ARTS & CULTURE

The vitality of the visual arts community can be measured in the quantity of its Artist Run Spaces (ARS).

While we think of public and private art galleries as where art resides, a better indicator of the continuing health of the visual arts ecology are the Artist Run Spaces. These provide recent graduates and emerging artists with space for production and conversation through studio space, collegial idea sharing, and exhibition opportunities. ARS offer the fecund ground for artists to grow, and they establish a place in the community for an often solitary occupation.

Tamaki Makaurau Auckland can be proud that this month the country’s longest-running ARS Artspace (292 Karangahape Road) celebrates 35 years of showcasing fresh dialogues from new artists. Its Cruel Optimism: New Artists exhibition explores the pluralism inherent when “something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing”. Catch it before it finishes 19 February.

I was overjoyed to hear that a new ARS had set up just down the road from my own Akepiro Street Studios, as this points to a determined positivism by art makers in our unclear times.

Oddly (216 Dominion Road) opened to a crush of people on 20 January, with an exhibition of nine artists, mostly recent graduates along with a more established name or two.

Having recently graduated from Whitecliffe, Lexi Kerr has taken over the site formerly occupied by ARS Satchi and Satchi and Satchi, and formed Oddly to provide studio space for six artists and a gallery viewable through a large streetfront window.

“I love the conversations that come out of interacting with other artists and their work, and it’s very rewarding to be able to offer a space for these kinds of connections” says Lexi. “The plan is to have new shows in the gallery area roughly every month, dependent on both artist commitments and Covid restrictions”.

This month, Oddly has well-known artist Peter Lange’s show, Brick. Peter has spent many years on Dominion Road and is excited by a “Dominion Road Reunion” – he once lived and created art just across the road from Oddly.

Young artists showing the way with resilience and creativity – what a good start to the year! (EVAN WOODRUFFE, Studio Art Supplies)

www.studioart.co.nz Jasmine Tuia at Oddly

Molly Timmins at Oddly

17-19yrs Class with Michael Hurst

INSPIRING YOUNG IMAGINATIONS THROUGH DRAMA

Tim Bray Youth Theatre is thrilled to be back in the studio for Term 1 drama classes the week of 8 February at TAPAC, after many months on Zoom! Classes are also offered on the North Shore.

These weekly classes for ages 5-19 encourage selfconfidence and self-expression where students can explore their imaginations, express their creativity while learning fundamental acting techniques.

Their senior 17-19 years Performance Class at TAPAC is ideal for young actors who need a place to learn and to perform, who are passionate about theatre and all it involves.

Time flies when you are having fun! - Zoe, student.

Students who have attended this class and who choose to continue their performing arts studies at tertiary level may apply for the Mary Amoore Gift a Seat™ Scholarship established by Tim Bray in 2021.

Extraordinarily Creative are drama classes for children and teenagers with autism and other neuro-diversities to find their own voice and place on the North Shore and now in Glen Innes. In six months they have taught our anxious and reclusive boy that he has a voice worth hearing, can have friends, and most of all has value in this world which we have struggled to achieve in the previous 11 years. Karen A., parent.

For more information: timbray.org.nz/youth-theatre

TIM BRAY

YOUTH THEATRE

Western Springs, Takapuna, Browns Bay 5 – 19 years Our tutors fire young imaginations and ignite the creative minds of tomorrow.

DRAMADRAMA WeeklyWeekly

Glen Innes and North Shore 5 – 16yrs For autistic and neuro-diverse youth to find their own voice and place

www.timbray.org.nz 09-486-2261

The Covert Theatre in Mackelvie Street, Ponsonby is NZ’s home of improvised comedy. With workshops and shows every night of the week there is something for everyone. Be sure to check out www.coverttheatre.com

SEFTON RANI – INDUSTRIAL PLANTATIONS @ SCOTT LAWRIE GALLERY

Sefton Rani had a stellar year in 2021, with no less than nine shows - four solo and five group, in Auckland, Morrinsville and Christchurch. So, we’re very excited to kick off the new calendar year at the Grey Lynn gallery with a solo show entitled, ‘Industrial Plantations’.

When I first visited Sefton’s Piha studio, I was struck by both his energy, passion, and relentless curiosity. Sefton draws on many influences for his work; a mash up of post-punk in-your-face formalism meets ‘industrial tapa’ (a phrase he coined himself!).

What’s so fascinating in Sefton’s practice is that most of the works in his solo show are made entirely from paint skins; layer upon layer of industrial paints that end up being a centimetre thick in places.

Sefton’s father, Mii, worked in a paint factory in West Auckland; a migrant worker from Kūki ‘Āirani/Cook Islands who came to New Zealand.

It’s a lovely choice of material for these emotive reasons, but it’s also highly original and creates some extraordinarily complex visual attributes.

The yellow oil drum work featured here is called ‘Manual Labour (5% Mexican)’ 2021, part of Sefton’s continual exploration of a concept he defines as ‘Industrial Tapa’ (and a quiet nod to his Great Grandfather who was Mexican). In this case, it’s a paint skin, cast from the exterior of a 44-Gallon drum.

I like to think of it as a petrified painting, or better still, a sculpture of an empty vessel. It nods to migrant labour, hard graft and messy materials. The colour suggesting a glowing medal of honour for the practical over the theoretical, hard work over intangible (and often inaccessible) establishment-art posturing.

I believe Sefton is producing some of the most visually fascinating work in New Zealand at the moment – inspired by his deep cultural roots to the Cook Islands while also avoiding tired tropes and contemporary art trends. It is, like all the best art, genuinely unique and curiously hard to place. (It also sells out quickly to collectors, so get in quick!)

Sefton’s show opens on Saturday 12 February from 11am-5pm and will run for three weeks. Everyone is welcome to come along and meet the artist. Gallery hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 11am-5pm.

Path of Illumination

SCOTT LAWRIE GALLERY, 2 Murdoch Road, www.scottlawrie.com

Jacqui Colley’s Eastbourne studio with Papa I and II, oil on canvas

JACQUI COLLEY @ OREX PONSONBY

8 February - 6 March

After several Covid-related delays, we are delighted to finally be able to present a solo exhibition by Eastbourne based Jacqui Colley, whose paintings and drawings we have long admired.

In 2018, Colley won the prestigious Parkin Drawing Prize with a drawing that was – arguably - a painting, and which was described by the judge as ‘progressive, explorative, and extending the boundaries of what drawing can be’.

The deep and inextricable connection to drawing is clear in each and every one of the paintings that make up this new collection. The pigment sits lightly on the canvas surface, but its application draws power from unseen depths, managing to be simultaneously earthy and ethereal, spare and lush.

Colley’s compositions evolve through time, place and process. When creating these works, she comments: "I was thinking about geographical transformations that take place over millions of years; from the colour of minerals to the shape of a place. The pigments and other materials offer a means of translating the natural world".

OREX, 221 Ponsonby Road, T: 09 378 0588, www.orexart.co.nz E: gallery@orexart.co.nz