An Architectural Moment in History

I'm not going to write too much here today about Christchurch's spectacular Old Provincial Council Buildings - I've done all that before and you can read more about the history of the building by clicking on Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings in the label line below this post. Suffice to say it is one of my favourite Christchurch buildings

I went in there again recently to play with my new camera and while there were plenty of photographic failures on my part, I was reminded again of the beauty of the place, the quietness (except when tribes of school kids come in on a class trip) and the sense that you've stepped back in time, or perhaps been transported away to England.

Between 1853 and 1876, New Zealand was governed under the provincial system, which began as a 12-member council and a separately elected Superintendent. The first meeting of the Canterbury Provincial Council was held on September 27, 1853 on the site that now houses the nearby Cathedral Grammar Buildings. These Provincial Council Buildings were built between 1853 and 1865, to a design by architect, Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort. When the Council ceased in 1876, the offices were used as offices by various Government departments. These days, the rabbits' warren is home to a wide variety of offices, including a number of architects. You can wander the silent stone corridors, wondering what might be behind all the closed doors - and on the right day at the right time, you can get inside the magnificent end chamber, which I have shown in photographs in my previous post.

Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 92

"Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun."

More from Christchurch-based printmaker, Barry Cleavin

Billboard of the Week

Another one of my favourite VERO billboards.

And How Very Christchurch!

May 2010. Ajr

A Note From the Road

As of Monday, I will be travelling the North and South Islands of New Zealand for two months, researching and writing a brand new travel guide, Frommers New Zealand Day by Day 1st Edition. This is going to be a slightly crazy time and I'm not going to have the same amount of time to devote to long posts for this and my other blog, Introducing Maori Lifestyles.

So.......just for a while......my entries may be more photographic than excessively verbal, which may of course, come as a relief to some. So bear with me and I hope you'll enjoy my photographic journey around New Zealand. www.frommers.com

On a Windswept Peninsula

I wonder if it's wise for me to publicly confess that, along with my passion for hedges, I'm rather fond of an unusual tree or three? My 'Tree File' in fact (doesn't everyone have a tree file?) is bulging with photographs of trees that I've taken a shine to over the last few years. These three were all taken on the remote tops of Banks Peninsula three or four years ago, when I joined Tuatara Tours for their Akaroa Walk - a rather energetic stretch from Christchurch to Akaroa, striding along the windswept hilltops that characterise the landscape between the city and Akaroa Harbour. The two above - windswept totara were photographed on the Waipuna Saddle.

And this stark beauty - a stripped-naked, dead totara, one of a whole dead forest still standing in Watarangi Totara Reserve, which is a good walk into the hills near The Hilltop, just before you descend into Akaroa Harbour itself. The complete walk? Stunning - perfect photographic territory but make sure you're fit for hill climbing before you take it on. It's seriously up and down all the way. www.tuataratours.co.nz You'll find many more pictures of this and other Tuatara Walks by clicking on Tuatara Tours or Akaroa Walk in the label line below.

Cool Cars - 79

One Bright Yellow Lambourghini - Spotted on Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia

Cool Cars - Special Edition

You won't see one of these every day. That may not bother some of you but for classic car fans, it's a rare and real treat. My American car sleuth - my Los Angeles-based eldest brother was on the prowl (probably showing off his latest Porsche), when he ground to halt to get these photographs for me.

"It's a 1938 Cadillac Limousine. Apparently the seating was a special and rare factory option, together with an optional bar fitted when the car was built. I wonder if it was a celebration of the end of the Prohibition Era?" he ponders.

I love it from the outside - a big, bold hulk of a thing but I'm not so enamoured of the red, velvety interior. I think that looks kind of slutty and gives a whole to meaning to the term 'pimp my car.' That said, I'd love to see it cruising the streets of Christchurch. I can just see our City Mayor using it as his official mayoral vehicle.

Corrugated Iron - Again!

It's corrugated iron time again - this time a few rural and semi-rural gems from the Tekapo region in the very south of South Canterbury....new stuff - and one older barn, the like of which may have been the inspiration for the modern, barn-like home above it, spotted in a new Tekapo residential subdivision.

Personally, I prefer the barn to the house.

You can read much more about corrugated iron in contemporary and rural New Zealand (and Australian) architecture by clicking on Corrugated Iron in the label line below this post.

StreetScapeNZ - 81

Main Street,

Leeston, Canterbury

Dec.2008 Ajr

Observation / Action / Reflection

I met New Zealand sculptor, Andrew Drummond, twenty-three years ago - in 1987 - when I was living in Wanganui. He arrived there as the Sarjeant Gallery's Artist-in-Residence at Tylee Cottage. Wanganui was a small community, especially in the arts field and it wasn't long before we crossed paths. Later, when Andrew was beginning work on a major installation in the Sarjeant Gallery Dome, he needed some 'manual labour' to help weave the forms that would make up the installation. It just so happened that I had spent several years previous to that - in my days as a young married mother in Auckland - weaving baskets as a sideline. And so we took to willow weaving in a big way. And, being the stickler for detail that I am, I also photographed the entire process - right through to an opening night fortified by copious champagne cocktails - and compiled the images into a handmade book. (I was working as an artist myself at the time and handmade artist books were, and still are, a particular passion).

I've included a few photographs of some pages from the resulting book (above), which hides away in a cabinet with the dozens of other books I've made at one time or another.

"Viewing Device, Counter Rotating" 2008-10. Christchurch Art Gallery Foyer. Image AJR

All that, by way of a convoluted introduction to the fact that Andrew Drummond opens a major exhibition at Christchurch Art Gallery this week. Observation / Action/ Reflection is Drummond's first comprehensive survey exhibition and when it opens on Thursday night, it is bound to intrigue and mesmerise. As his foyer work above demonstrates - Drummond has come a long way from weaving organic works like his "Coming and Going" of twenty-three years ago - materially at least, for even then his gigantic, ambitious works had a seductive power. But his commitment to art, his ideals, his philosophies have never wavered.

Andrew Drummond Counter-Rotating andEarthing Device 2000. Brass, glass, copper, electrical system. Reproduced courtesy of the artist. A visit to Drummond's Christchurch studio is an eye-opener. Like his sculptures, the environment is huge and technical - more like an engineer's workshop in fact. And yet the resulting kinetic works that come out of it - sleek, shiny, mechanical wonders - have a disconcerting power that draws you in, a kind of robotic humanity that sets you to thinking about all manner of things.........."where quirky, individualistic machines, making use of water, air, electricity and light parody your own individualism, bodily mechanisms and human sensory systems," wrote art historian John Finlay recently.

Andrew Drummond Vented Hanging Device with Shelter 1994. Mixed Media. Reproduced courtesy of the artist. Photograph: Lloyd Park. Drummond never shies away from testing his creative, physical and intellectual limits - nor those of the viewer - no matter what it takes. He has an idea - and he does everything in his power to bring it to reality. And in the lead-up to his survey exhibition at Christchurch Art Gallery, I for one am eagerly anticipating a spectacular show of innovative, captivating works with a 'presence' that will send many away re-thinking what art is and can be.

Andrew Drummond room for Observation (detail) 2003. Mixed media. Reproduced courtesy of the artist. Photograph: Brendan Lee.

Andrew Drummond: Observation / Action /Reflections opens at ChristchurchArt Gallery on May 14 and runs through to September 5, 2010.

www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz

Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 91

"MIG-Fish bed"

Leading New Zealand printmaker, Barry Cleavin strikes again.

To see others in this series, click on Cleavin in the label line below.

One White Book

I love the look of this new publication put together by New Plymouth's Govett Brewster Gallery which celebrates the gallery's landmark exhibition by Peter Robinson in 2008. Peter Robinson: Snow Ball Blind Time - the exhibition, marked only the second time the Govett Brewster had given over its entire gallery space to one artist. Occupying the entire 574 square metres of the gallery, Robinson's show took 18 months to create. The only other time one artist has been commissioned to create a single work for the entire gallery was in 1970, when Leon Narbey's Real Time took command of the building. This new book - more than an exhibition catalogue - traces Robinson's exploration of materials and ideas through the eight major projects since his formative ACK installation at Artspace, Auckland in 2006, which was seen as a pivotal change of direction in his artmaking practice. Born in Ashburton, Canterbury in 1966, Robinson currently lives in Auckland, where he is Associate Professor at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. He has held residencies in Germany and Australia, represented New Zealand at the 2001 Venice Biennale and was awarded the prestigious 2008 Walters prize for outstanding contributions to contemporary art in New Zealand for his work at ACK. The above book is now available through bookstores throughout New Zealand. www.govettbrewster.com

StreetscapeNZ -80

The City Council Building on Tuam Street Christchurch 2008.Ajr

StreetscapeNZ - 79

Cashel Street, Christchurch

2009 Ajr

Cool Cars - 78

One Pale Blue Falcon 500 - Spotted in Woodend, Victoria, Australia.

A Christchurch Autumn

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons in Christchurch and just a few weeks into it, I already have more photographs of autumn leaves than is probably healthy. These are two I took with my new Nikon DSLR - a new toy that I am especially pleased with. It has the added bonus of being able to make even the weeds in my garden look good - a camera feature that should be compulsory across all brands.

Coffee in Centre Place

I'm back in the lanes again - Melbourne's lanes - and specifically Centre Place, which is one of the best of all the lanes for sitting around drinking coffee and taking photographs.

People gather here in their thousands every day.

I always try to arrive at lunch time because the place is packed.

It's not a long lane but it's narrow and both sides are home to 'back-to-back' cafes and sandwhich bars. You often have to wait for a seat as all the cafes are small - some are actually tiny - but it's always worth the wait.

On the other hand, you often get your best photographs by standing around outside. Centre Place is well known for the colourful graffiti that colours the walls in the dog-leg of the lane - and for its posters, its buskers and sightseers, and the constant stream of people taking it as a short cut through to one of the bigger streets. I come here often, so if you want to see more photos - it changes every time you visit - click on Centre Place in the label line below this post - or graffiti.

Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 90

"Haiku 2, 2010."

A follow-on from last week's first 'visual Haiku' by one of New Zealand's leading printmakers.

The Graffiti Crowd

Melbourne's Hosier Lane must be one of the most visited back alleys in Asutralasia. It's famous for its ever-changing display of graffiti. There isnt a surface that hasn't been touched by some enthusiastic graffiti artist - many who seem quite happy to 'scale the heights' to reach the most inaccessible places.

I wander there every time I visit Melbourne and this year, I hung about photographing the photographers. If you wait long enough, someone will always come along and make a twit of themselves for the sake of a take-home photo. I like that - not because I want photos of people looking stupid, but because it reinforces for me that there are vast numbers of people (like me), who find a fun and joyousness in good street art and graffiti, that is somehow liberating. Perhaps I'm just relating to the irrepressible spirit - of both the artists and the photographers/visitors - who want to 'break out of the societal mould' occasionally.

I'm all for that sort of freedom of expression.

I don't like being categorised; and I understand the motivation of people who want to decorate otherwise gloomy parts of an inner city.

I'm inspired by it and it sends me away smiling.

Surely that can't be a bad thing.

You'll find a ton of other graffiti shots on this blog if you click on the word graffiti in the label line below.

Sunday Lunch in Woodend

During my recent stay in Woodend, Victoria, about an hour north of Melbourne, I treated myself to the culinary delights of Maloa House in the main street - a sometimes cramped mix of cafe, deli, gourmet food and general gift store. It's like they couldn't decide what they wanted to be, so they didn't. But that doesn't actually matter in the end because the food is always delicious. Service can be patchy and from time to time you feel like a bit of a nuisance when you want to buy something and all the cafe/shop staff are trying to cope with the rush of weekend business, but I can even forgive that. Woodend itself, is a popular stop for Melburnians out on their weekend drives and the day I was there, munching through my artichoke and Parmesan rissotto cake followed by coffee and muffin, was no exception. A chummy Italian family from Carlton sat next to me and we swapped food notes in that amiable kind of way that fellow travellers often do.

Cool Cars - 77

One Cream 1965 Morris Oxford - Spotted in Geraldine, South Canterbury