ARTS & CULTURE

Virgin River (Season 2) This comfy slipper style soap opera drama series returns for another season. Seemingly untouched by Covid-19, Virgin River is full of people with normally ordinary problems in the picturesque town of Virgin River.

Of course central to the story is the pending romance between Mel and Jack (played by New Zealand’s own Martin Henderson) which evolves against the rise and fall of a range of other Virgin River love stories that run the full age spectrum from teens to the 70+. Love and romance has no age limit in Virgin River.

Watch after hard day of online school and endless Zoom meetings.  Fantastic Fungi Full of stunning footage and interesting facts about the role of fungi and the magic of mushrooms in our modern world, this is an interesting yet curious doco. It covers everything from the vast range of fungi species and their incredible ability to adapt to ideas about how the fungi have an intelligence that could be instrumental in saving the world.

Packed with beautiful imagery and peppered with useful information and different perspectives, this is a journey into a world beyond the magic mushroom.

Watch and rewatch - ’edutainment'. 

FIRST TUESDAY @ ST MATTHEWS

First Tuesday on 5 October marks the 26th concert in this series over three years.

St Matthew’s is pleased to welcome back Lisa Chou (piano) for her third appearance, with Yid-Ee Goh (violin) making his second appearance.

These two highly accomplished players will perform Brahms Violin Sonata no1 in G Major, Clara Schumann Three Romances and De Falla Suite Populaire Espangnole. These are three pieces which will show off the player’s skills and the astounding acoustics of the space.

Lisa Chou holds a masters degree in piano performance with 1st class honours from the University of Auckland and was a postgraduate student in Vienna (also studying privately with the acclaimed pianist and Beethoven scholar Paul Badura Skoda). While in Vienna she developed a major interest in Lieder accompaniment and this took her to Oxford as a participant in The Schubert Lieder Project 2014. She now teaches and performs in Auckland and is eagerly sought-after as both a soloist and ensemble player.

She has previously performed twice for St Matthews in the presentation of Babar by Francis Poulenc and playing major solo repertoire by Chopin and Beethoven. Lisa is an outstanding pianist with formidable technique, a poetic consideration of the music and absolute engagement in her medium.

Singaporean born Yid-Ee Goh is former Concertmaster of Orchestra Wellington, violinist for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and New Zealand String Quartet. In 2004, Yid-Ee helped setup and run The Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre for children with special needs (www.rmtc.org.nz).

Yid-Ee now runs his teaching studio at his home in Golflands, Howick, and teaches violin and viola at Pakuranga College, Kings College, Sacred Heart College and Macleans College. He regularly appears as Concertmaster with the Manukau Symphony Orchestra.)  PN

Lisa Chou (piano) and Yid-Ee Goh (violin)

Tuesday 5th October, 12.10-12.50pm

Brahms, Clara Schumann and Manuel De Falla Entry by kohā.

ARTS + CULTURE BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS - Sunday 10 October

St Matthew’s and Mobility Dogs would love to welcome you to St Matthew-in-the-City on Sunday 10 October at 1pm to celebrate the annual ‘Blessing of the Animals’.

We relish the chance to be involved in this special event with you all. Mobility Dogs have been raising, training and placing assistance dogs for more than 10 years. Our primary goal is to assist people living with a disability by partnering them with a mobility dog to help in everyday tasks and to give them constant companionship, loyalty and provide a sense of security. We recognise that no disability or dog is the same, therefore each mobility dog partnership is unique.

Over the years we have partnered our dogs with people living with conditions like cerebral palsy, spinal injury and Parkinson’s, to name a few disabilities. Our dogs have full access rights under the Dog Control Act which means they can go into most public places, on public transport, educational institutions, employment environments, restaurants and cinemas.

We are totally reliant on community funders and on our wonderful community volunteers who help us raise and train our dogs for people who need them. Our wider social initiative is the Puppies in Prison programme where we teach prisoners how to train our dogs.

We see very positive outcomes from this programme as the prisoners learn prosocial skills of working in a team as well as getting the reward from the absolute love and care of a dog. (JODY WILSON, GENERAL MANAGER))  PN

www.stmatthews.nz

Gail and Mobility Dog Coda Stan and Mobility Dog Lochy

St Matthew-in-the-City, 132 Hobson Street, Auckland stmatthews.nz | mobilitydogs.co.nz

10 October, 1-2pm Free entry | All welcome

Celebrate our love for all animals, great & small. Bring your pets for a blessing, or simply enjoy this special service. For the safety of animals and people, please ensure all dogs are on a leash & smaller animals protected in a cage.

At Artform, we believe in giving each piece room to breathe, giving it respect and letting each item take the limelight.

In doing so, the viewer can make a connection and relate to both the work and the artist. With a network of over 60 artists delivering a variety of mediums and disciplines, it requires skill and passion to curate the rich selection of work into a cohesive visual language. That is the art of Artform.  PN

ARTFORM GALLERY, 6/2 Matakana Valley Road, T: 09 422 9125, www.artformgallery.co.nz

UPTOWN ART SCENE

The protagonist, a doctor, of Camus “The Plague” says at the end of the book that we can only combat pestilence with decency. They defined decency as doing our job: believing in what we do, and doing it with kindness, humility and determination.

The pandemic has given a broader awareness of the work people do. Front line workers such as supermarket staff are appreciated more now than pre-Covid, and one hopes this more equitable valuing of the work each person does continues post-Covid.

I certainly struggled with the worth of being an artist during last year’s introduction to living in a pandemic. Was art just “nice to have” next to the essential work being done by medical professionals, civil servants, and border security?

However, seeing the newly risky business of working in a supermarket elevated in our minds to an essential service (surely it always has been crucial) reminded me of Camus’ observation – that society needs all types of jobs fulfilled to exist in the face of destruction, to behave the best way it can – with decency.

Being an artist in times of crisis is what Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison posits as their most important duty: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

The last 12 months have been about ignoring the cancelled exhibitions and now impossible events, instead focusing on making the best work I can. I’m fortunate to have had some exciting projects to work on, including a 3D piece for Artweek Auckland (now rescheduled for November) supported with the kind support of Creative New Zealand, and a major commission for MC, the Office of the Crown Solicitors, who move into their new eco-building on Auckland’s waterfront shortly.

Six artists have been asked to create works for MC that “Celebrate Contemporary Aotearoa” and that express six values of the Crown Warrant. My brief was, as an artist, to convey my interpretation diversity of who we are today.

To reflect this, I have made an expansive 2m x 5m painting comprised of ten square canvases. These are individual panels that can act alone yet join to form one whole; they can also be reconfigured to offer fluctuating viewpoints, and even swapped out for replacement panels to show the ever-changing demographics of our country. The abstract nature of my work allows each individual viewer to bring their own experiences to the work, so any meaning belongs to whomever sees it, rather than me.

In the brief for this commission, in words that again remind me of Camus, MC state as part of its Crown Warrant that... “Manākitanga is behaviour that acknowledges the mana of others as having equal or greater importance than one’s own, through the expression of aroha, hospitality, generosity and mutual respect. In doing so, all parties are elevated and our status is enhanced, building unity through humility and the act of giving.”

And that’s how we’ll get through this. (EVAN WOODRUFFE/STUDIO ART SUPPLIES)

Much of the work is painstakingly produced using paint-filled markers

Fabrics embedded in the painting provide texture and history

Repetitive shapes, rough gestures, and gentle blending all jostle towards a chaotic harmony

ST MATTHEW’S CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

A French afternoon with St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra with virtuoso soloist Andrew Beer and conductor Brent Stewart - Sunday 12 September 2.30pm

Your French Afternoon - Tout pour votre plaisir.

•Debussy’s ethereal Prélude à “ l’après-midi d’un faune” and his impressionistic Nocturnes

•Saint-Saëns’ lyrical Havanaise Opus 83

•Wieniawski’s richly melodic 2nd Violin concerto to be performed by Andrew Beer who is famous for his virtuosity and glorious tone.

Born in Vancouver in 1982, soloist Andrew Beer commenced his studies on violin at the age of five. He has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia and has appeared in concert with Midori and members of the Emerson String Quartet. Andrew plays a J.B. Vuillaume violin from 1845, and uses a J.J. Martin bow from 1880.

Conductor Brent Stewart Brent has extensive experience performing and touring both nationally and internationally. He has performed as a concerto-soloist (percussion) with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Wellington Youth Orchestra, and the APO and regularly performs with the Royal New Zealand Ballet and New Zealand Opera. St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra is an accomplished group with a stellar reputation.

NEW DATE: Saturday 20 November 2021 TICKETS: Eventfinda or door sales Eftpos and cash. Adults $30: Concessions $25, children under 12 free. Student Rush on the day only $15.

ST MATTHEW-IN-THE-CITY, corner Wellesley & Hobson Streets, www.smco.org.nz

Sun 12 September

at 2.30pm

programme Debussy Prélude à “l’après-midi d’un faune” Saint-Saëns Havanaise Opus 83 Wieniawski Violin Concerto No 2 Op 22 in D mino Debussy Nocturnes (revised version) soloist Andrew Beer conductor Ken Young

@ SCOTT LAWRIE GALLERY

Jeremy Piert: The Golden Brook

Hello everyone, hope you're all staying safe and enjoying yourselves as much as you can during this unexpected lockdown. Alas, it has led to me delaying the opening of Jeremy Piert’s new solo show, 'The Golden Brook' from last week. It will still have a physical viewing when we get to Level 2 (even if it's just for a week or so) so check out website, Instagram and Facebook. But until then, do your thing beautiful Kiwis and show some support for this uber-talented young artist, who is making a real name for himself on both sides of the Tasman.

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Jeremy is a consummate painter, and an extremely good draughtsman. It shows in the work. Endearing, playful and elegant – his subject matter in this series consists of birds and animals, painted in an imaginary setting at dusk, within a rich, moody, and magical landscape.

This body of work by Jeremy is really an ongoing extension of his last Australian show, which also featured wildlife. They’re not illustrations so much as distinct personalities that occupy a world seemingly devoid of people. Jeremy is quite interested in allowing our deep primal human instincts to connect to these creatures at an observational level – through empathy, humour or joy – but also allow them to ‘stay wild’ in their own way, so we become passive viewers rather than active participants in their lives.

These are joyful paintings created to offer us an escape. To new places. Away from old memories. And towards infinite moments of possibility. They are as powerful as they are sublime. And you can see them all (with prices) https:// privateviews.artlogic.net/2/3d5da08ef169de24daa928 in an exclusive online preview.

SCOTT LAWRIE GALLERY, 15 Williamson Avenue, T: 021 0826 5633, www.scottlawrie.com