The Beach - Paper, Books & Baskets

The Beach - Paper, Books and Baskets.

December 22nd to Jan 30th 2023. 

Eight artists from around New Zealand and from The Hague have contributed to this exhibition. 

The central works are the concertina books that were originally created by Wendy Watson of Whanganui. Each book was worked in by Wendy and then passed on to another artist. The list of what to do’s with the book was basically ’do as the spirit moves and as you feel inspired” 

As a result we have 8 very diverse and amazing concertina books in the exhibition. 

The eight artists are:

Wendy Watson - Whanganui

Ildiko Vigh - The Hague

Toni Hartill - Auckland

Tanya Green - Mangaroa Valley

Jeanette Verster - New Plymouth

Julz Coffey - Whanganui

Francis Salole - Paekakariki and his stitching collaborator - Leslie McLean

Viv Davy - Ōpunakē. 

Although the concertina books are displayed in the gallery stretched out and standing right they fold down into a normal boo that can be read by turning the pages per usual, with the added benefit that some of them are two sided!!!. They are totally interactive. 

Other books in this exhibition have been provided by Lynn Taylor of Dunedin who created the beautifully bound limited edition Ōpunakē books - ready to record your journey or to gift to someone who has a love of rich, beautiful books. every time I look through one of these I find something I didn’t see before - magical. 

There are also a series of hand sized treasures created by Toni Hartill that speak to our love of this maritime and travel around our beautiful sea- bound islands of Aotearoa.

The gallery walls are displaying beautifully created summer at the beach type art works. It is fascinating to see how everyone holds the beachside as precious but how differently that value and love can be expressed by differing artists - endlessly interesting, just like our coastline and all the treasures it provides us. 

Enjoy