The Alchemy of Play - Open Now!

Thistle Hall is a vibrant community centre in the heart of New Zealand's cultural capital. We provide a community hall, meeting room and Wellington's only community gallery showcasing a range of artists and crafts people, from the established to the emerging. Thistle Hall is located one the corner of Cuba and Arthur streets. The shows on at Thistle Hall Community Gallery are run by the artists who hire it.

On Now
9 - 15 JUNE 2008

THE ALCHEMY OF PLAY
Graeme Thompson

Open 12.00 - 7.00pm or by appointment -
phone 021 072-8248.

Graeme Thompson is an emerging artist fascinated by the psychological aspects of Play. He sees Play in Jungian terms, as the expression of an archetypal, ritualised alchemical process. He uses found-objects, especially toys, to create and explore the merger of the Real and Play worlds. Some items in the exhibition require the viewer to play with them to create the actual artwork.

The interaction between the Player and the Plaything is the 'moment of activation' (in alchemical terms, the lapis Philosphorum) when the Conscious and Unconscious merge, subverting the Plaything's objective physical context to create a subjective and ephemeral reality. Layers of symbolic, emotional and intellectual experience and meaning are momentarily created, then alienated and dispelled by objective awareness of the Plaything.

Graeme has an entente cordiale with his six year old son: he does not use his son's toys without permission, but his son may borrow toys intended for artworks. He has since learned that retrieval of loaned items can involve hostage situations and ransom negotiations

Up Next
16 - 22 JUNE 2008

DIVERSITY
Photographic works by Matthew Beveridge and Daniel Heald

The work or Matthew Beveridge presents a personal view of the many interesting things that Wellington has to offer. Captured over the last eight months, the images in this collection are a personal response to the Wellington environment.

The work of Daniel Heald represents a new way of photographing tattoos. The images in this collection present the tattoos in an environment that complements not only the visual aspect of the tattoo, but also the story behind the tattoo

Please see http://www.thistlehall.org.nz for more information

ENDS

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