International Exhibition of 100 Artists in Masterton

MASTERTON, NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand Pacific Studio, the international yet rural residency centre for artists located in the hills of Mount Bruce, Wairarapa, mounts the international exhibition ART IS A LIVING THING, with work by 100 of its artists from 15 countries, and from each of the 15 years that the centre has been operating. The show runs for six weeks, from December 3 2016 to January 15 2017, at Aratoi Museum, Corner Bruce & Dixon St, Masterton, New Zealand.

The multi-media exhibition, supported by Trust House, also features film, song and literature in a continuous 2.5-hour projection, and performances on the opening (Dec 2 & 3) and closing (Jan 14 & 15) weekends, with entry by Koha.

The gallery – once a church – has been designed to reflect the 1911 villa that is NZ Pacific Studio: the stage area – once an altar – to symbolise the home's interior; a purpose-built pavilion in the main gallery floor space represents the villa’s formal front garden; and in the vestibule, a site-specific sound installation of Mount Bruce birdsong, with an intimate self-portrait by Kedron Parker (NZ), who has been in residence at NZ Pacific Studio more often than any other artist: seven times.

ART IS A LIVING THING presents a diversity of creativity and experience – as seen in this selection of the work on display: 3-D Leo Cappel (Netherlands/NZ) with hand-held sculptures of ceramic, bronze, steel, Lorna Crane (AUS) with three pianola rolls, Nicola Dench (NZ) with two ceramic monoprint tiles, Justine Fletcher (NZ) who created 607 pendants to honour the 607 Wairarapa suffragettes, Brooke Holve (USA) art book, Marian Hulshof (Netherlands) with paint and chalk on denim jeans, Veronika Licher (Germany) paint and graphite on wallpaper; Drawings Talysha Bujold-Abu (Canada) using red India ink, Susan diRende (USA) on credit card blanks, Ong Si Hui (Singapore) on paper; Fibre art Stefanie Smith (Canada) of two tui, Tracy White (NZ) of hands; Film/video/animation Denise Batchelor (NZ), Kyle Browne (USA), Annelyse Gelman (NZ/Germany), Adam Von Penfold (NZ); Literature Melanie Carter (USA/Egypt), Tracy Farr (NZ), Janis Freegard (NZ), Ya-Wen Ho (Taiwan/NZ), Zoe Meager (NZ), Yukari Nikawa (Japan), Zheng Danyi (China/Hong Kong); Music Jona Byron (AUS), Sarah Dill (USA), Phil Kueffer and Michele Bachmann (Switzerland); Paintings Emma Chalmers (NZ), Arie Hellendoorn (NZ), Mark Manning (USA), Lorraine Rastorfer (NZ), Bevan Shaw (NZ), Photography Adi Brown (NZ), Rita Dibert (NZ), Jane Zusters (NZ); and Printmaking Nadia Kleindanze (AUS) of kowhai, Mark Johnsen (USA) of Mount Bruce landscape.

The exhibition also displays work by its founding members Kate Coolahan (Map of the Sounds) and the late John Bevan Ford (Pacific Salmon) which are in the NZPS art collection; items from the 1911 homestead that acts as the base for NZ Pacific Studio; a carriage clock from 1892 made by the father in the first family of the homestead, Christopher Burton (1847-1945) who worked with W. Littlejohn & Son which installed many of the town clocks across New Zealand; and drawings by Architect Rosalind Derby (NZ) who oversaw many of the $300,000 renovations necessary to convert the house, garage and cottage into the year-round residency centre that is NZ Pacific Studio.

Over the past 15 years, the five-acre facility at Mount Bruce has hosted hundreds of creative people – writers, musicians, and artists of many different media – who develop their personal creative work and also give to the Wairarapa/Tararua community through concerts, workshops, school visits, exhibitions, lectures and more.

Dr. Kay Flavell, NZ Pacific Studio Founding Director, 2011-2013, says, “Right from the start, I imagined NZ Pacific Studio as a community project. My role was just to provide the initial spark -- and all the funds I could find… My model of a ‘little house of learning’ blended traditions from East and West, inspired by poems of Po Chu’i and Ema Saiko and the monastic lives of St. Hilda and St. Columba.”

Jodie Dalgleish, artist, and former Director/Programme Manager, 2013-2015, currently based in Luxembourg, says, “There’s something almost magical that happens when artists come into the realm of NZPS and install their creativity in its rooms. I’ve continually seen it and experienced it. Poetry collections, books, plays, films, video artworks, sound art, music, programmes, and exhibitions have all had their genesis, germane development, or completion within the precious space provided by this residency programme.

“As Governments become more and more stretched, the Arts falls more and more to a community of patrons, sponsors and workers. There have to be places outside the frame of workaday obligations and the turn of the wheels of the system. Creation requires space.”

The exhibition is curated by author-photographer Madeleine Slavick with the assistance of Aratoi Museum and NZ Pacific Studio resident artist Mark Manning, a painter who was raised in Whangarei, educated at Lyme Art Academy in New England, and who has curated shows in California. Slavick says, “Art is a living thing. It needs nourishment. It needs a community. New Zealand Pacific Studio works to provide a space where art – in whatever form – can live, and thrive. It is a sanctuary for artists, located beside the sanctuary for birds, Pukaha Mount Bruce, and we are pleased to be able to show our art in a venue that had once been a church – yet another sanctuary.”

Performances will be held on the opening and closing weekends. Entry by Koha.

OPENING NIGHT Friday 2 Dec from 5:30

The international exhibition kicks off with Japanese poetry and Paeakau, an opera libretto written by 2016 Friends of Aratoi Fellow Michelle Hawkins (AUS) and performed by Holly and Zac Winterwood (NZ).

SATURDAY AFTERNOON LIVE 3 Dec from 2 pm

Music by Leo & Karen Cappèl (Netherlands/NZ) Sarah Dill (USA) Hemi Walker (NZ).

Read more about Leo and Karen Cappèl

Read more about Hemi Walker

Read more about Sarah Dill

I AM TASHA FIERCE 14 Jan from 2 pm

Hilarious, heartwarming one-woman show about a woman who channels Beyoncé -- featuring Rose Kirkup (NZ) winner of the NZ Pacific Studio Award at the 2016 Fringe Festival.

Read more about Rose Kirkup as Beyoncé

SUNDAY AT THE MOVIES 15 Jan from 2pm

A medley of films by Denise Batchelor (NZ) Kyle Brown (USA) Andy Cox (USA) Annelyse Gelman (NZ/Germany) Zoe Meager (NZ) and other artists who have been resident at NZ Pacific Studio

Exhibition runs until Jan 15.

Summer hours at the Museum apply.

NZ Pacific Studio is a registered charity and this exhibition is a massive undertaking made possible with the support of many members of the community. Creative people who would like to undertake a residency – from as short as a weekend to as long as three months -- are welcome to contact the centre. Two supported residencies are currently available: www.artistresidency.org.nz.

Art_is_a_Living_Thing_invitation.pdf

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