Bennett Reflections

Christchurch. August 2009. Ajr

It’s been a while since I brought you any works by Christchurch sculptor, Graham Bennett so here’s one that I snapped at The Art House as I biked passed the gallery last weekend. I was captivated by the shadows as much as the work – no slur on Graham’s sculpture, that’s just the way I am. If you click on Graham Bennett in the label line below this post, you’ll be able to see other beautiful Bennett sculptures and he also appears in my Artist Studios series. www.bennettsculpture.biz www.thearthouse.co.nz

Round and Round in Circles

Christchurch. July 2009 Ajr I liked this work "The Sky Has Fallen" by Rebecca Rose 2008 - which currently sits outside the Arthouse Gallery in Christchurch. The irridescent blue was made all the more so by the dull, grey day on Sunday. Made in mild steel, this 1420mm diameter work was shown earlier this year in Sculpture Central Otago at Rippon Vineyards in Wanaka. For all that, who can create a 'work in the round' of this nature now without being labelled a Neil Dawson clone? www.thearthouse.co.nz

Art in the Landscape

"Encasement" Dan Rutherford. The Art House. Christchurch. August 2008. Ajr Landscape designer, Dan Rutherford’s sculpture, “Encasement” is making a bold statement outside The Art House Gallery at the moment. It’s an earthy kind of orb that looks a little as though it may have been spewed out of a volcano.

Art on the (High) Rise

The Gallery Apartments, Christchurch, 2008. Ajr.

I’m going through a bit of a stage – photographing high-rise apartment buildings. This tall, elegant stretch is The Gallery Apartments in Gloucester Street, designed by Christchurch architect David Hill, of Wilson & Hill Architects and completed in late 2007. The fourteen floors house 19 apartments and, on the ground floor, The Arthouse Gallery, which is currently showing the splendid exhibition “Converse” by Christchurch sculptor, Graham Bennett (but only until June 15). www.thearthouse.co.nz and www.wilsonandhill.co.nz

Art And Conservation

While I am sometimes skeptical about the way everyone is jumping on the 'green/sustainability/environmentally-aware' bandwagon, I do like the sound of this art project - in October last year ten New Zealand artists from mixed disciplines - from musical composition, poetry and film-making to jewellery and the visual arts - were packed off on the conservation yacht, Breaksea Girl to spend six days and nights in deepest, darkest, remotest western Fiordland at the bottom of the South Island. Breaksea Girl is owned by Lance and Ruth Shaw, both active conservationists, who run their eco-tourism business, Fiordland Ecology Holidays (http://www.fiordland.gen.nz/), from their Doubtful Sound base. This inspired project has borne fruit in a new exhibition by one of the participants, Dunedin-based artist-writer, Claire Beynon, whose show at The Arthouse, Christchurch, FATHOM, ( March 5-March 23) is a direct response to Fiordland's dramatic and unique environment. I'm looking forward to seeing the show, although in some ways, it's a pity it isn't a group show of all participants - seeing all ten responses to that amazing environment in one place at one time would make for something truly unique. Maybe it will happen? In the meantime, we can only hope that whoever organised this brilliant 'waterborne residency' will make a habit of thinking this creatively and this laterally. There are so many ways of getting more from both art and tourism. www.thearthouse.co.nz