this exhibition are bound together by their repetitive mark making processes, and all seek to elevate our arboreal environment, real or imagined.
We Climbed This Mountain With Our Feet and Hands (Rangitoto), a community built artwork (created with thanks to Te Tuhi Contemporary Trust, Arts Out East, and Howick Local Board), is another example of the artist’s interest in place, as a 1/1 scale model of Rangitoto, rendered in arm knitting (260m).
The pieces in this exhibition, like the headspace they were created under, are largely intimate works.
They carry across their surfaces stories, the memory of light hitting a fern in a rain forest, the setting of a first kiss, a sampling of every plant along a pathway, an imagined clearing in a bush, stories rooted in place, and memory of place.
For Artweek Auckland, there will be an arm knitting workshop running in conjunction with the exhibition.
Workshop: Arm Knitting (free workshop)
Saturday 13 November, 10:00AM – 12:00PM
Indulge your love of photography with the Howick Photographic Society; encouraging and helping photographers to grow in the Eastern suburbs since 1956.
We invite you to visit and be inspired by an exhibition of our members work, in both the print and digital medium.
Our Society is vibrant, friendly and social. We meet 3 Monday evenings each month, from February to December, in the basement of the Bridge Club, Howick Recreation Centre, Highland Park.
All visitors are welcome. Join us now.
The Howick Youth Council’s East Auckland Visual Arts Showcase is running for its fourth year to showcase the best of visual art produced by young people living in Howick, Pakuranga, Botany, and Ormiston. This exhibition will be free to view over two weeks from 10th June to 26th June and was opened to submissions from youth aged between 12 and 24 who live in the area covered by the Howick Local Board. This year the art category is open with participants free to create artworks over subject matters that inspire them or to experiment with different medians.
East Auckland Embroiderers Guild (EAEG) is an incorporated society and a member of the Association of New Zealand Embroiders Guild (ANZEG). It was formed in 2004 and has a current membership of 60 meeting twice each month – one day meeting and one evening meeting. ANZEG’s overall aim is to encourage embroidery in all its forms, innovation in design, and excellence in stitching. The members of EAEG fulfil this aim, being involved in a wide range of embroidery techniques ranging from very old traditional forms of stitching from around the world through to modern creations and multi-media projects. Workshops are often held at meetings to teach new skills, utilising both guild members and outside tutors. In addition to this, members can attend regional and national workshops run by both excellent local and international tutors – some with training such as the Royal School of Needlework.
Members are encouraged to try a diversity of embroidery techniques and to also create their own designs which then get transformed into a unique finished item. The resulting projects cover a vast range including stitched art for hanging, ornaments, cushions and table mats etc. These works of art are of an extremely high quality, with some members receiving recognition awards at regional and national exhibitions.
EAEG has run an exhibition open to the public every two years since its inception and has been pleased to be able to share this age-old craft, keeping these traditional skills alive and continues to inspire new and younger members in their embroidery.
Awards Ceremony
Saturday 3 July, 2:30PM 2021
Exhibition
Saturday 3 July – 28 August 2021
The only contemporary art award in Aotearoa New Zealand with ecology at its core.
Artists have been invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki estuary – to underscore the ecological value of this vital waterway, and to encourage action against its pollution.
UXBRIDGE is pleased to welcome the Tāmaki Estuary Environmental Forum as partner and sponsor for this year’s event. The prize pool is now $10,000. Our judge, Francis McWhannell, has selected 23 artworks for the 15th Estuary Art and Ecology Award based on their innovative and intelligent response to ecology and the Tāmaki Estuary. He has also selected a number of other entries for display outside the main gallery. These entries will also be open for the Rice Family Partnership’s People’s Award.
2021 Finalists
- Mā Te Huruhuru Artists (First Prize)
- Katie Theunissen (Second Prize)
- Divyaa Kumar (Third Prize)
- Jenny Tomlin (Merit)
- Franca Bertani (Merit)
- Alby Yap (People’s Choice Award – sponsored by Wally Rice Family Partnership)
- Kiri Abraham
- Ina Arraoui
- Gail Barratt
- Emily Brown
- Guinevere Cherrill
- Julie Christey
- Karen Danes
- Matt Dowman
- Emma Fromont
- Dani Henke
- Amanda Hewlett
- Jen Huebert
- Kim Logue
- Minke Lupa
- TSU
- Marion Wassenaar
- Isabella Young
Concourse Exhibition
- Anna Gibbs
- Deborah Hide-Bayne
- Maria Lambert
- Janet Mazenier
- Marie-Louise Myburgh
- Penny Otto
- Celeste Sterling
- Celia Walker
- Amanda Watson
- Alvin Xiong
- Nuanzhi Zheng
Signature Image: Confluence – 2020 Estuary Art Awards (Merit)
Cathy Tuato’o Ross, Bindy Caesar, Penny Fitt, Heather Hunt, Richard Hunter, Julia Newland
We have selected this image for the 2021 Estuary Art Awards as it is the result of a creative collaboration and is a conscious response to the dilemma of the Tāmaki Estuary’s past, present, and future. It involved conversation, negotiation, learning, and incorporates knowledge of place with knowledge of colonial history and the effects of human activity on the land, the water, and the climate. Restoring, preserving, and respecting the ecology of Tāmaki Estuary is an ongoing project that will require conversations, listening, negotiation, and collaborative action across the different perspectives of all those affected – a confluence.
Curated by Nicki and Grant Richards, the Quay Art Gallery exhibition will showcase an incredible collection of work by our Quay artists from all over New Zealand.
“As long term Howick residents, we are so pleased to bring our Quay Art Gallery to the local community through Uxbridge Arts and Culture. A community collaboration showcasing both local Auckland artists and art from all over New Zealand – from Christchurch to the far north.
The exhibition will focus on paintings, ceramics and glass art from some of our countries top artists.
We look forward to seeing you there.”
– Nicki and Grant Richards
Tony started teaching at UXBRIDGE in 1998, and after holding a solo exhibition in 2000 he then became the centre’s “Artist in Residence” in 2001.
The residency consisted of a number of classes that Tony taught, as well as open studio time where the public could watch and ask questions whilst Tony painted. This residency was renewed every 6 months for 3 years before starting his own business, after new management decided not to renew his contract.
Starting with 50 students, numbers quickly grew to 120 and Tony was teaching 7 days a week. What has developed through the years of student and teacher interaction, is a unique painting method that anyone can learn.
Now after 17 years he returns to where he began.
“We have been at UXBRIDGE for 2 years and it’s working out really nicely, there is a vibrant art community at the centre and the UXBRIDGE team are great to work with. We have reduced the number of students I teach per class, and I tutor only 2 days a week on Thursdays and Fridays. This have given me more time to work on my own painting”.
The Howick Youth Council’s East Auckland Visual Arts Showcase will once again showcase the best of visual art produced by young people living in Howick, Pakuranga, Botany, and Ormiston. This exhibition will be free to view and was open to submissions from youth aged between 12 and 24 who live in the area covered by the Howick Local Board. 2020 will be the third year in which the showcase has been run — but for the first time, the showcase will also include two main categories: Themed Art and Open Art — with a theme of ‘Modern and Traditional Connection’
Hang a Photo – Take one Away is a unique, a collection of photographic work created by you, shared and exchanged.
On the photo laundry wash line, you don’t just hang and take photographs. Here we exchange stories, memories and perspectives from everybody involved, an insight into anothers world.
The washing line gallery expresses the way pictures used to be developed in the pre-digital era when photographers had to dry their pictures after fixation and rinsing.
Whether you are a beginner or an experienced photographer, most important is that the pictures reflect your interpretation of “Nostalgia” our chosen topic for this event.
Nostalgia, “triggered by something reminding us of an event from our past or pleasurable emotions associated with and/or a longing to go back to a particular period of time, a fond memory of past times”.
FREE PARTICIPATION Rules & Conditions
FREE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS Saturday 27 June 10:30AM – 11:30AM OR Saturday 27 June 12:00PM – 1:00PM
FREE PHOTOGRAPHY PRESENTATIONS Wednesday 24 June 6:30PM – 7:15PM OR Wednesday 24 June 7:30PM – 8:15PM
Lockdown Heroes
An appreciation for essential workers through creativity and art!
With the sudden outbreak of Covid-19, we became much more aware of the vital role our essential workers play. What would we do without them?
Age Range
Ages between 5 and 18 are welcome to apply
This exhibition brings together text and image (poetry and landscape watercolour painting).
Siobhan’s autobiographical poems and landscapes form a visceral and compelling engagement with the textures and stories of the Howick/Maraetai coastline, with particular focus upon her own experience of local Māori and Jewish cultural contexts. Her work is also very much informed by her own disability. Her paintings draw upon the fluctuating differences in sight she experiences and seizures – much the same as did Van Gogh and artists with similar disabilities.
Siobhan’s paintings and drawings have been published in several art journals including Esthetica and The Same. Siobhan was also runner up for the 2020 Adam NZ playwriting award. Her poetry, fiction and memoir has been published in a number of literary journals including New Zealand Poetry and World Literature Today. Last but not least, she is currently editing a poetic illustrated novel about disability and Maori experiences of the New Zealand Wars for publication with Lasavia Press, Auckland.
Artist: Siobhan Rosenthal
ARTIST: Alexander Bailey
12 September to 30 September 2018
Opening: Tuesday 18 September, 5.30PM
As part of the winter season of jewellery classes at UXBRIDGE, tutor Simon Misdale challenges his students to design and make a piece of wearable jewellery from everyday objects or found things.
On display will be works created by Simon’s students.
27 August to 30 September 2018
Opening Saturday 25 August, 2.30PM
Students from Macleans College and Edgewater College participated in a workshop with international visiting artist, Cath Love. Over the course of one day, students explored digital and traditional painting techniques and worked on a final composition for an urban contemporary artwork of their own.
Eleven students participated in the workshop, supported by Howick Local Board.
Tuesday 28 August, 6.30PM
This evening korero will explore urban contemporary art through
discussion led by curator and arts manager Olivia Laita and the work
of the three artists of EAST – Cath Love, Oscar Low and Elliot Francis Stewart.
Learn more about this global art form as we explore the connections
that are strengthening between the urban contemporary scenes here and in Asia.
Free to attend, all welcome.
TOI TALKS is led by AUAT: Aotearoa Urban Arts Trust and supported by Howick Local Board
9 July to 19 August 2018
Opening Saturday 7 July, 2.30PM
The only contemporary art prize in Aotearoa New Zealand with ecology at its core. Artists are invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki Estuary, to underscore the ecological value of this vital waterway and encourage action against its pollution. With a total prize pool of $8,300 the winning artworks will be intelligent and innovative responses to ecology in the field of contemporary art.
Judge: Paul Brobbel
Congratulations to the winners of the Estuary Art and Ecology Prize 2018
Marion Wassenaar (First Prize), Wei Lun Ha (Second Prize), Mish O’Neill (Merit), Michelle Farrell (Merit)
People’s Choice Award Winners were Jim Wheeler and Rozana Lee
With support from Gordon Harris, Rice Family Partnership and
Giant Sisters live podcast taping
Saturday 18 August, 11.30AM
Celebrating #Suffrage125 – An afternoon with Jo Brothers speaking with phenomenal women on the Giant Sisters podcast show
Giant Sisters celebrates and shares phenomenal women’s voices and stories in their own words. For this special live taping we will be joined by two phenomenal art educators, Linda Tyler and Jill Smith.
The podcast recordings from this event are available here:
Linda Tyler – http://www.giantsisters.com/linda-tyler.html
Jill Smith – http://www.giantsisters.com/jill-smith.html
5 March to 14 April 2018
Opening Saturday 3 March, 2.30PM
A drainlayer, a fabricator, a builder, a Scout, a potter – unlikely partnerships, initiated through Scott Eady’s personal connections to local residents will develop to create a space for exploration and consideration, bringing an understanding of the local and connection to the immediate.
Exhibition Publication
4 June to 30 June 2018
Opening Saturday 2 June, 2.30PM
Developing from their exhibition in Ōtepoti in 2017, The Insider uses public space, street and gallery, as a site for response to inequality, allowing for a propaganda-like campaign to act as the catalyst for conversation and directly questions the hierarchies that govern culture and critical thinking.
Presented as part of
Exhibition Publication
24 January, 11.00AM to 1.00PM
Join Wendy Hannah for an interactive look at her painting practice. Wendy will talk about how she utilises a spinning table in her art making practice and participants will be able to create a work using the techniques discussed.
Free to attend, suitable for all ages.
“From Here to Africa is a collection of captivating portraits of the Maasai people from Tanzania. I found myself deeply inspired upon meeting the Maasai tribe and realised the opportunity to document their unique culture which is being eroded by Western influence and modern technology. On a personal level, this reminds me of the true value of photography: preserving memories in order to relive special stories and pass them on to others. Through this series of carefully composed photographs, the Maasai people can share their rich culture with the world.
The collection is presented in a film-noir monochrome, capturing these portraits in a classically timeless style; lending a unifying appearance that emulates analogue lithographic techniques. I wanted viewers to focus on the humanity aspect of each portrait: expressions and body language, shapes and forms. I eliminated distracting colours to ensure that viewers focus on the people within the photos, and make emotional connections with these individuals.
I aim to depict the Maasai culture in an authentic and honest way, using a clear narrative style which shows people the significance of their culture, as well as their individual personalities. My goal is to provoke your imagination regarding the traditions of the Maasai people and the stories behind their portraits. In sharing this portfolio, I encourage viewers to show tolerance: to accept all people and to recognise the value of cultural diversity. We would all experience an enhanced sense of community if we took the time to appreciate interactions which allow us to discover the world beyond our familiar boundaries.”
Opening: Friday, 28 February 7:30PM with keynote speaker: Sir Bob Harvey. RSVP: www.HereToAfrica.com
Artist Talk: Saturday, 7 March 11:00AM
Portraiture Photography Workshop: Saturday, 7 March 12:00PM – 3:00PM WORKSHOP DETAIL & BOOKINGS
Sponsors:
Coming soon: Uxbridge Art Sale
MALCOLM SMITH GALLERY
24 March to 12 May 2019
Garden of Memories, curated by Giles Peterson, brings together heirloom and contemporary Pacific quilts from Peterson’s collection and uses these precious objects as the starting point for exploring contemporary craft and object-making by extending this traditional form into creative interpretations and new works by artists from across Asia and the Pacific.
Six quilts from Aotearoa and the Pacific are at the centre of the exhibition and the complementing publication. Peterson’s personal connection to each quilt is explored through narratives, along with the idea of quilts as domestic objects, transmitters of knowledge, status items, items for comfort and survival and works of art.
Garden of Memories features work by Shona Pitt, Sheena Taivairanga, Lisa Reihana, Vea Mafile’o, Reina Sutton, Lina Pavaha Marsh, and Ken Khun.
A publication to accompany the exhibition will be available, created in collaboration with Rim Books. This publication is funded by Creative New Zealand and supported by Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design and Resene.
Pre-order your copy of the publication HERE
16 February to 30 March 2018
Wei Lun Ha is a Vietnam-born Chinese New Zealander. His art practice is based around his keen interest in eco-friendly issues and contemporary identity in Chinese ink paintings which is continually evolving and not easily reducible to definite categories. His paintings embrace the pulsating energy and richness of different cultures and create an intensity that is covered with interpretation and stories.
Last year Wei Lun travelled to Vermont to complete a 3-month residency to further develop ink porcelain painting. Wei Lun is exhibiting a selection of these works as part of our Chinese New Year celebrations.
The decision to drift is an exhibition of three painters – Amy Blinkhorne, Kristy Gorman, and Emma Smith. These artists explore notions of stillness in varied ways – forms flit, linger, are held and haunt the surfaces. The works slow the viewer in a quiet state of recalibration, of floating observance, residual uneasiness and slow terror.
Amy Blinkhorne’s practice explores the notions of liminality, an in-between space that challenges two or more multiple constructs. Influenced by the experience of distorted sound, as a result of wearing hearing aids, strange spatial interactions take place within the painting’s body and surface. Spaces that are empty or unclear are bound in-between the states of knowing. In these spaces lie the discomfort of uncertainty and unfamiliarity, of no idea and agenda, no gender, no polarities. Until this liminal space becomes the truth, there will always be an, “other”.
In the work of Kristy Gorman forms that are at once familiar and ambiguous are spliced and reconstructed to tease out issues of surface and depth, figure and ground, stability and fragility. Edited observations and tricks of the light are recalled as floating planes hover and shift quietly within the frame and beyond it.
Broadly speaking Emma Smith’s work negotiates the post industrial militarization of culture, a heightened state of urgency/ emergency, the looming certainty of the accident, the potential in temporary wasteland spaces, notions of displacement, reparation and debt, institutional restructures and failures in the (predominantly) painted form. In the series A Brief History of Fire, we see luminous sickly billowing clouds of indeterminate scale on a back drop of impossibly sunny colours.
Image by Kristy Gormin
MALCOLM SMITH GALLERY
Exploring Shapes
Wednesday 17 April | 12PM to 1PM
Delivered by Ken Khun in conversation with Giles Peterson. Ken will describe how he created the repeating design seen in the Garden of Memories wallpaper. Following this, participants can create their own using simple techniques.
Interactive Story Telling
Saturday 4 May | 12PM to 1.30PM
Join Turou Takitua as they take you on a storytelling journey across the Moana to the Cook Islands. Enjoy ancient tales passed down through time, like the intricate stitches of Tivaevae uncovered from a ‘glory box’…. The afternoon will include interactive storytelling, drumming and dance.
All events are free to attend, materials are provided and open to all. There is no need to register, just come along!
With support from
Saturday 10 March, 8.00AM – 11.00AM
The Estuary Art and Ecology Prize for 2018 is coming!
We are kicking off EAA12 with projects to bring attention to this treasured part of our neighbourhood, as part of SeaWeek 2018.
First up is an early morning clean-up of Panmure Basin.
Join us on Saturday 10 March from 8AM to 11AM at Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club to help clean up this unique and vital catchment.
All materials supplied. Please wear closed footwear or gumboots.
Image: Roma Anderson, Liminal, 2017, Merit Award EAA11
4 June to 30 June 2018
Like the phenomena captured by applied scientific photography, Home Science explores connections between light, water and altered states of matter through images centering on a vortex motif, capturing an energy flow within the life-growth cycle.
Presented as part of:
From the distant afar, years and years ago, through mountains and seas, upon this Aotearoa, a wonderland, did we come, and took root hence.
In Spring, trailing the songs of birds, we can wander around our fragrance filled gardens of blooming flowers, pick a rose fresh with dew then, so to hold on to those blissful moments.
In Summer, under the setting sun, we can take a stroll through the inviting beaches, bathing with the waving ripples and blessings of Santa in shorts, wistfully wishing another flourishing year.
While in Autumn, the golden light seeps through the land, shrouding Kiwis singing the harvesting songs, a moment how we can forget our cameras.
In Winter under the moonlight, while the city is still under a misty veil tinted with neon lights, we can climb up the neighbouring hills, to take a glimpse, or to have a little chat with the starry sky, and to reach out for that kiwi bird up, up in the Milky Way.
New Zealand…. this is our home, our heaven on Earth.
Sunday 21 July – Friday 6 September
“Dynamic Paintings full of symbolism and expression with playing composition” – This is the shortest expression of Dana’s art work since she came to New Zealand.
Some artworks have the ability to rotate the composition. They like to be loved and for the viewer to notice the meaning and details. The viewer might feel happiness and poetic motifs.
Seven exhibitions until 2020 in Auckland have made her busy as a freelance painter during these four years.
Dana was born in Persia and, at the age 3, moved to Sweden with her family. Later she returned to Persia where she graduated from University with a master of painting. She has been lecturing Photography, Painting, and Graphic Design for the past 8 years. She managed several research projects and wrote several articles on cultural aspects of the role of modern design in Shiraz.
Image: Pink Dream – Dana Dadi
15 January to 2 March 2018
This exhibition has a focus revolving around the human spirit. Helen Wang has been working for two years particularly on the Tibetan People series, which the works in the exhibition is mostly comprised of. Her wish is to capture the character and uniqueness of every individual, to express each person’s identity and story for viewers to understand.
UXBRIDGE SHOWCASE
1 March to 20 March 2019
Cleanliness is intrinsic to the advent of civilization and the human separation from nature. It implies structure, sanity and order, whereas dirt connotes unconventionality, the unhinged, the seedy and precarious. Dirt is deliberated mayhem.
This body of work stems from a questioning of social codes and a fascination with the coarsely textured world.
Inga was awarded a Post Graduate Diploma with distinction from Elam School of Fine Arts in 2018 and is continuing her Master in Fine Arts study this year.
I studied Bachelor of Visual Arts and my subjects were particular in design and drawing. I had learnt to make variety of media: painting, life drawing, sculpture, photography and moving image but all of these, I preferred computer graphics, such as designing posters, logos and drawing cartoon characters.
I am a new artists this year, albeit may not same as those well-known or professional artist in New Zealand. It is important for me to show my art skill and interest so people will know who I am.
Why I chose the theme ‘Patterns’? We know pattern is about repeated shapes in abstract form. It does not have to be represent the specific meaning of the idea that was made and why. It is a form of everything in either single or multiple. For instance, an apple duplicates into many is still an apple or can mix with others randomly. Simply, it shows how attractive and beautiful it is but pattern can make us to observe it for a long time because we feel we really want to know ‘what it is’. It resembles to puzzle in the way of making us feel confusing and dizzy, e.g. an illusion.
Patterns express my idea of ‘Free Style’. I am free to make any style I like to and easy to demonstrate my first art work that I decide to show. Patterns are my favourite concept in art aspect because it connects with design and painting, not only in fashion. I hope you enjoy these of my first art exhibition.
ARTIST: Chanh Oai Lu
Coming soon: Korean War Photo Exhibition – Commemorating the 70th Anniversary
The only contemporary art prize in Aotearoa New Zealand with ecology at its core. Artists were invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki Estuary, to underscore the ecological value of this vital waterway and encourage action against its pollution.
With a total prize pool of $8,300, the winning artworks are intelligent and innovative responses to ecology in the field of contemporary art.
Exhibition of Finalists
13 July to 1 September 2019
Awards Ceremony
Saturday 13 July 2019, 2:30PM
Judge’s Tour of the Exhibition
Saturday 20 July, 2:30PM
Congratulations to our 2019 Finalists
Roma Anderson, Hannah Rose Arnold, Julia Christey, Bev Goodwin, Toni Hartill, Thomas Hinton, John Johnston, Thomas Lawley, Minke Lupa, Janet Mazenier, Barnaby McBryde, Neal Palmer, Lucy Pierpoint, Summer Shimizu, Mo Stewart, Katie Theunissen, Raewyn Turner/Brian Harris, Celia Walker, Briana Woolliams
Congratulations to our 2019 Award Winners
First Place – Mo Stewart
Second Place – Roma Anderson
Merit – Toni Hartill
Merit – Briana Woolliams
Image: Mish O’Neill, Mānawa, 2018
Merit Award EAA12
22 January to 24 February 2018
Gallery Session with the artist: Friday 16 February, 11.30AM
New works from New Zealand and India reinterpreting modernism for a new time
Natalie Guy recently completed a three month residency in Varanasi, India and the results of this residency form her new exhibition, Then and Then Again.
Working with manufacturers she met in the city, Guy weaves some of the wonder of Varanasi into her distinctive sculpture practice.
Utilising a contrasting palette of hard material (iron formed into shapes by a local Varanasi blacksmith) and soft fibres (traditional muslin dyed and embroidered with designs inspired by Gordon Walters prints), this exhibition regenerates and brings together New Zealand modernism and Indian handcraft.
The residency Guy completed is based at Kriti Gallery and is supported by Asia New Zealand Foundation.
Exhibition Publication
Supported by:
23 April to 25 May 2018
Opening Saturday 21 April, 2.30PM
Curators Tour: Thursday 17 May, 11.30AM
Curated by Alice Tyler and Zoe Hoeberigs
Making the invisible visible, this exhibition brings together works by artists who reflect on things unnoticed and the obscured forces that play within the overlooked.
Featuring Wanda Gillespie, Matilda Woods, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, Rozana Lee, Pamela Wolfe, Georgie Hill.
Image: Wanda Gillespie, Seeker 2 (Kai) 2016, woodcarving (Ash), fur, fabric
Exhibition Publication
This exhibition continues the ongoing series by Billy Apple entitled ‘Institutional Critiques’. Started in the 1970s, these investigations critique the ways that exhibition spaces function and subvert these spaces through painting specific architectural features red. Highlighting oddities or irregularities in gallery design, Apple brings attention to the spaces in which art sits and in doing so, the gallery becomes the artwork itself.
Apple has critiqued galleries throughout New Zealand including Te Uru Gallery, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, The Suter Gallery, Adam Art Gallery, and the Physics Room. This exhibition coincides with a critique of the Refinery Artspace in Nelson.
A monthly meet-up for East Auckland creatives and those interested in creative things.
Join us for a free morning burst of inspiration. Two speakers from different creative backgrounds will share projects, ideas, and artistic wisdom. Grab a coffee from our cafe following the presentations and continue the conversation!
Our speakers for 2018 have been Grace Wright and Mo Stewart, Jack Tilson and Veronica Herber, Alice Ng, Wanda Gillespie and Tiger Murdoch, Alvin Xiong and Maha Tomo, Dr Mels Barton and Rozana Lee, Briana Woolliams and Benedict Miller Keeley.
All welcome, free entry.
UXBRIDGE SHOWCASE
9 February to 24 February 2019
As part of our Chinese New Year Celebrations, an exhibition of several contemporary Chinese artists will fill our Showcase and Meeting Room spaces. Traditional and modern examples of photography, calligraphy and painting will be on display.
Image: Haifeng Tu, Life, 2015
The Concourse
19 June to 30 June
Wear the World 2019 is a wearable arts competition for primary and intermediate school students (years 5, 6, 7, and 8) in the East Auckland area. This is a competition about creativity that includes being resourceful with what is already in our environment. Students will be showcasing garments they have designed and created themselves – featuring five culturally diverse categories that reflect the diversity of their own communities.
The theme this year is ‘Cultural Diversity’, aimed at celebrating and promoting the arts in East Auckland, as well as getting local schools to collaborate and work towards a common goal. The students will learn how to work together and develop technical and artistic skills involved with creating a wearable garment. They will develop a deeper awareness of the culture that they are exploring and how diversity can be celebrated in our modern world.
Wear the World is lucky enough to be sponsored this year by:
AUT (Auckland University of Technology)
Monterey Cinemas
Life FM
Uxbridge Arts Centre
The schools taking part in this event are: Cockle Bay Primary, Elim Middle School, Bucklands Beach Intermediate, Somerville Intermediate, Farm Cove Intermediate,and Maraetai Beach School.
9 April to 12 May 2018
As part of the Arts Out East Festival in May, Veronica Herber will be creating an installation at UXBRIDGE.
Veronica Herber began using masking tape as a medium during her visual arts degree as it offers immediacy and the ability to create works at scale. Alongside her trademark tape fabric and large-scale outdoor works Herber also creates indoor installations utilising Japanese Washi tape on paper.
Her installations deal with materiality and transformation and aim to engage the audience by encouraging observing and ‘staying’ with the piece, made all the more poignant by its temporary nature.
This installation is made possible with support from Howick Local Board.
15 January to 15 February 2018
Opening Saturday 20 January, 2.30PM
Yvonne Abercrombie paints figures using equal amounts of opposing ideas; comic and classical, kitsch colour and natural hues; fake imagery and real content.
Her bold portraits draw inspiration from a broad range of genres – romance novel art, comic and pulp art, medieval manuscripts, mythological representation and naive art. These sources provide her with a diverse visual library of the figure, from which she gains a greater understanding and appreciation of alternative representations of the female form.
15 January to 3 February 2019
Roma Anderson is a local artist who recently graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts. Throughout her studies she has been investigating the nearby Tamaki Estuary, documenting the ever-changing environment and surrounding flora and fauna with a wider focus on the agency of environments and how they are valued aesthetically and politically.
For this exhibition, Anderson will showcase several images from her Estuary investigation, bringing focus and attention to this fragile ecosystem.
Anderson is an avid analogue and digital alternative method artist, she never does things quite in the way they are conventionally done. Alongside her environmental concerns, she is particularly interested in politics of female representation in cinema, and the roles of spectator, voyeur, auteur and character in film.
The Concourse
30 May to 30 June
A compilation of the best and most treasured photos taken by members of the University of Auckland Photography Society while travelling overseas. However, each photo provides only a small glimpse into the beautiful world beyond the horizon. Therefore, we hope that this exhibition inspires creativity, encourages adventure, and gives those who need it: a nudge to go out and explore the world!
Curated by the University of Auckland Photography Society
Malcolm Smith Gallery
1 June to 30 June 2019
To a child, time is like a circle, it has no beginning, no end and consists solely of the present. For an adult, time is like an arrow. It has clear direction and it cannot be wasted. This exhibition is a celebration of children and the inner child. It is an expression of how fascinating and magical the world can be if only we looked at it with younger eyes. It is an invitation to adults to be more curious, brave, inquisitive, and imaginative.
Curated by Mandy Huang
Image: Kate van der Drift, Diptych First Quarter Moon to Full Moon, May, 2020
1st Place EAA14
Judge’s Tour 18th July, 2020
The only contemporary art prize in Aotearoa New Zealand with ecology at its core. Artists were invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki Estuary, to underscore the ecological value of this vital waterway and encourage action against its pollution.
Our judge this year, Monique Jansen, is an Auckland based artist and Head of Visual Arts at the Auckland University of Technology. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is held in many public and private collections. She was the winner of the inaugural Aotearoa/New Zealand National Parkin Drawing Prize in 2013. Monique is a committed environmentalist and organic gardener; working on transforming her home and community into a model of resilience, sustainable living, and active citizenship.
Thank you to all who have entered!
Below are the 25 finalists for this year’s Estuary Art and Ecology Prize:
- Kiri Abraham
- Amber Adams
- Rick Allender
- Cristina Beth
- Lee Brogan
- Anthony Clarke
- Sarah Davis
- Alan Fletcher
- Wesley John Fourie
- Bobbie Gray
- Anna Hayes
- Janna Isbey
- Maggy Johnston
- Janet Mazenier
- Barnaby McBryde
- Neal Palmer
- Pass the Blue Collaborative
- Ramon Robertson
- Studio Reset
- Summer Shimizu
- Jenny Tomlin
- Wayne Trow
- Suzette van Dorsser
- Kate van der Drift
- Clovis Viscoe
Winners
- First Place: Kate van der Drift
- Second Place: Wesley John Fourie
- Merit: Alan Fletcher
- Merit: Pass the Blue Collaborative
Exhibition of Finalists
4 July to 30 August 2020
Judge’s Tour
Saturday 18 July 2020, 2:30PM
11 December 2017 to 13 January 2018
Opening Saturday 9 December, 2.30PM
Exhibition Talk: Sunday 10 December, 2.30PM
Public Programme: Paint a Plate Workshop, 13 January 2018
The Bloggs – a title that refers to the British colloquialism ‘Joe Bloggs’ to denote the typical everyday man – considers what it is that makes us human. Nicola Jackson has created her version of an anatomy museum, filling vitrines and cabinets with a range of curious objects and adorning the walls with paintings of inquisitive characters.
In The Bloggs Jackson has paired key anatomical elements with qualities that go beyond the physical but ultimately aid in classifying us as human.
Supported by:
4 November 2018
Please join us for a series of events celebrating renowned ceramic artist, Richard Stratton
Demonstration | 10AM to 12PM
A unique opportunity to see Richard Stratton demonstrating some techniques used in creating Living History.
Limited to 20 attendees, register by emailing [email protected]
Free to attend.
Artist Talk | 12.30PM to 2PM
Please join us for a tour of Living History with Richard Stratton.
Free to attend, all welcome.
Exhibition Opening at Anna Miles Gallery | From 3PM
Visitors are encouraged to attend the opening of Richard’s new exhibition, ARCHITECTONIC ANACHRONISMS, at Anna Miles Gallery, following the Living History tour.
Architectonic Anachronisms, opening 3PM to 5PM, Anna Miles Gallery, 10/30 Upper Queen Street.
Parking is free on Sundays at the Upper Queen St Carpark at 20 Upper Queen St (next door to Anna Miles Gallery).
This programme is made possible with support from
3 December 2018 to 13 January 2019
Briana Woolliams is a recent Elam graduate who will be exhibiting a selection of works in December. Her practice incorporates poetry, sculpture and printmaking and reconnoitres issues related to the contemporary female experience and gender politics. Through personal experiences, Woolliams explores the potential to renegotiate a feminine persona that defies easy categorization or conformity.
Briana Woolliams has exhibited at George Fraser Gallery, Tacit Gallery and as part of the Arts Out East Festival.
Linda’s artworks reflect layers of nature through an exploration of colour and texture, a self-taught artist who has a distinct textured abstract style of painting. From years working in ceramics in the 70’s and 80’s, Stoneware with its rough organic finishes to the fine metallic reflective colours of Raku, Linda has been painting for 15 years – exploring patterns created through the movement of water and creating works which reveal and expose natural elements. She creates a range of artworks, from small inexpensive pieces to larger inspiring works which make a bold statement.
URBAN CONTEMPORARY ART FROM HERE AND ABROAD
27 August to 30 September 2018
Opening Saturday 25 August, 2.30PM
Malcolm Smith Gallery is partnering with Aotearoa Urban Arts Trust (AUAT) to bring Hong Kong based Cath Love to Auckland this August. Cath Love will join local artists Oscar Low and Elliot Francis Stewart in EAST, an exhibition that looks to build connections between Urban Contemporary artists within Asia Pacific and Aotearoa.
Exhibition Publication
With support from
3 December to 27 January 2019
Opening Saturday 1 December, 2.30PM
Chroma, a new exhibition by Wendy Hannah, explores colour, pigment and materials, creating an immersive environment reflecting the different facets of her practice.
Wendy Hannah has been painting for fifteen years. She began her practice with community art courses before attending Elam School of Fine Arts. Through her Bachelor studies she developed a keen interest in the alchemy of paint, experimenting with chemical reactions and the science of artmaking.
This exhibition brings Hannah’s interest of pigment investigation into a new dimension, incorporating think, thin, sticky and vicious pigments with unexpected sculptural supports.
She has been working with Colin Gooch Technical Director and Mike Clowes Technical Manager of Resene Paints with a tool box of pigments and additives to create an ambitious homage to colour and form.
Saturday 12 May, 10AM to 3PM
Celebrate the opening of Arts Out East Festival with a jam-packed day of entertainment, drop-in workshops, local artists and more. There’s something for the whole family.
UXBRIDGE will be showcasing art installations by:
Kate Hursthouse, Veronica Herber, Alice Ng, Briana Woolliams and Afreen Naoroji
Image: Briana Woolliams, ‘He said he knew me from somewhere‘, 2017
9 October to 31 December 2017
Lou Pendergrast-Mathieson presents a new series of original glass works at UXBRIDGE. Pendergrast-Mathieson’s translucent shapes transform the space into an ethereal skyscape – clouds float past on like on a gentle breeze, leaving colour and light in their wake.
Pendergrast-Mathieson is an accomplished glass artist based in Auckland. Her practice centers on cast glass forms that relate to nature.
She teaches glass casting at UXBRIDGE.
SHOWCASE
24 March to 12 May 2019
Kymon Palau is a 19 year old artist who shines a light on the underrepresented alienated groups in society. He is a descendant from the Salt (‘Áshįįhí) clan and born for the Tongan people of Tongatapu, Tonga. He is based in New Mexico and has a passion for producing art that he hopes invokes, inspires, empowers, and reveals taboo topics and themes that society tries to crumble up and forget.
Mo Stewart
“I am interested in human psychology, and specifically the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind. My work is a means of expressing the unconscious mind, while also engaging it in relation to conscious art making strategies.
In Jungian psychology the word ‘Anima’ refers to the soul and is the part of our inner personality that is in communication with the subconscious. The works in this exhibition are a means of expressing the unconscious mind, while engaging it in relation to conscious art making strategies.
My drawings are process based and explore Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist techniques along with automatic drawing and deliberate mark making that emphasise the tension or balance between these elements. The medium I use and the technique when applying the gestural mark is suggestive of the unconscious approach to mark making while the deliberate drawings speak to the tension between the two different aspects of the mind.
Repetition and accumulation in my recent works, along with spontaneous gestures made in the liquid medium allows me to explore the interplay of these different techniques. This allows me to react to a given gesture, permitting the drawing to unfold and take shape, making my mark on the mark that made itself.
6 November to 2 December 2017
Opening Saturday 4 November, 2.30PM
Artist Talk: Saturday 18 November, 2.30PM
Early Polynesian navigators gave names to the places they encountered as a reminder of the spiritual threshold between creation and reality. This was because they regarded the ideas of geographic and spiritual origin as mutually similar.
In Whenua Fonua ‘Enua Auckland-based artist Benjamin Work explores the significance of name and place and the importance of these indicators that connect us to our past and highlight the characteristics of our present.
Work hopes to draw the viewer into a conversation about the way in which history is written onto a landscape, as people remember and retell stories of what has taken place and imagine what could be.
Exhibition Publication
Tori Beeche, Ekaterina Dimieva, Janet Mazenier
“A true Drawing is not a copy of something. It is a constructive deconstruction of something and much more real than the initial thing.”
This quote from the French philosopher Alain Badiou emphasises the endless scope of artistic making, unmaking, and remaking – a common thread in the painting practices of Tori Beeche, Ekaterina Dimieva, and Janet Mazenier. These artists look at our complex present through the prism of nostalgia, yearning, and the ultimate pursuit of trying to connect to the ‘now’ and make sense of it. Tori’s paintings reference the recent past, reflecting on societal and cultural constructs via the concept of restorative nostalgia. Ekaterina’s paintings could be viewed as metaphysical puzzles. They question the real and the imaginary, asking questions such as “How can abstract painting visualise emotional forces and intensities?”. Janet’s paintings construct worlds within worlds. Her meticulous depictions of micro-ecosystems connect human identity to our respect and understanding of Nature.
Artist Talk – Sunday 10 February, 11AM to 12PM
Join Areez Katki for a look into his extensive travels across multiple countries, collecting material that has contributed to his new body of work, Bildungsroman.
Through his needlework based craft practice, Katki explores diaspora identities and the survival of Zoroastrianism, alongside his own responses to this community in Mumbai.
Workshop – Sunday 3 March, 11AM to 1PM
This is a casual workshop open to all ages. Come and learn some simple techniques used by Areez Katiki in the exhibition, Bildungsroman.
4 October to 18 October 2018
Benedict Miller Keeley was born in Gisborne but has spent most of his life in Howick. He recently changed his career path from teaching to focus on painting and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from AUT in 2018.
This body of work responds to the phenomenon of chaos and the idea that chaos is a state of balance, rather than disorder.
Chaos lies at the midpoint of a spectrum. At one extreme there is complete randomness. At the other there is absolute order. Chaos unites the two and brings them into balance.
Keeley approaches his work with the phenomenon of chaos in mind. Initially, forms and colours rise out of a spontaneous and instinctive process. At some point, Keeley begins to introduce a sense of order, often in the form of carefully considered mark making or figurative elements. When that state of balance between randomness and order is achieved, the work is finished.
20 October to 25 November 2018
Gabriel Tiongson is a visual artist, born in the Philippines and currently resides in Auckland. He draws inspiration from a range of childhood stimuli – American cartoons, toys, comic books, video games, and Japanese pop culture. Tiongson explores and combines these sources to create illustrations, paintings and sculptures that fuse brilliant colour and experimental mark making with organic forms and cartoon distortions.
His latest works endeavour to harmonize the fortuitous and the intentional. The introduction of the grid was an unforeseen welcome, as in previous works he favoured curvy lines and bulbous forms. Here, he plays with these more fluid elements and adds light and dark layers on the grid, giving contrasting compatibility. This body of work considers minimal moves and sharp corners while playfully integrating his colourful and rotund sensibilities.
Gabriel Tiongson completed his Visual Arts degree at Unitec and continues to develop his art practice. His work has been shown in various galleries around Auckland and internationally throughout Asia.
Saturday 4 November, 2.30PM
Publication is available through Malcolm Smith Gallery. Please email [email protected] for details
A companion publication for the exhibition Whenua Fonua ‘Enua has been produced with photographer Brendan Kitto.
Both the exhibition and the publication explore East Auckland, detailing the idiosyncratic markers of Work and Kitto’s remembered youth. Through exploring memories of their formative years and looking further into the history that came before them, the artists have captured a contemporary living history intertwined with their suburban stories.
The publication features an interview by independent curator, Giles Peterson and was produced in collaboration with Rim Books and with support from the Wallace Foundation.
Please join us for the publication launch and exhibition opening.
Image: Brendan Kitto, Pakūrangarahihi, 2017
14 November to 2 December 2017
Opening Tuesday November 14, 10.30AM
A meeting room is a transient space hosting varying groups with specific agendas. Unlike the stark white void of the gallery, the meeting room commands a certain type of behaviour from its visitors with its practical furniture, patterned carpets and serene atmosphere.
In this exhibition, artists from Mapura Studios explore meeting room culture; the rituals, behaviour and paraphernalia associated with this space. Our artists investigate how this culture accommodates people with diverse needs and what role art can play in this environment.
Mapura Studios is a creative space for artists of all ages living with diversity and disability. We have a broad range of programmes across many media including music, movement, poetry and the visual arts.
A monthly meet-up for East Auckland creatives and those interested in creative things.
Join us for a free morning burst of inspiration. Two speakers from different creative backgrounds will share projects, ideas, and artistic wisdom. Grab a coffee from our cafe following the presentations and continue the conversation!
Every month, check our Facebook page for details of this month’s event.
Thank you to all our 2017 speakers…
Giles Peterson (educator and curator of contemporary Pacific art), Marie-Louise Myburgh (object maker), Belinda Griffiths (painter), Wendy Hannah (painter), Issac Katzoff (Glass Artist, Monmouth Studios), Zoe Hoeberigs (Malcolm Smith Gallery’s Manager Curator), Holly Davies (artist, Manager of Monterey Gallery), Emma Rogan (designer, artist and founder of the 100 Days Project), Arielle Walker (artist, Estuary Art Award Finalist) and Ramon Robertson (sculptor).
Tori Ferguson, Ayesha Green, Zainab Hikmet and Anh Tran
18 September to 28 October 2017
Opening: Saturday 16 September, 2.30PM
Although they come from, and live now, in various parts of the world, the four artists featured in Here and Now have all – at one point – called this land home. These artists are linked by the way in which the traces of the journeys to where they find themselves now are imbued in the artworks they create. Here and Now shows both the ripples of global influences and the continual threads of reflection they have to Aotearoa.
Image: Zainab Hikmet, Half Moon Bay – Auckland glass, 2015,
glass made from raw Half Moon Bay (Auckland) beach sand; 100mm x 100mm x 100mm
Exhibition Publication
9 October to 31 October 2017
Playing with ideas surrounding the modern values given to different foods and art mediums, Elisa Barczak draws attention to the way in which perceptions of what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ can change over time. Junk food, once considered high in the hierarchy of foods for its convenience and associations with modernity, now sits at the bottom, dismissed for its unhealthiness. As a medium, clay’s position has also fluctuated in the art hierarchy. It has moments of popularity, but ultimately draws closer connotations to craft than art.
June to September 2017
Sculptures by Peter Lange and Louise Purvis take residence in the Sculpture Courtyard until early September. Louise Purvis is a New Zealand sculptor (b. 1968, Pahiatua) based in Auckland. Small Form explores her interest in topographical mapping, made from individual cages that can be connected and rearranged to produce a variety of shapes. Born in New Zealand in 1944, Peter Lange first came into contact with bricks as a production thrower in the 1970s, and has been working with them ever since. Like much of his work, S Chair in Bricks is a parody of a ‘real world’ object that simultaneously serves its purpose.
Image credit: Louise Purvis, Small Forms, 2015, courtesy of the James Wallace Arts Trust.
13 September to 6 October 2017
Opening: Tuesday 12 September, 5.30PM
As part of the winter season of jewellery classes at UXBRIDGE, tutor Simon Misdale challenges his students to design and make a piece of wearable jewellery from everyday objects or found things.
On display will be works created by Simon’s students.
24 July to 9 September 2017
Opening: Saturday 22 July, 2.30PM
If one is not limited by an idea and instead paints to further their understanding of visual principles, then each painting is infinitely more meaningful. Drawing is the heavy reserve that says nothing, but through experience can reveal everything.
This solo exhibition by Auckland artist Reece King explores the universal principles of nature through experimentations in form and perception. While encounters in nature are the beginning point, once started, the painting ultimately finds itself and creates its own meaning for viewers to contemplate.
24 July to 9 September 2017
Opening: Saturday 22 July, 2.30PM
Works by Christopher Duncan will be on display in UXBRIDGE Showcase this July.
The exhibition’s title comes from an ancient Chinese poem from the Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tzu.
It refers to the manner in which we surround our lives with expectations, precious concepts and our ego. And how if we can see through these obstacles we build ourselves we’re left with the ‘raw silk and uncut wood’.
Need little,
want less.
Forget the rules.
Be untroubled.
(Excerpt, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin)
Christopher Duncan is a contemporary craft practitioner who specialises in hand weaving. Duncan began weaving in 2012 after leaving behind a career in the fashion industry. As an autodidact he began teaching himself through gifted looms and materials eventually creating his own library of weaving apparatus, knowledge, style and technique.
12 June to 15 July 2017
The only contemporary art prize in Aotearoa New Zealand with ecology at its core. With a total prize pool of $8,300 the winning artworks will be intelligent and innovative responses to ecology in the field of contemporary art.
Judged by Ane Tonga
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Awards:
First Place: Kohl Tyler-Dunshea
Second Place: Wendy Hannah
Merit Award: Bev Goodwin and Jeff Thomson
Merit Award: Roma Anderson
People’s Choice Award: Arielle Walker
Image: Kohl Tyler-Dunshea, Offerings (2017). First Place, 2017
2017 finalists:
Arielle Walker, Bev Goodwin and Jeff Thomson, Caroline Powley, Celeste Sterling, Cora-Allan Wickliffe, Dawn Johnstone, Hanna Shim, Hayley Nieuwoudt, Janna Isbey, Jennie De Groot, Jessica Kate Tweed, Jessica Pearless, Katy Metcalf, Kohl Tyler-Dunshea, Lee Brogan, Lucy Pierpoint, Michael Prosee, Mo Stewart, Reece King, Rick Allender, Roma Anderson, Rozana Lee, Sophie Foster, Suzette van Dorsser and Wendy Hannah
Thank you for support from Howick Local Board, Turanga Creek Wines and Rice Family Partnership
12 June to 15 July 2017
Born in Auckland in 1961, Peter Gibson Smith graduated from Auckland’s School of Fine Arts in 1983. His practice since then has drawn from a vast frame of art historical and literary references, exploring the production and reproduction of images and various modern and older mediums. In this exhibition at Uxbridge Showcase, Gibson Smith presents some of his multi-faceted, three-dimensional figures made from computer-generated, geometrically composed paper forms.
Read the Artist Interview with Peter Gibson Smith.
As part of Auckland Festival of Photography
1 May to 3 June 2017
Bright Light, Soft Launch brings together emerging and established artists exploring representations of the figure through image making.
The artists featured take a poetic and nuanced approach to portrait photography, teasing out characters and personas and presenting their subjects in a kaleidoscope of ways. Some intend to blur and muddle typical perceptions; others mix stereotypes and narratives with nostalgia and tradition. All present a different way of contemplating how the figure can be captured through a lens.
Jenna Baydee, Kevin Capon, Liyen Chong, Di ffrench, Russ Flatt, Solomon Mortimer, Stephanie O’Connor, Mish O’Neill, Richard Orjis, Patrick Pound, Yvonne Todd, Tia Ranginui, Ashlin Rawson
Image: Russ Flatt, When I Say Jump (2015). Courtesy of the Wallace Arts Trust.
1 May to 3 June 2017
Priscilla Hunter is known for her exquisitely detailed fabric sculptures of exotic flora – including masterfully executed anthurium, rubber plants and various cacti.
Her explorations of botany and haberdashery have developed since her first showing at Uxbridge three years ago. Here, she presents her cacti as larger manifestations that have sprung from their terracotta planters, onto the floor and up the walls.
