It's been a while since the last blog post. We've been pretty busy presenting a really exciting programme in the last few months!  Aotearoa Digital Arts Symposium, Forsyth Barr - Pushing Clay Uphill,  Kō Te Akau and Kei Hea a Tiki? were real highlights! 

This  was a multiple venue event held in Whakatū/ Nelson & elsewhere online. The collaboration between Aotearoa Digital Arts (ADA) network, Refinery ArtSpace and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) saw an international and multidisciplinary gathering engage across the expanded field of digital media practice and how it interfaces with social and civic activity.
Contemporary media have been continuously shaped by the indeterminate infrastructures they rely upon, with creative practice resonating with or intervening in these often ambiguous architectures. The theme aimed to examine what lies beyond these infrastructures and exploring how creative media and art practices unfold into wider ecologies of media and materialities within digital networks
As well as a stimulating programme of presentations, panels and exhibited works by an array of emerging through to established artists from Aotearoa and beyond. The public were also invited to enjoy a programme that included exhibitions, a large outdoor projection event, GeoSpatial AR and other creative interventions across the Nelson urban landscape and environments.

.Refinery ArtSpace's offerings and how we interpreted the theme. .. 

Max McAlpine delighted passersby with his Air Piano work.

Thanks to Forsyth Barr Investment Services Nelson Branch Contemporary Ceramics. Arts Council Nelson was able to offer a generous and life changing award of $8000. We saw entrants from throughout Aotearoa and thirty three dynamic and exciting pieces were selected as finalists. Elise Johnston took out the main prize and has plans to extend her workspace. Owen Bartlett, John Parker and Dave Marshall received Prizes of Merit. Thank you to Mavis and Osborn they went home with a gorgeous bespoke potters apron and Nelson City Council generously donated a shared prize of $1000. For a catalogue, a video walk through of the exhibition and awards announcements head to http://www.acn.org.nz/pushing-clay-uphill.html. Jason Oldfield has captured some fabulous video footage. 

PHOTO CREDIT: JASON OLDFIELD

Klaasz Breukel (Photo Credit) and Chandra Tandukar from Uniquely have put together this 360 degree walkthrough of the exhibition. 

KEI HEA A TIKI? WHERE IS TIKI? KIM IRELAND

Photo Credit: Melissa Banks

The energy of Te Ākau (The space in between) resonates still in Whakatū. Created by Charles Koroneho for Te Toki Haruru and in collaboration with Filament Eleven 11. The performers were Charles Koroneho, Rosie Te Rauawhea Belvie, Victoria Hunt, Eddie Elliott, Samara Davis, Natasha Kanapé and Chris Graham. The work challenged, inspired provoked and astounded an audience that stayed (sometimes for hours), and returned (sometimes several times). 
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The introspection and focus that Koroneho embodies and inspires in his collaborators to explore the Ākau of the inner and outer, personal and relational, present and ancestral is remarkable. A tension is manifest and held and then dissipated and transformed. Originally scheduled for 2021, I want to acknowledge the fortitude, exploration and experimentation that has inevitable deepened and evolved the work. 

The project referenced the collaborative works of artists Ralph Hotere and Bill Culbert and serves as the inspiration for exploring the poetics of Te Ākau, the space where the ocean meets the land, where the horizon connects land, water and sky.

The kaupapa of Ko Te Ākau is best served by ‘Mātiro Whakamua’ with a gaze firmly fixed on the horizon. The project is aesthetically futuristic and abstract, a vehicle for the past, present and future, performed by the living ancestral body of the artists.

In this shared space, performances journey us through remembrance, acknowledgement, and aspiration. The hope of a poetic land, water and sky is the horizon carried by the kaupapa, where the optimism and guidance of a human being in ceremonial performance places our imagination amongst the cosmos.

Unlike anything else, this is an exhibition, a performance, a gathering, a virtual experience, and a sharing. Charles, Tony, Natasha and Chris shared some insights during an artist talk which was recorded and will be released soon. We are very much looking forward to sharing that with you.  I will watch with keen interest the evolution of this work.

A deep gratitude to Lydia and the team at Nelson Arts Festival and to Charles and his team for holding their gains to deliver a brave and stimulating programme. Can't wait to see how you are going to follow this! 

Congratulations to Ainē and the team at the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum and all of the young artists who contributed to this vibrant and important exhibition. 

The exhibition is open and looking stunning. The quality and innovation of the work this year from practitioners throughout Aotearoa is at another level.  Lynn Taylor and Gillian Saunders our guest judges brought their wealth of experience in fibre and textile to to assist long time judge Ronnie Martin (Creative Director) in selecting some worthy award winners. It was a treat to host you both at Refinery ArtSpace and for you to share your perspective with us. Arts Council are very proud to have presented this award for the last 13 years.We were very fortunate to still have had an opening albeit a pared back preview for sponsors, artists and their families.  Come and support the exceptional mahi of this group of textile and fibre practitioners. 

 In his 1947 manifesto, French artist and curator Jean Dubuffet described the term art brut (Raw Art) as follows: "We understand by this term works produced by persons unscathed by artistic culture, where mimicry plays little or no part (contrary to the activities of intellectuals). These artists derive everything...from their own depths, and not from the conventions of classical or fashionable art."

​'Raw 22 - Work outside the edge' has been a fabulous exhibition featuring work created by people from around the country who have no formal or traditional art training with expressions of  individuality and inventiveness that are ‘Raw’ and uncooked by cultural and artistic influences.

We would like to thank all of the all of the artists from around Aotearoa who submitted work. A special thanks also go out to the arts access studios Kapiti Art Studio, The White Room, Community Art Works, Magenta Art Space, and WestREAP for the outstanding work that they do for our creative communities. 

Participating artists (no particular order):

Diane Brand, Sara Brown, Rex Bennet, Erin Coleman, Tamzin Hine, Sophie, Jim Alley, Paul Healy, Chrissy Taylor, Ken Ruffell,Christian Martin, Akanksha Kargwal, Shashini Weerakoon, Evon Ashoka Silva, Caitlyn Bloomfield, Julia Holden, Christine Cameron Holland, Paula Lister, Jayden Munsey, Lucia Zuniga Caceres, Susanne Williamson, Wendy Rutledge, Peter Quayle, Edward Hoffman, Kan Koon, Nathan Wilson, Stacey Menzies, EIK NOS, Gaelynne Pound, Kate Cornwall, Oscar Porter, George Smeaton, Francie Heathfield, Phil Sigglekow, Debbie Holland, Amrit Kaur, Samantha Allen, Jessie Macaw, Andrea Monds, Judi Trompetter, Mathew Nordberg, Marina McPherson, Aramoana du Feu, Leanna Brown, Anna McCarthy, Chris McFarlane, Graham Adams, Gary Buchanan, Darren Dawson, Virginia Fowler, Kayla Hood, Neville Shapcott, Billy Gargett, Rachael Ward, Andrius Kilgour, Mark Lewis, Lianne Murphy, Karolina Serrano Paton, Philips Eberlein, Jean Guile,Donna Hunt, Janine Neville, Jo Jago, Michael Taylor, Isaac Tait, Dennis Kepa, Francesca Marmi, Gabrielle Ashdown, Bevan Dick, Christine, Dorothea Shireman, Charlotte Turner, Erena Wylie, John Jensen, Claire Hargreaves, Lauchau, Grace Alexander, Fonda Griffith, Chrissy Taylor, Melissa Barret, Kerry Callaghan, Robbie McManaway, Lorraine Keely, Rick Allender and Sebastian Crow

Looking further into the future...
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RAW 22. Work Outside the Edge 22nd February - 19th March. An Arts Council Nelson initiative showcasing work created by people from around the country who have no formal or traditional art training that express individuality and inventiveness that are ‘RAW’ – uncooked by cultural and artistic influences. Go to the RAW 22 page on our website for entry details. http://www.acn.org.nz/raw-22.html

Changing Threads​ Contemporary Fibre Textile Award 25th Mar - 23rd April
The search is again on for original work from artists stretching the boundaries of fibre and textiles. Arts Council Nelson invite entries until the closing date of February 23rd 2022. Check our page http://www.acn.org.nz/changing-threads.html for entry details and further announcements about our judges and  major prizes. 

We had to say goodbye to Dii Moffatt and her sumptuous exhibition, New Forms but not before we were treated to some insight from back to back artist talks by and her and Linda Dimitrievska this week. Linda Dimitrievksa's The Cloud of Unknowing is in place until 13th December.

​Patrick Malone brings his first solo show for several year's to the Refinery, The Brightness is Beautiful is a comment on his reaction to the light in his new home in the Nelson Lakes district. We were gratefully able to celebrate the opening of his return to exhibition on Monday night.

Taarn Scott brings her series of Nelson Coastline panels in Outlining/Shifting Channels. This is a series that explores drawing with 'a greater physical presence. Through a process beginning with woodcuts carved into reclaimed doors, these pieces exist on the intersection between traditional print making and sketching. Mapping the Nelson coastline, these works are pencil rubbings taken from original wood carvings, which can also be seen in the space.'

The Brightness is Beautiful and  Outlining/Shifting Channels are in place until 22nd January.