“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop

Over the 4 full weeks of the Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown children from across Nelson and Tasman created art to express their appreciation to the essential workers that kept us fed, healthy, safe and connected. Each week 8 artworks were selected and published in the Nelson Mail/Stuff as a way to say thank you to these people publicly. Gathered here together for the first time, a selection of the published artworks sit alongside artworks from The Suter’s collection that reflect the same sentiments.

Rita Angus’ Apple Pickers documents a quiet moment for a group of essential agricultural workers during another global crisis, World War II. Jane Evans studies our interior lives, while Peter Siddell and Philip Edwards give us views from windows to the world outside. We wait in line at the market with Dick Frizzell’s Female Customer and Pat Hanly’s vibrant family show us that Life Goes On. In these artworks we see the solace that can come from our families and pets, the boredom of isolation and our remedies for it, the pain of illness, the importance of home and the security it represents, as well as the essential workers (past and present) who keep society running.  

What was revealed during the 75 days of Levels 4-2 restrictions was that a sense of community is not only experienced physically, but through communal action and understanding. When we couldn’t hug, high-five, shake hands and be together, we were still able to share gratitude and art.

Thanking Essential Services Art was an initiative launched by MP Nick Smith and was supported by The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū, Nelson Mail/Stuff, Nelson Principals Association and Appleby Farms Ice Cream. Altogether, more than 200 artworks were submitted by children from Nelson and Tasman.

Rita Angus (New Zealander, b.1908, d.1970),The Apple Pickers ,1944, oil on canvas. Collection of The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū. Purchased by public subscription in 2014.