What's On in the Gallery

WHAT'S ON IN THE GALLERY.

Thistle Hall is a vibrant community venue in the heart of New Zealand's cultural capital. We provide a community hall, meeting room and Wellington's only community gallery showcasing a range of artists and crafts people, from the established to the emerging. Thistle Hall is located on the corner of Cuba and Arthur Streets. The shows on at Thistle Hall Community Gallery are run by the artists who hire it.

ON NOW

22-28 APRIL 2013
TRIUMF | TAMA McARDELL, BECKY BLISS, WILLI CAMPBELL

OPENING:
5.30 - 7.00pm Monday 22 April.
OPEN:
10.00am - 6.00pm Tuesday - Saturday
10.00am - 12noon Sunday.

triumf = Colour + Light + Palimpsest

When Newtown artist Becky Bliss squeezed in a full-time jewellery course on top of her day job as a successful graphic designer it "just about killed me", she says. "But it was a life-changer. After graduating in 2010 I was invited to join The Handshake Project, where I got to choose a jewellery hero as a mentor." Over several years Bliss maintained contact with her Italian mentor, Fabrizio Tridenti, via Skype and visits by both to each others countries. Tridenti helped her explore her interest in palimpsest – objects that reveal layers of memory of previous uses. Bliss will show palimpsest jewellery ranging from broaches to small wearable art objects constructed from recycled rubber, plaster, resin and paint.

Painter Tama McArdell initiated the exhibition to set himself a goal. "I felt I had only just come to grips with oils as I had always worked in watercolour and smaller works in the past." Previously the Ilam graduate had exhibited in cafes and emailed his work to friends and family to elicit feedback, selling some in the process. "Preparing works for an exhibition meant that, as I worked, I would be thinking how other people might see my paintings. It has given me a real focus."

McArdell describes his work as colour that expresses emotions relating to the people, and sometimes objects, he paints. "It's about using your eye to arrange things how you see them; everyone sees things differently." Willi Campbell works with a light box, playing with different focuses and coming up with layering effects that she records with her camera. Her latest recipe of ingredients to insert into her light box: mousetrap parts, a rubber shower head, camera pieces – and planets made from modelling material. Once positioned and photographed some have become like Moon or Mars-scapes that she populates with small human figures. An art teacher, Campbell recently built a studio and cut back her hours so she could devote more time to her own art projects. "I'm interested in working with light and exploring different spatial depths to stage simple scenarios."

The Handshake Project: www.handshakejewellery.com
Tama McArdell's blog: tamamcardell.blogspot.co.nz

UP NEXT

29 APRIL - 5 MAY 2013
MANA WAHINE / MANA WHENUA | ALISON WARU

Alison Waru
Painter

' As a woman of Maori descent I am able to draw on my whakapapa to translate the concept of mana wahine and mana whenua onto raw canvas and wood in a way that brings into focus on a subliminal level the language and nuances of Maori design'

Alison is a recent graduate of Toihoukura, Te Toi o Ngä Rangi BA MVA degree programme. She works as a full time painter, from her home in Kaiaua, Tolaga Bay, as well as being a farmer and mother. Alison works at flaxroots-level with her whänau, hapü and iwi. Alison represented Toi Hauiti at Mäori Art Market 2011, Porirua, Wellington; Pasifika Styles, based in the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, leading drop-in art activities exploring Mäori patterns and designs, their significance and meaning. She also featured as an artist of Toi Hauiti at the 2010 Pacific Arts Association Conference held in Rarotonga. Alison is currently working on several national commissions.

For more information see our website www.thistlehall.org.nz.

ENDS

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