ARTS & CULTURE

ANDREW PALACE OF METAL AS ANYTHING EXHIBITION

Pre-christmas, Ponsonby Central will again be lit up by the eclectic electric lamp art of Andrew Palace of Metal as Anything.

Andrew has exhibited in pop up shops on Ponsonby Road for the last 27 years with other forays in Grey Lynn, Kingsland, Herne Bay, Corban Estate and Waiheke. Andrew is once again delving into his love of things science fiction, so spaceships and alien craft make up most of the exhibition, but there are also contemporary lights in stainless steel, brass and glass.

All of his pieces are made from recycled scrap brass copper and stainless steel. He also uses retro glass, marbles, lenses and cast glass by Fiona Rennie, and blown glass by Stephen Bradbourne. Each There will be the opening on Wednesday 9 December from 5.30pm to

artwork is a one-off never to be repeated functional thing of beauty.

Andrew’s works grace houses in the US, England, Switzerland, Germany and Australia. There are also large private collections of All Andrew’s works are lit by 12 volt LED systems, creating shadow, silhouette and a pastiche of colour from the glass.

The exhibition runs from 7 December through to 20 December. ten or more in New Zealand.

9.30pm for drinks.  PN

PONSONBY CENTRAL, Shop 4A, at the front on the corner of Richmond and Ponsonby Road. Enquiries: M: 021 592 296 Andrew Palace of Metal as Anything. Facebook E: metal.as.anything@mac.com

NEW ZEALAND TELEVISION AWARDS

The recent New Zealand Television Awards showed just how deep and varied our local talent pool is.

From the exceptional work of Mihingarangi Forbes on Three’s The Hui, winning best presenter, to One Lane Bridge which won Best Drama Series (check out our previous review of this great series), Covid has made one thing abundantly clear, Aotearoa is a land of great storytellers and exceptional screen content creators. Other winners that you should try to catch up on this summer include the series Head High, which saw Miriama McDowell win the award for Best Actress and Jayden Daniels win Best Supporting Actor. The winner of Best Documentary By the Balls is a must watch and the delightful Kiri and Lou, which won the only award available for children’s content, NZ on Air’s Best Children’s Programme, is a show little ones can watch over and over again on HEIHEI.  PN

UPTOWN ART SCENE

The uncertainty of these times has led many people to seek art making as a positive response to our predicament.

While the summer break is beach-time for some, summer art school gives others the opportunity to start the new year with a shot of creativity. We have two well-established art schools in our neighbourhood: Browne School of Art at 194 Great North Road, and Studio One Toi Tu at 1 Ponsonby Road, both offering different summer school programmes.

Browne School of Art (BSA) was started by artist and tutor Matthew Browne in 2013 to provide practical approaches to painting and printmaking within the contexts of contemporary art practice. While BSA offers short and long term classes during the year, their summer school is a crystallization of these, with a number of Auckland’s most experienced tutors giving plenty of individual attention to students who wish to grow their skills and understanding of art making.

A quick look at some of the tutors shows the skill level the BSA attracts. An expert in printmaking, Alexis Neal studied at the Slade, London and has taken part in national and international exhibitions, including currently at the Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui.

Zarahn Southon is a master of the academy approach, having studied in Italy and developed a concise and rigorous method for oilcolour portraits. After graduating from Glasgow School of Fine Arts, Leigh Martin was a tutor at Elam for over ten years, now bringing his considerable skills to his class on individual art processes.

Altogether, students can choose everything from contemporary watercolour, life drawing, and fluid printmaking, to exploring the environment or the abstract during the BSA’s exciting and informative January workshops.

The school holiday classes at Studio One Toi Tu focus on our youngest artists, and their children’s programme features a course in ceramics,

Zarahn Southon teaching at BSA

Painting at BSA where they create with clay and get to sit at the potter’s wheel; and an inventive Bunny Cinderella class, that starts with drawing and can lead to painting or sculpture.

Summer is for creating positive worlds, and art could be the answer. (EVAN WOODRUFFE/STUDIO ART SUPPLIES)  PN

www.browne.school.nz www.studioone.org.nz

After 14 years in Wellington, {Suite} gallery owner David Alsop saw an opportunity to open a gallery in Auckland as a logical step.

None of the well regarded stable of {Suite} artists, including Wayne Youle, Richard Lewer, Ans Westra, Peter Peryer, and Jeffrey Harris had gallery representation in Auckland and the opportunity to lease a heritage building on Ponsonby Road saw {Suite} open here just after the first lockdown in June 2020.

{Suite} Ponsonby has already exhibited photographs by Ans Westra, and the paintings of Daniel Unverricht and Wayne Youle, amongst others. The gallery has exhibitions scheduled in 2021 for Jeffrey Harris, Geoffrey Notman, and Angela Singer. Despite having limited opportunities for opening night functions due to the Covid restrictions, the gallery has been buoyed by the interest of locals who are regularly stopping by to view exhibitions and works in the stockroom.

On show until 12 December is a solo show for Canterbury based artist Roger Boyce. Originally from the USA, Boyce moved to Christchurch in 2002 and has since forged a successful artistic career here alongside his senior lecturing role at Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury. His latest exhibition, Arena, comprises of paintings of stark, cool toned gallery interiors. The clean, pared back surfaces are meticulously rendered and invite the viewer into Boyce’s gallery space by asking them to look and believe what they see, without having to look for any deeper meaning.

From mid December and over Christmas, the gallery will show a selection of new works by gallery artists, including some large-scale landscapes by Richard Lewer and a recent steelcut out by Wayne Youle.

{Suite} operates a full online catalogue of available works that can be viewed by contacting the gallery. Opening hours during the festive season are posted online.  PN

{Suite} GALLERY, 189 Ponsonby Road, T: 09 218 4399, www.suite.co.nz

TIM BRAY YOUTH THEATRE’S 5-DAY HOLIDAY PROGRAMME

This coming January Tim Bray Youth Theatre will be offering their popular ‘Hit the Stage! 5-day holiday programme’ for children aged from seven to twelve at TAPAC in Western Springs from 11-15 January.

During five exciting days, young actors will take part in rehearsing and performing their own theatrical creation, ready to ‘Hit the Stage!’ at the end of the week with a performance for family and friends in the TAPAC theatre.

Under the direction of the creative team from Tim Bray Youth Theatre, students will learn the creative and practical skills of devising and rehearsing a show with Tim Bray Youth Theatre professional tutors, and will have the opportunity to explore their performance skills, build confidence, and create a unique piece of theatre.

The week is designed to build the young actor’s confidence and skill, incorporating aspects of stagecraft such as, ensemble work, voice, movement, improvisation, characterisation, even singing and script work if required in the show. Fun and laughter are an essential part of the workshop as young performers experience what it takes to get a show from the rehearsal floor to the bright lights of the stage.

“Our daughters have done a few different acting holiday programmes but their favourite (and ours) is Tim Bray Theatre Company’s Hit the Stage!” - Bernie  PN

www.timbray.org.nz

TIM BRAY YOUTH THEATRE

Engaging our students with all aspects of theatre

A 5-day creative escape during the school holidays for ages 7-9 and 10-12 11-15 January 2021 TAPAC, Western Springs

@ SCOTT LAWRIE GALLERY

Oliver King – I am the man I am.

I’m delighted to announce that we’re now formally representing Oliver King – and kicking off our partnership with an outstanding show of new work on now from Thursday to Saturday, 11-5pm until 19 December.

I’ve been a massive fan of Oliver’s practice since he graduated with a First Class MFA from Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design in 2018. Visually gripping, with cascading layers of nuance and meaning, Oliver’s work primarily explores ideas of contemporary masculinity and asks important questions about what it means to be a white pakeha male in the context of decolonisation, privilege and consumerism.

Are these elements of awareness enough to eventually disenfranchise the power hierarchies of race and gender? Or do our personal histories as men –more often than not shaped by our fathers – offer a far more honest foundation for empathy, healing and reconciliation through individual shared experiences of what it means to ‘be a man’ today?

The winner of numerous art prizes, Oliver’s recent exhibitions include a solo installation at Sydney Contemporary with PAULNACHE (2019), New work, PAULNACHE, Gisborne (2019), and Kenny, Combs and Tribe, DEMO, Auckland (2016).

New Collectors Pop-Up! This unique pop-up event at the gallery is aimed at new collectors, or for the perfect special Christmas gift. With all works priced between $1200-$3500 (with a couple of notable exceptions) it’s your chance to buy a significant work of art at less than regular show prices. Monday 21 to Thursday 24 December only, so don’t miss it!

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for updates and invites – or just send an email to scott@scottlawrie.com to get yourself on our opening invite list. See you in the gallery soon! Free parking at 15 Williamson Avenue. We are open Thursday to Saturday 11am-5pm.

SCOTT LAWRIE GALLERY, 2 Murdoch Road, M: 021 0826 5633, www.scottlawrie.com Ross Ritchie: Circus - until 24 December

Ross Ritchie has been at the forefront of many artistic developments and is one of New Zealand’s leading post-modern artists. He is a figurative artist in the sense that his works have always denoted or referred to things, animate and inanimate, and the phenomena of the physical world.

Like many painters, Ross Ritchie is a highly competent craftsman who uses his command over technique, not for purposes of virtuoso display, but to control and assist the subject of a painting. The cleverness of the ‘slick’ painter is not allowed to come between the spectator and the subject, no matter what form of expression this may take. Subject and technique are part of the painting’s total entity, not separate issues. Just the same, his natural dexterity as a painter can at times act as a shield protecting the quiet introspective core that Ritchie seeks to maintain in his work. Initially the underlying issue of ‘artistic integrity’ barely concerned him, but within a few years it became an important factor in his consciousness. Excerpt Art NZ, Gordon H . Brown.

Ross Ritchie has works in many private, corporate, museum and public collections, including Auckland Art Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.  PN

WHITESPACE, 20 Monmouth Street, T: 09 361 6331, www.whitespace.co.nz

Oliver King

~ I am the man I am 28 Nov – 19 Dec 2020

2 Murdoch Rd, Grey Lynn (Off 15 Williamson Ave) Thurs to Sat, 11 – 5pm scottlawrie.com