StreetscapeNZ - 104

Dunedin Chinese Gardens

Cumberland Street, Dunedin.

May 2010. Ajr

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Otago University

Dunedin

May 2010 Ajr

City Scene - 2

The second shot in my new series of 'mismatched moments'.

Visual snapshots of New Zealand city life.

Wire rolls on the back of a truck in central Dunedin. May 2010. Ajr

Bottles and Vases - endangered

endangered

is a fitting title for this voluptuous collection of bottles and vases by Dunedin ceramic artist, Liz Fea, now on show at Dunedin's Quadrant Gallery. For Fea, endangered refers to the very essence of ceramic making, to its treachery throughout the production process. Submitting handmade works to the heat of the kiln is unpredictable; the pot is endangered at all stages and until it is safely fired, we cannot know how it will turn out. Equally, it may refer to the art itself - at least in modern western society, where the 'bigger' more glamorous arts of painting and sculpture get all the glory.

For endangered, Fea continues on from a major body of work she completed in 2009 - work that referred to the fragile nature of much of the New Zealand landscape. Now her vessels also allude to the endangered flora and fauna that inhabits that fragile and threatened landscape.

The bottle form is an ancient one developed over many millennia and Fea's "slightly over-the-top" contemporary vessels have captured something of that history. They have the look of an archaeological find, bottles produced for ceremony in some indulgent, ancient civilisation - each one a 'jewelled landscape' dripping the colours of the natural world. Fea gives free expression to colour and texture, light and shade in works that are influenced not only by the paintings of Colin McCahon (and his similar use of dense greens), but also to the rich, textural, early bamboo prints of Stanley Palmer.

Liz Fea is relatively new to the ancient joys and caprices of ceramics. She graduated from the Otago Polytechnic School of Art just last year with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a Diploma in Ceramic Art and says the works in this exhibition are "highly experimental" and made to convey a sense of fun, at the same time drawing attention to the fragility of our land. The show continues at Quadrant gallery in Dunedin until october 30, 2010. All images supplied.

www.quadrantgallery.co.nz

Shiver Me Timbers!

I wonder how many people have ground their cars to a halt outside this crazy little house and sheds at Otakou on Otago Peninsula, near Dunedin? I know I did - and with a lingering sense of disbelief, I raised my camera to try and capture some of the madness of it all. If nothing else, you'd have to say it's a labour of love - collecting all that drift wood off the beach and then assembling it into this rather wonderful example of Kiwi visual insanity.

Guilty Pleasures

More From the Food Files

Peppermint Cake

(divine)

At Everyday Gourmet

Dunedin

May 2010. Ajr

It's a Sign!

Two Signs

One Stunning Jewellery Studio

LURE

One of My Favourite Dunedin Places

A Treasure Trove of Exquisite Contemporary New Zealand Jewellery.

May 2010. Ajr

Shadows & Reflections

On a recent tour of Otago Museum in Dunedin, I was stopped in my tracks by this wonderful - almost Zen-like - interplay of shadow and reflection.

A lovely upstairs space in an excellent museum.

From the Food Files

Lunch at Bacchus

Dunedin

A great spot to sit upstairs, overlooking the Octagon.

Excellent menu

Great Tastes

Lively Environment. May 2010. Ajr

Rear Lights

Once a display window for a department store in Dunedin's Octagon, this structure behind Dunedin Public Art Gallery was converted into additional exhibition space in 1996, when the old DIC store was transformed into the city's new art gallery. It's now a showcase for objects and images created by contemporary New Zealand artists. It's handily located right next to one of my favourite little Dunedin cafes, Mazagram, in Moray Place, who have set up some of their tables in front of the window. This work, which took my fancy in a big way on a grey Dunedin day, is "Jacob's Ladder," by Karyn Taylor - fluorescent lights, lighting gels and electronics, 2010. www.dunedin.art.museum

Restaurant Moments

Fiddling with a camera when I should have been eating lunch

At Bacchus, Dunedin

A Bird (Almost) in the Hand

I'm not going to lie - I cheated with the Otago Penninsular albatross.

I mean, what were the chances of me actually seeing one this close when I was too lazy to walk up the hill that overlooks the albatross colony? Besides, it's not peak albatross season.

So I went Otago Museum instead and caught this fellow flying from the rafters. He seemed a much more likely bet for me. ...a ready solution for a girl in a hurry. www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

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Queen's Gardens, Dunedin

South Island.

November 2009 Ajr

StreetscapeNZ - 65

Cumberland Street

Dunedin

November 2009 Ajr

StreetscapeNZ - 58

Cumberland Street, Dunedin

South Island.

November 2009 Ajr

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Cumberland Street, Dunedin

South Island.

November 2009 Ajr

Riding in a Bus

Street Corner, Edendale. Nov. 2009 Ajr Creamoata Factory, Milton. Nov. 2009 Ajr I rarely travel on buses - not because I have anything against them; it's just that I have my own car and I can get to places faster that way. But last weekend I not only took a bus ride, I took a very LONG bus ride - ten hours in fact, from Christchurch to the tiny southern coastal settlement of Colac Bay, which sits 45 minutes southwest of Invercargill at the bottom of the South Island.

Residential Street, Dunedin. Nov. 2009 Ajr

Dunedin Railway Station. Nov. 2009 Ajr When I'm travelling by car I always stop regularly to take photographs; when you're being driven by bus, you stop on the whim of the driver. But that wasn't going to stop me. I love taking photographs from moving vehicles. They're never perfect shots and that's what I like about them. There's a randomness, a degree of luck involved that sometimes spins out some real treats. And much to my delight, I discovered that sitting high up in a bus, you get an entirely different perspective on the landscapes and cityscapes you're passing through. So these are four shots of many that I snapped along the way. A tiny sampling of the architectural diversity and quirkiness that you see whenever you hit the roads into provincial New Zealand.

StreetscapeNZ - 46

The Octagon-George Street

Dunedin, South Island

May 2009. Ajr

Church Architecture Returns

Cathedral, The Octagon, Dunedin. May 2009. Ajr

It seems forever since I presented you with a nice piece of Kiwi church architecture. I think I put it into hibernation when some of my friends started accusing me of 'going all religious.' In fact, my love of photographing churches is a matter of architecture over religion. I'm not religious at all. I just love the extraordinary extravagance of much church architecture - the heft, the bulk, the detail. This the very magnificent St Paul's Anglican Cathedral on Dunedin's Octagon. The Gothic Revival beauty was designed by architect Edmund Sedding and built between 1915-1919. I normally photograph it from the front but there was something very appealing about this hefty side view. www.dunedinnz.com

Homestead on a Hill

Dunedin. May 2009. Ajr Glendinning House stands proudly on top of Maori Hill in the Dunedin suburb of Roslyn. Built in 1914, this handsome Edwardian gentleman's residence is named after the original owner, successful merchant, Robert Cassels Glendinning, who had it built over a four-year period. Current owners, Sandy Black and Jocelyn Robinson have turned it into a beautiful Bed and Breakfast operation and the two large upstairs guest rooms are the sort of place I like to curl up in and pretend I can stay forever. Jocelyn is a former caterer and she goes to great creative lengths to ensure her visitors leave with fantastic culinary memories. I know I did! www.glendinninghouse.co.nz