Art Month

4th September 2014

September was art month and we spent a great morning visiting 4 galleries in Tauranga. The art scene in the region is booming with a number of new spaces opening in recent years. 

We started at The Incubator based in the Historic Village. Housed in a large barn the community gallery comprises an exhibition space, artist studios and a communal area for gathering. With a vision to grow art and culture in the City and offer a platform for anyone with a great creative idea, they offer talks, exhibitions, workshops and so on. The exhibition on show was Invasion of the Poms and we met one of the two exhibiting artists – Angela Croft. Angela had produced a suite of digital woodcuts of the historic buildings at the village. Each bordered by arts and craft style drawing, the detailed prints were exquisite. We then took in a tour of the studios appreciating the sense of community that the gallery offers artists. 

Next stop was Zeus Gallery 106 11th avenue Tauranga which was opened two years ago by Elliot Mason. Elliot is the grandson of the original owners that set up the space 60 years ago - Harrison’s Gallery. Elliot presents a programme of Tauranga and Hamilton artists. On show was a selection of work by years 10 to 13 from Tauranga Girls College – very affordable. Elliot also had some of his established artists on show including Laurie Steer, whose work was recently purchased by Te Papa. Elliot himself is a painter and lover of our beautiful estuaries. His work often incorporates birdlife and water forms. In the same building as Zeus Gallery was Flux – where we enjoyed a cheeky coffee and browse of the gorg home wares.

Gallery 59 on Ninth Ave had on show a number of painted abstract works, particular favourites were large unframed canvases by Rotorua artist Kristian Lomath. Inspired by nature and social networks the paintings wove colour and movement into rich contemplative works. Gallery59 also offers framing and life drawing classes.

We finished up at the Tauranga Art Gallery on Wharf Street where the biennial Miles Art Award was on. Funded by the estate of deceased Tauranga artist Venetta Miles, the exhibition was a real showcase of artist talent in the Bay.  Presenting painting, moving image, pottery, sculpture, contemporary weaving and photography  - a diverse range of practices were on show. The winning work by Lea-Anne Sheather Tipping Point explored environmental concerns with exquisitely drawn creatures and bright pops of painted pink exploding on the paper. The gallery offers a great holiday art programme. Sonya also encouraged everyone to become a friend of the gallery and help support the acquisition of new works. Plus receive benefits such as invitations to openings, exclusive talks and studio visits and trips to other galleries.

We all finished the day inspired by the creativity in the Bay. Now how to translate this into gardens…?

Sonya