Our feature exhibition of 2010.

"Man & Erosion" by Michael Smither and "Big Yellow Taxi" by Ian Hamlin

Find any significant cause for change or conservation and there will inevitably be an artist involved. ARTISTS AS ACTIVISTS will showcase the passion, energy and political creativity of some of New Zealand's most celebrated artists and their contribution in making a statement of belief. Curated by Academy President Ian Hamlin the exhibition will highlight some of the campaigns waged and sacrifices made while telling some stories along the way.

'Cemetery, Nevis Valley' by Grahame Sydney and 'Banks' by Sam Mahon

The Academy is proud to have as Guest Artists: Grahame Sydney, Sam Mahon, Brian Turner, Nick Dryden, Ian Hamlin, Michael Smither, Dean Buchanan, Jane Zusters and Don Binney.

 Hear us on the radio 'Arts on Sunday'

The exhibition also includes a number of other invited artists including Ewan McDougall, Michael O'Donnell, Rosemary Mortimer and Barry Thomas, the exhibition will also be open to works for selection relating to the theme...ARTISTS AS ACTIVISTS: ENVIRONMENT.

A number of the participating artists were involved in a panel discussion over coffee in the galleries on Saturday morning 21st August - around a hundred people were present to hear a dynamic discussion of the politics of environmental activism and how that is expressed creatively.

Sam Mahon answers questions during the discussion, with Bruce Luxford, Ian Hamlin, Mike O'Donnell, Nick Dryden and Grahame Sidney

"Ever since secondary school I’ve been making political art, although mostly I painted and sculpted just for myself in order to document the beautiful world in which I moved. It was only occasionally that I used images to try and change points of view. But the egalitarian world I grew up in where we would unhesitatingly step into the street to protest Vietnam, Apartheid and American hegemony are long past. We have since somehow slipped into a culture of acquiescence where our sense of social responsibility has been subsumed by individualism. My daughter wrote from America recently; ‘I look around me and everything seems broken.’ 

Art is no longer seen as a medium for change. Along with all other revolutionaries it has been captured, branded and turned into wallpaper. The dealers and city art galleries and the public art advisory groups do not ask any more what art has to say; they inform art just as a captain of industry informs the shop floor. It seems that the safest place for art these days is the street." - Sam Mahon

see a video featuring Grahame Sydney and Brian Turner discussing th greening of the Mckenzie Country here

blog.forestandbird.org.nz/greening-the-mckenzie/

 detail of 'Crown' by Jane Zusters and 'Dry Horrors' by Ewan McDougall 

Jane Zusters was born in Christchurch and has been exhibiting throughout New Zealand since 1975. Her recent work explores one of the central issues of our time namely that uneasy edge ecologically where natural worlds are threatened when human beings channel the whole eco system into themselves. Her video works juxtapose the manmade with the natural world often figuring birds and water. She is passionate about endangered New Zealand birds and water issues and co founded Artists for save our Water, which initiates art projects that draw attention to local water issues. Her short film for love of the Mackenzie Country  was used to introduce the Mackenzie Guardians submission objecting to the proposed 27,000 acres of intensive farming in this iconic dryland at the Upper Waitaki Hearing 9 December 2009. Her practice manifests itself in various forms including painting, photography, installation involving found objects and short continuously looped video pieces. 

River Wind

 
 
The wind may let us down
but it never fails. The wind
carries dark clouds
on its shoulders
and totters down
from the mountains.
 
And there comes a time
when all hills
are mountains. Now is the time.
If rain is to fall
let it fall gently
on the shoulders of the mountains,
and let it run quietly
and quickly
into the river
that feels the light in the sky
and prizes the light.
 
Instinctively
you know what the river is saying
without being told. You hear
what the river is singing
without knowing the words
to the song. You know where
the river is going
and that it doesn’t know
what you know, that it tempts you
to envy
and the feeling returns, and returns.

- Brian Turner

'Kelp Cow at Te Raekaihau Point' by Nick Dryden and 'Waitakere Waterfall' by Dean Buchanan

Nick Dryden will have several sculptures in the exhibition that were inspired by his passion for Wellington’s South Coast where he not only lives and works but has also been actively involved in a number of local environmental battles to preserve the natural character of the area he is so passionate about.  Among his pieces will be “The Saw” from his Windeaters series which he first exhibited on Te Raekaihau Point in 2003; a new kelp cow mounted on a piece of cork from the frigate that was unceremoniously dumped in the middle of the marine reserve on the south coast; and three marble reliefs of the terns returning to Te Raekaihau Point and which celebrate the decision by the Environment Court to revoke the resource consent for the aquarium that was going to be built there and which would have irrevocably changed this windswept headland. 

 'Huia 8 million years BC - 1963... conscience serving life' by Barry Thomas

Barry Thomas is an important Wellington based artist. His 1970s work has recently been included in 'Welington: A City for Sculpture" (Jenny Harper (ed.) and he has received a range of industry grants for his innovative RADS - short films inserted in free-to-air television advertisement space between programming. These works were endorsed by Creative New Zealand and selections have been shown in international fringe film festivals. Thomas is a committed community figure. His artistry is socially based. His works are not everyone's cup of tea, but Thomas's sensibility and his aspirations are driven for the greater good. Social and community based projects have been undertaken by Thomas in New Zealand, London and Manchester where he collaborates directly within underprivileged children, and those who face day to day difficulty. 

Sky          

If the sky knew half

 of what we’re doing

  down here 

it would be stricken,

   inconsolable,

 and we would have

nothing but rain

- Brian Turner

See selected works from the exhibition here

EXHIBITION SEASON: 21st August - 12th September