Art blast in Wanganui

Art blast in Wanganui

Work by fourth year Bachelor of Fine Art students Damian Rangiwananga (foreground) and Mandy Algie.

Art lovers are invited to a fresh blast of new art, with three graduate exhibition openings in Wanganui.

The Grand Opening gala includes an opening function for three exhibitions by students of the Whanganui UCOL Quay School of the Arts on Saturday 22 November.

Auckland arts writer and artist John Hurrell will be the guest speaker at the exhibition openings, which will be held together in the campus Atrium. Shane Cotton, celebrated painter and 2008 Arts Foundation Laureate, will also be a special guest.

Whanganui UCOL Acting Head of the Quay School of the Arts, Lorraine Webb, says: “We are proud of these artists of the future who will be showing their work for the first time. This is a great opportunity to celebrate fabulous art with graduates and the art community in our enviable new campus Matapihi ki te Ao.”

The exhibitions include the fourth year Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate show Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye, the Diploma in Glass Design and Production graduate exhibition Maiden, Mother and Crone, and the Bachelor of Creative Industries exhibition 1/1, which will be displayed in separate exhibition spaces around the campus.

The new Matapihi ki te Ao campus, which opened in April this year, is itself a piece of award-winning architecture visitors may want to take time to enjoy. It recently won first place in Public Architecture, Interior Architecture and Urban Design in the New Zealand Institute of Architects’ regional Western Architecture Awards, and won gold in the commercial educational category in the Wanganui Regional Master Builders Awards in August.

The Grand Opening exhibitions are part of the Whanganui UCOL Artrageous arts festival, a month of exhibitions celebrating the work of fine arts, design and fashion students. Visitors to Wanganui over the next week will also be able to visit the Whanganui UCOL School of Design graduate exhibition Flight WSD08 in the Atrium from Tuesday 18 November, and the fashion show extravaganza I’ll Eat My Hat at the Royal Wanganui Opera House, Friday 21 November at 7.30pm.

Grand Opening night

Saturday 22 November, 5:30pm

Venue: The Atrium, Matapihi ki te Ao campus, 16 Rutland St, Wanganui

Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye

Viewing: 23 -30 November, 10:00am – 5:00pm

Venue: Federal Hotel Gallery, Cnr Taupo Quay and Market Place, Wanganui

1/1

Viewing: 23 -30 November, 10:00am – 5:00pm

Venue: C.2.03, Whanganui UCOL, Matapihi ki te Ao campus, 16 Rutland St, Wanganui

Maiden, Mother and Crone

Viewing: 23 - 27 November, 10:00am - 4:00pm

Venue: Edith Gallery, Whanganui UCOL, Matapihi ki te Ao campus, 16 Rutland St, Wanganui

ENDS

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