Reflecting on Public Art

Okay, so this was a happy accident!

Neil Dawson's Chalice in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, reflected on the windrscreen of a nearby parked car. Another quirky visual art moment in the life and times of AJR.

Part of the Crowd

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

I hope you'll all forgive me for hitting you with so many out-of-focus photos over the past few days. Truth is, photographs like this one appeal to me - obviously not for their technical finesse but rather for their crazy interplay of colour, pattern and mood. To me, they're not so different from a painting, albeit an accidental one; and I'm not a stickler for photographic perfection if an image captures my imagination and holds me for other (accidental) reasons. I took this photograph at the opening of the Christchurch Arts Festival Winter Garden 2009 in Cathedral Square on Thursday night. www.artsfestival.co.nz

On Thin Ice

Christchurch. July 2009 Ajr

The TV1 Ice Dome, erected in Christchurch’s Cathedral Square as part of the Christchurch Arts Festival Winter Garden 2009, contains a temporary ice rink, which opened on Friday afternoon. The 30-metre diameter dome was bought by the Christchurch City Council for $480,000 and was first used during the Ellerslie International Flower Show in Hagley Park back in March. I love its shiny, translucent skin and while it’s rather hard to photograph well from the outside, I did manage to get a few shots of the first skaters on the rink at a function there last night. What I like best is the beautiful 40-minute projection called ‘Lumiere,’ which runs continually from 6pm onward. It was compiled by the Auckland team, Spyglass, who created the projections for the giant rugby ball at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and it features nine different landscape images by Christchurch photographer, John Maylard…with a two minute snowstorm between each sequence. You'll find some exterior views of the dome by night below. www.artsfestival.co.nz

The Dome by Night - Three Views

One Dome

Three Views

Cathedral Square, Christchurch Christhcurch Arts Festival TV1 Ice Dome. July 2009. Ajr www.artsfestival.co.nz

The Arts Festival Opens

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

I went along to Cathedral Square for the opening of the Christchurch Arts Festival Winter Garden 2009 last night. It was all bright lights, photographers, television crews, laughing crowds, song and dance - just the way to kick off a brilliant festival programme in the middle of a freezing winter. This shot shows the Christchurch Anglican Cathdral glowing in the dark. If you'd like to see photographs of the opening Maori performance by Ngai Tahu's Tuahiwi Kapa Haka group, click on the black and white carving at the top right of this home page and you'll be delivered straight there. I'll be featuring dozens more festival photographs in the coming weeks, so if you're interested in what's happening in Christchurch, stay tuned. www.artsfestival.co.nz

Back at the Chalice

Cathedral Square, Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

You only need to click on the word Chalice in the label line below this post to see that I am totally seduced by the silvery-blue tangle of pattern that is Neil Dawson's Chalice, which dominates Cathedral Square. I rarely walk passed it without taking a photograph, so I have it summer, winter, spring, autumn, night, day, rain and sunshine. People seem to either love it or hate it. Obviously I love it as a photographic subject - and for the way it stands apart from the surrounding architecture; the way it dwarfs the busy throngs of photographing tourists at its base; the way it catches and reflects the light; the way it glows in the dark; the way it stirs controversy. Isn't that what a good piece of public art is supposed to do? As far as large, egotistic art statements go, I think its a beauty.

At Home in the Dome

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr

The Arts Festival Ice Dome is up and I'm pleased to say it's going to be my new photographic plaything for the duration of its life in Cathedral Square. The ice skating rink inside it isn't completed yet but I'm going to the opening of that on Friday 24th July, so will have separate photos then. In the meantime, consider this the first of many of the exterior. I love the slightly alien feel it has, wedged among seventies highrise and classic Victorian architectural icons, with all the modern-day busyness rustling around its 'feet.' The 30-metre dome has been erected on a sand base and its beautiful, satiny, transluscent skin will allow spectactors outside see the shadowy forms of up to 150 skaters performing inside. Can't wait.

The Chilly South

Image Courtesy Christchurch City Council It's so cold down here in Christchurch that we've grown a giant igloo in the middle of Cathedral Square! I jest of course, this is an 'artist's rendition' of what the TV One Ice Dome is going to look like. Created as part of the Christchurch Arts Festival, the some will enclose a temporary ice rink. I was in Cathedral Square this morning actually and they're in the process of building it. It's got a long way to go before it looks like this image but with the opening on July 24th not far off, I'm sure it will all come to fruition. www.artsfestival.co.nz

Chess Anyone?

Watching the Game

(Which is about as exciting as watching paint dry)

Cathedral Square

Christchurch

Feb 2009. Ajr

The Square - Two Views

Cathedral Square, Christchurch. Feb. 2009. Ajr

It wasn't the sunniest day in Christchurch when I took these two shots of The Square. The bottom view I snapped from half way up a parking building. I liked the golden-green of the trees against the stark grey of the buildings - and you can see a flicker of blue from Neil Dawson's Chalice too. The top view, a couple of hours later, was taken at ground level near one of the (rather staid) floral displays created for this year's Floral Festival, which is currently running in the lead up to the Ellerslie Garden Show..... or whatever cumbersome name it's been given.

Cool Cars - 38

One Bright Red Wizard's Car - Spotted outside Christchurch Cathedral. The Cathedral allows the Wizard (see him below in the next post) to park his car near the front door of their institution - and they also store his ladder for him - which is rather a lovely irony when you consider he oftens pontificates (negatively) on the subject of religion.

Abracadabra.......

Cathedral Square, Christchurch. Feb 2009. Ajr

And here is The Wizard himself - an institution in Christchurch.

During the summer you'll find him in Cathedral Square most days (weather permitting) at around 1pm, ranting and raving about everything from religion and politics to love and bureaucracy.... usually from the top of his ladder, though this particular day he obviously wasn't feeling as spritely as usual.

Where are the Humans?

Cathedral Square, Christchurch. Sept.2008. Ajr

Another blissfuly sunny day in Christchurch today.

Here's our quaint little tourist tram making a stop in Cathedral Square.

I wonder where all the people went?

A Crane and a Cross

Cathedral Square, Christchurch. Sept.2008. Ajr

If you click on the word 'Cranes' in the tag line below

You'll see I have a bit of a thing for cranes.

I can't explain it. I'm not, after all, a technical/mechanical girl.

I think it's more to do with their visual impact in an empty sky.

In this case, it's about the juxtaposition of mechanics and religion.

And how busy are we here in Christchurch - we have three cranes working in the city at once!

The Chalice x8

"Chalice" Neil Dawson. August 2008. Ajr

I sat in Cathedral Square the other day and watched people walking past Neil Dawson's "Chalice." I couldn't resist a snap or eight.