Rebirth of gallery at NorthTec to complement local arts

Rebirth of gallery at NorthTec to complement local arts scene

This coming Tuesday marks the start of a new era for the Geoff Wilson Gallery at NorthTec’s Raumanga Campus and the Northland Arts scene.

The spotlight on local artists begins with the works of ten graduates from NorthTec’s Visual Arts programme with Decade 2000-2010, an exhibition that will run from Wednesday, 16 November through until 26 November 10am to 4pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 2pm Saturday.

A diverse exhibition, it will feature graduate’s work across a number of different mediums that includes blown glass, painting, photography, large clay ceramics and installation works with Esther Tattersall, given the honour of being able to draw directly onto the wall of the gallery’s window space.
The other artists exhibiting are Amorangi Hikuroa, Wilson O’Halloran, Trish Clarke, Tane Matiu (with Trent Morgan), Steve Biggins, Heather Hunt, Megan Corbett, Evan Heasman and Megan Bowers.

The gallery is the centrepiece of the new Arts Centre now operating in place of the old Trade buildings at the Whangarei campus, which will be fully completed next year.

At 25 metres long and eight metres wide, the gallery has 200sqm of floor space and high ceilings with multiple spaces to allow for different types of work to be shown in appropriate settings, ranging from the small and intimate, to large scale sculptural work. The exterior is a distinctive black with glass walls at either end.

One room will also be dedicated to audio visual displays, which for the opening exhibition will feature Tane Matiu’s and Trent Morgan’s comment on social interaction in the digital age posing a series of questions relating to the importance of displaying art in a gallery.

Geoff Wilson Gallery Curator, Vaughan Gunson says the new gallery will be a space for NorthTec students and tutors to exhibit in, but that there would also be a programme to include Northland’s best artists.

He says the gallery will primarily be a space for people to visit, to see and experience and discuss the creative works on display that nicely complements the flourishing arts scene in and around Whangarei.

“As well as quality art, we want to be able to put together shows that talk about issues that relate to living in the 21st century. The great thing about galleries is that they can be spaces for facilitating dialogue,” he said.

ENDS