Art and about with Naomi McCleary

West Coast Treasure!

The West Coast Gallery in Piha: ‘the little engine that could’.

Multimedia artist Eliza Donald has taken on the role of gallery assistant. I often think of the West Coast Gallery as ‘the little engine that could’. It has both survived and thrived through challenging times – not the least being our past Covid year.

But it has all the constituents for longevity; strong local support, both community and artists, great ‘arts nous’ and it sticks to its knitting. Too many metaphors I know, but I really get the joy that it brings to West Coast residents and the many thousands of visitors that are drawn to the magnificent landscape, black sands and rolling surf.

The gallery is perfectly positioned to catch the endless trail of summer visitors to Piha – and the work on display includes everything from craft to fine art and the quality ranges from good to exceptional.

This is reflected in the quite remarkable sales figures that the gallery achieves; significantly contributing to the arts economy of the area – two and a half million dollars in gross sales over its 21 year history. It’s a potent mix; visitors in a relaxed mood and desirable artworks asking for a home.

There’s a new face at the gallery. Piha local Eliza Donald has recently taken on the role of gallery assistant. Eliza is a multimedia artist with a focus on applied art. London-born, she moved to Aotearoa at a young age where she was raised and educated. There were several years abroad in both Australia and widerEurope where she worked as an art educator as well as in theatre and television. Eliza has exhibited locally and internationally in Zurich, London and Barcelona. She paints and sculpts from a studio at the Corban Estate Arts Centre and works from time to time redesigning children’s playgrounds and parks, drawing on the arts, cultural history and biodiversity; enhancing literacy, maths and science in the natural environment.

Eliza comes from a family rich in the arts and sciences. Her mother is highly regarded South Island ceramic artist Gennie de Lange and in her childhood she was exposed to many influential creatives; Barry Brickell and other amazing potters, silversmith Kobi Bossard, poet Micheal Harlow and composer Kit Powell. Her years at Dunedin Polytechnic brought her into contact with the work of artists Jeffrey Harris and Ralph Hotere.

Eliza will bring that wide background to her work at the gallery. It’s so often the conversations that visitors have with assistants when looking at artwork that deepens their experience and understanding of the artist’s intent.

Stop Press: Over the years, the passionate band of West Coast Gallery trustees and supporters have designed and delivered many arts events and courses; but right now the trust has finally got the lease of the old school house next to the gallery, which means they have a home for classes and community gigs. I can testify to the tenacity and patience it will have taken to get this through Council. They have been lobbying for the school house since 2003 – originally with the Department of Education, then West Auckland intermediate schools, then Council and the Waitākere Ranges Local Board. My experience is that the support of this board is often a clincher; the elected members really understand, and are passionate about, the arts and heritage.

There will be a Celebration and Community Day on Sunday, June 13, 12-3pm. All welcome.

Shadbolt House

Another story of tenacity! Maurice Shadbolt’s house was purchased by Waitākere City Council in 2004. There were a couple of diversions which delayed the establishment of a writers’ residency there; something

The Sixes

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that was keenly desired by his family and supported by the then council.

At amalgamation all assets were transferred to the new Auckland Council – and here the saga begins (no blame attached). The bringing together of a creative concept and bureaucratic processes is always complex. (See the school house journey above.)

Again, without the support of the local board and the unrelenting lobbying of the Going West Trust*, it would long have been consigned to history. And that would have been a tragedy.

The recently published second volume of Philip Temple’s biography of Maurice Shadbolt charts the extraordinary story of this, one of our most prolific and loved writers, and his continuous attachment over 40 years to his home in Arapito Road. Yes, it was the setting for four marriages and other liaisons; where his children had a home; where he fished from the bottom of the garden; where he had good times and bad; but it was more importantly the base from which he wrote almost his entire canon of work.

Success is now within reach. Auckland Council is close to completing some base-line work on the house before establishing an ‘agreement to lease’ with the Going West Trust. This will allow the trust to raise funds to make further improvements and to start, yet again, on a plan for a future writers’ residency programme. It’s interesting to contemplate how that might now, in a post-Covid era, play out.

There’s no doubt that the arts world, including the literary sector, has changed. Creatives are a litmus test of our hopes, fears, anxieties, expectations. What writers may want now is likely to be different to what was current 10 years ago. The online world impacts. Multi-disciplinary collaborations are possible.

Maurice Shadbolt was an innovator; he tackled our collective history in a way that was ground-breaking and grew an audience of readers who were enriched by his storytelling.

Maybe waiting this long was meant to be. For certain the Going West Trust is talking about how we can honour that history of innovation and create opportunities for new expressions of our ancient legacy of ‘tales told around a fire’. *The writer is the chair of the Going West Trust and the ‘terrier’ that wouldn’t let go!

The 2021 Library Village Art Amble begins on Friday June 25 with an opening at Titirangi Library from 6pm. The show runs to Saturday July 3 and provides a perfect opportunity to engage with paintings by local artists and indulge in food and coffee during an “Amble” in and around the Village. This exhibition’s main base is at the Titirangi Library where the trail starts and where the trail map can be collected. Titirangi is renowned for its artists and artisans and this initiative is to celebrate the coming together of art and the written word – two passions our community shares. The artists involved in this collaboration are Jill Perrott, Ted Kindleysides, Ilsa Posmyk, Verity Kindleysides, Nicki Price, Rachel Mooney, Jasmin Canuel, Christian Nicholson and Mandy Patmore. Pictured above (left to right, back row) are artists Rachel Mooney and Ted Kindleysides with library manager Helen Kerrigan and staff Claire Paterson, Christine Carter, and Debra Comber. In the front are artists Verity Kindleysides and Jill Perrott.