CURRENT AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
INFILL
26 June – 8 August
Vanessa Crowe (fine artist/textile designer), Emma Febvre-Richards (fine artist), Kate Linzey
(architect), Lilian Mutsaers (frock maker/textile artist), Wendy Neale (furniture designer) and
Genevieve Packer (textile designer/maker)
INFILL is a group exhibition by the SubArt Collective, a group that stages exhibitions which
interrogate the terrain between fine art and design. After previous exhibition ‘experiments’;
Showroom
(2007) at Objectspace, Auckland, and
They don’t make them like they used to: Sustainability in Design
(2007) at City Gallery, Wellington, the group presents a collaborative installation in The Suter’s
wooden floor gallery. INFILL investigates the contemporary suburban experience and plays with the
similarity of proportions between the Original Gallery and the 1/4 acre section. Individual pieces
of work will form a body that creates a relationship between the organic and the architectural and
suggests that 'inhabitancy' involves a desire to control and contain our environment, as well as a
need cultivate a sense of place and belonging.
Supported by Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferry and Switched on Gardener Indoor Growing Specialists
DIASPORA
PLURALISM AND SINGULARITY
31 July – 12 September
Gretchen Albrecht, Tony Lane, Richard Lewer, James Ross, Fiona Pardington, Denis O’Connor
This exhibition brings together the work of six very different New Zealand artists. They work in a
variety of media, covering the spectrum of current art approaches: drawings by Richard Lewer and
sculpture by Denis O’Connor sit alongside the photography of Fiona Pardington, and paintings by
Gretchen Albrecht, Tony Lane and James Ross.The title of the exhibition
Diaspora – Pluralism and Singularity
suggests the theme and rationale for the selection, while Peter Simpson’s finely argued catalogue
essay elaborates on this very eloquently:
"So different are the visual languages employed by these artists that finding valid generalizations
to cover their varied practices is a bit like trying to stretch a single sized blanket over half a
dozen bodies in a king-size bed. It can’t be done. But in this very plurality of medium, mode and
manner is perhaps found the common thread that connects them.... For whatever reasons, we have by
now moved well beyond both the preoccupation with the national and the internationalist reaction to
it. Contemporary practice, here (as almost everywhere), is simply too variable and multifaceted to
be captured by any single model.” Peter Simpson 2009
A Bill Millbank touring exhibition
WEST EAST
14 August – 17 October‘
Orientalism’ is a term that is used to describe Western interpretations of Eastern art and culture,
specifically that of East and South East Asia. This was an important artistic trend in the 19th
century and was incorporated, albeit, second or third hand, in New Zealand. The Crown Lynn Blue
Willow china pattern is a classic example, being a New Zealand industrial copy of a late18th
century British interpretation of a Chinese design.
Unlike other trends that come and go, Orientalism remains an enduring influence in New Zealand art.
West East
brings together art works in a range of media that demonstrate this influence in the 21st
century. It also focuses on work by artists who have participated in the recently established
residencies in Asia. By doing so, this exhibition also considers the closer and more relevant
relationships being developed between this country and the ‘East’.
FLOORTALK
Saturday 28 August 2 pm
Exhibition Curators, Julie Catchpole and Anna-Marie White, discuss the theme of the exhibition and
works in the show.
DON BINNEY
18 September - 7 November
In 2008 the famous New Zealand painter Don Binney completed a suite of twenty four absolutely
charming coloured pencil drawings of Auckland's West Coast, from Huia to Te Henga (Bethells). They
are evocative of this much loved area of New Zealand and are magnificent drawings in themselves.
These drawings will be accompanied by text that takes the reader on an imaginary journey from Huia
to Te Henga, commenting on the landmarks shown in each of the drawings. They also draw on Binney's
extensive knowledge of this coast and Waitakere Ranges in general: in early adulthood he tramped
and camped throughout the area, he was a founder member of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society
and he has often used his art to underpin his conservation-activist work.
This exhibition is documented in a beautiful keepsake book of the same name, which will be
available for purchase from The Suter Reception.
Toured by Lopdell House Gallery, Titirangi
FLOORTALK
Saturday 18 September 2 pm
Join Don Binney for a book reading and discussion of this project
CHARTAPHILIA
18 September - 17 October
Chartaphilia is not a real word, per se, but combines the latin word for paper with the suffix,
philia, meaning like or attraction. As a term, chartaphilia is meant to describe the affection
that many people, especially artists, have for paper. It is also an apt title for this exhibition
of works on paper from The Suter Art Gallery Collection.
THE FLAME ORGAN
ALASTAIR GALBRAITH
Two extraordinary performances at The Suter Theatre
Wednesday 29 September 2 pm and 7.30 pm
Tongues of blue flame flicker in and out of racks of tall glass tubes!Discs of red-hot gauze inside
each tube cast crimson reflections and cause strange waves of sound, like medieval trumpets racing
into the distance!
Funded by Smash Palace (a collaboration between Creative NZ and the Ministry of Science, Research
and Technology), Alastair Galbraith has led a team of glassblowers, physicists and engineers on a
quest to develop a new musical instrument - the Flame Organ. Dozens of bunsen burners are
mechanically linked to an antique piano keyboard with pulleys and fishing line! More than three
times the size of Georges Frederic Kastner's Pyrophone of 1869!!
Come along and hear about the ups and downs of instrument creation.Learn about thermoacoustics and
its central role in Rocket Science and "Green" Technology!!
Hear Alastair perform "Dream Songs for Flame Organ" IN THE DARK!!Play A Few Chords Yourself!!!
Tickets
available from Wednesday 1 September.
$6 Children
$12 Adults
$10 Friends of The Suter
SPRING EXHIBITION
NELSON SUTER ART SOCIETY
21 October - 7 November
The Nelson Suter Art Society is pleased to announce three guest artists for the Spring Exhibition:
Hannah Kidd lives near Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast of the South Island and makes
life-sized sculptures from steel and corrugated iron.Jo Ogier is a Christchurch based printmaker
who is highly regarded for her fine wood cut technique, ecological and conservation themes and use
of handmade harakeke papers.Emily Siddell is an Auckland based jeweller and sculptor and her works
are inspired by the Pacific.
HOOP
KATE WALKER
13 November - 5 December
HooP is a video work by Kate Walker made in collaboration with the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgendered) community in Nelson. It documents members of this community participating in a mass
hula hoop event. Swaying hips, circular movements and shuffling feet create patterns and rhythms
which create an art work about body physicality and visual spectacle.
This art work also confounds the stereotypes of queer communities. What is the purpose of this
group? What does their action mean? The ambiguous nature of this art work implies that something
else is happening here while also extending the history of video art as a document of community
based political or social action.
FLOORTALK/PERFORMANCE
Saturday 13 November at 2 pm
Join members of LGBT for a mass hula hoop performance and chaired discussion of this art project,
followed by an afternoon tea
GRADUATE SHOW
Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology
13 November - 5 December
This exhibition features a selected collection of work from graduating students of the Bachelor of
Visual Arts and Design at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT).
In their work they consider questions about contemporary society, the environment, history and
self.
FLOORTALK
Wednesday 17 November 12.10 pm
Please join the students for a discussion of their work
FLOORTALK
Wednesday 24 November 12.10 pm
Please join the students for a discussion of their work