Extra

Rug-tuft gun loaded with connections

Aratoi has four unique galleries, each with its own focus.

The Wesley Wing; the old church at the back of the museum, is our education and community space, while the main gallery is dedicated to recognised New Zealand and international artists. The Social History Gallery is currently showing the yearlong exhibition “Masterton Museum: Cabinet of Curiosities” and off ers an object or social history space, while the Windows Gallery shows Wairarapabased and upcoming artists.

The Windows Gallery is currently showing “Land Girl”, an exhibition from local artist Leah Creaven. Creaven was born in Ireland but has made South Wairarapa her home – and she tells her stories through her rug-tufted artwork. She won ‘Best Use of Colour’ in Aratoi’s Wairarapa Art Review in 2021, and her artwork adorns the wall of the wine bar Karahui in Martinborough – plus, she has gained private commissions from clients across the world.

Incredibly, Creaven only started creating rug tufted works three years ago when her partner bought her a tufting gun as a present.

“Land Girl” is an exploration of land that draws on visual experience, childhood memories and her ongoing contact with the land through work and leisure. Illustrating this concept with a fi bre that is grown all around her –wool – is an important element of this collection. It also continues to be her fi bre of choice for her artwork.

This collection is about connection. Connection to land but also to heritage, to Creaven and to her family, to experience and to her memories. Creaven hopes that viewers can form their own connections to the work and to the subject matter – and that the show brings them joy. If you want to try out rug tufting for yourself,

A detail from Creaven’s piece “Red sky at night”. PHOTOS/SUPPLIED Two pieces from Leah Creaven’s exhibition “Land Girl” at Aratoi: “Fence” [left] and “Trekking in our bubble”.

Creaven is holding a workshop at Aratoi in February. Check our website for more information: www.aratoi. org.nz.

• “Land Girl” by Leah

Creaven is on show at Aratoi Wairarapa

Museum of Art and

History until Sunday,

February 12.

CULINARY SCENE

Stylish gin deposits at the former bank

SUE TEODORO

sue.teodoro@age.co.nz

The most recent addition to the culinary scene in Martinborough is an artful cocktail of old and new – with a dash of history.

Tōhi is Martinborough’s newest gin tasting room, the brainchild of local owners Karen-Anne Frost, Dudley and Murray Hill, and Dan Murphy.

Located in the refurbished former BNZ building in Memorial Square, Tōhi is right behind its sister hostelry – wine bar and restaurant Karahui, which opened in December 2021.

The tasting room opened last month and features three gins produced in Martinborough as part of an extensive menu of 32 varieties.

Focusing on traditional gin and tonic, as well as gin-tasting fl ights and other cocktails, the menu highlights a range derived from natural botanicals – which almost sound like herbal teas.

A hand-foraged Macedonian juniper sits alongside lime from Hawkes Bay, rosemary from Marlborough, and lemon verbena from Canterbury. There is also thyme and bay leaf from Marlborough and a locally produced lavender option.

Frost said the reception had been “very encouraging”.

“It’s been going wonderfully. People just go ‘wow’, it’s been great,” she said.

“For all of us, it’s been amazing. It’s better than we expected it would be, and every day has been

Jeremy Wilson, assistant manager at T˜hi Gin Room, which opened in Martinborough last month. PHOTO/SUE TEODORO

diff erent.”

She described how the building had gradually morphed from a grand old banking arcade and offi ces, with the manager’s accommodation behind, to the stylish, multifunctional bar and restaurant complex it is today.

“If you see the backyard, they even had horses there in the old days,” she said, pointing to a paved area that’s now a garden bar.

Some patrons have memories of the building, with one even living there as a child when her father was the local bank manager.

“Sometimes locals come in and say, ‘I used to sit over there when I was eighteen’, and now they are 70.”

The building is full of historical artefacts from the district, with adding machines and other items from the bank donated by Martinborough Colonial Museum. An old, partly completed ledger can still be seen in one of the typewriters.

There are two kitchens on site, one responsible for the extensive menu at Karahui while a smaller one services Tōhi. • Tōhi Gin Room is open

from 11 am to 5 pm, seven days a week, and Karahui Bar and

Eatery from 4 pm

Monday to Saturday.

More information about both is at https:// www.karahui.co.nz/ karahui-bar-eatery.

BODYMIND PILATES 6 WEEK BEGINNER COURSE

STARTS MON 13 FEB 2023 MON & THURS 6:30PM, MON 11AM AND FRI 10AM