Gallery
A friend brought up the old argument recently that we should
be spending money on improving Dunedin’s water, or the sewage system, rather
than on building an art gallery in the middle of the city.
I’ve always been citified, and my bent in life is not a
practical one, so perhaps I expect sewage and water to be there. To me
they’re things we find in a city, come what may.
They should never be used, however, as an argument against
not funding art galleries, or museums.
When the present city library was being built I recall
similar dismay being aired at spending large sums of money on something ‘so
impractical.’ But our library is one of Dunedin’s great treasures. (As someone
who always takes a look at other libraries round the country when I have a
chance, I’m prepared to stand up and say our library is one of the finest, if not
THE finest.)
To get back to the art gallery. Now that it’s going to be
right in the centre of town, I believe thousands of Dunedinites will discover
its treasures for the first time.
For the first time they’ll catch such marvellous exhibitions
as the two that are on just now: Treasures of the Underworld, and Takitahi.
I originally saw Treasures in Wellington over a year ago and raved about
it then.
The Underworld may refer to New Zealand’s alleged
position on the globe, or to where the materials to make the exhibits have come
from: under the earth.
Whatever, none of the amazing pieces here pale with a second
viewing. In fact, it’s like meeting old friends – particularly the two enormous
buxom lady pots by Barry Brickell called Bosomorphs! Brickell’s human-sized
figures have such a sensuous feel to them, you want to wrap yourself around
them – if it wasn’t an uncouth thing to do in a public place. (Oh, dear, I’ve
opened a can of worms now.)
I only realised, in this second viewing (courtesy of one of
my children) that the stone-like rock-pool with its tinkling water has at least
one face hidden in it – perhaps more.
There are startling red and blue bowls, some with a texture
more like glass than clay. There’s a whole array of pieces delineating the
voyage of Christopher Columbus – and three other large oil-can shaped pieces
called Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina. (All these pieces were first
produced for Spain.)
Some items are so fragile they look as though they’d barely
exist beyond a few viewings; some tough and gritty, such as the bowl like a
bursting volcano. Some slightly damaged pieces show the difficulties of moving
these works around the world.
All these marvellous works can be seen for FREE! Not
only that, in the other half of the gallery where several weavers from Dunedin’s
Multicultural Weavers group are at work, you can see art of a totally different
kind being created before your eyes.
A huge range of traditional items is displayed: hats,
cloaks, mats, garments, shoes, in all manner of materials and colours. Usually designated
‘craft,’ this display shows how much these pieces have a right to be called ‘art.’
More than that, because the work has traditionally been done
by women, it has been undervalued. No more! Go and have a look and have your
eyes opened twice in a day.
The women don’t have it all to themselves in this
exhibition. There are several items made by men (and pakehas). And not
everything is in traditional materials. Some things are made from film, plastic
wrapping, string (this one feels as soft as cashmere), and even a barrage of
supermarket bags.
Do I sound enthusiastic? I am.
I can’t wait for the day the art gallery opens in the
Octagon, just five minutes from where I work. What better way to spend your
lunch hour (apart from relaxing among the cool towering columns of the Cathedral),
than to browse among the quiet and calm of what is going to be the country’s
newest and bestest, and finest, place to view art?
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The Art Gallery was built in a former department store,
and is a magnificent piece of redesign. A vast entrance area – in which I’ve
sung several times with the acapella choir, Sunny Side Up – leads to roomy
spaces at the back of the building, a first floor with several galleries, and
another floor that can be used for meetings and celebrations and the like.
The two exhibitions mentioned were on at the old Art
Gallery, in a building that was formerly part of the Great Exhibition, and
which was situated in an area that was only easily accessible by car.
The Cathedral mentioned is the Anglican Cathedral, St Paul's, right in the centre of town in the Octagon. At one point I worked in the building right next door.
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