A Slice of Life: Stories About the Truck

1960 – 2010

a community project

Exhibition dates [Extended] 4th May – 24th June 2013

CURATOR’S STATEMENT

The story of the exhibition began in 2011 when the Depot Art Space in Devonport began a series of events called ‘Cultural Mapping.’….mapping our cultural genealogy, and asked us if we would like to participate.

The truck began its Hokianga career as a JG Richmond’s vehicle and has been part of this community in a historic, cultural and visual sense for nearly 60 years. It arrived in the Hokianga after WWII and departed in 2013.

The aim of this exhibition was to use the truck as a focus to uncover our social and cultural connections and to give them a visual focus. This truck has been photographed, documented, written about and published nationwide and the stories that go with this are what connects this community to each other and the rest of NZ. Stories are what make us who we are; they are the link between the past and the future.

I would like to acknowledge everyone who participated in this project…those who told their stories, those who gave us art works, those who loaned us all the props. My thanks to my fellow Trustees for having faith in me and giving me their total support.

My thanks to FNDC Creative Communities for the funding they gave us to make this exhibition possible.

I would like to finish with a quote from the great NZ historian, Michael King.

“If we want to remain NZ’ers, feel like NZ’ers, and to present ourselves to the greater world as NZ’ers, then we must be able to listen to our own voices and trace our own footsteps”

Curator: Marg Morrow

View report and photos at the Northern Advocate

Video courtesy of Yuko Guest

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Rust in peace

by Tony Watkins

We are our stories. They define us and bring us into existence. They make us who we are. If we live life to the full, and tell our story well, comedy will meet tragedy and pathos will give way to triumph. People are endlessly interesting. Through crafting and mediating our stories we also discover who we are. As we reveal ourselves to others, inspiring or encouraging them, our story becomes woven into the great communal story. In the beginning was the word. Continue reading “A Slice of Life”

Flying Blind

Beverley Cox, Rachel Miller and Marian Smale

EXTENDED: Exhibition dates 2nd March – 4th April 2013

Village Arts invites you to our exhibition ‘Flying Blind’.
Artists Beverley Cox, Rachel Miller and Marian Smale present an eclectic mix of painting, drawing, clothing and 3D.

DIY Design

Outpost Hokianga

Lise Strathdee

Open from 15th December 2012 to 31st January 2013

D.I.Y. Design celebrates independent makers – from near and far – who tenaciously follow through their ideas to realization. Whether for love, for money or both, D.I.Y.’ers are optimists; bricoleurs who like to keep their minds and hands busy, certain that all will work out well in the end.

Taking inspiration from building sites, workshops and artisan studios, the design for Outpost Hokianga’s Pop-up Shop D.I.Y. Design transforms Village Arts Gallery into an active transitory space of work in progress where – whether chaotic or tidy – the tools of the trade, finished pieces and potential ones all inhabit the space with equal candor.

Lise Strathdee Nov.2012

For further information and updates, please visit OutpostHokianga.com

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Village Arts Trustees’ Exhibition

Philip Evans, John Wigglesworth, Marg Morrow,
Lindsay Antrobus Evans & Wally Hicks

Open from 3rd November to 12th December 2012

Touch – David Knight

Open from Saturday 6th October to Thursday 1st November 2012

“Touch ~ A Ceramic Affair”, is an exhibition by ceramic artist David Knight.

Using clay as the medium, David finds the very malleable and tactile nature of the material a catalyst for his ideas to materialise into 3-dimensional forms. The sensation of touch evokes memories and experiences. the curiosity and playfulness of exploration and discovery is found within us all.

“I liken it to hearing familiar songs being played. They transport us to very specific moments in time, like childhood memories of playing in the mud and building sand-castles down at the beach.”

What begins in these moments emanates from within, gathering momentum, finally emerging through the fingertips connecting with the earth. A narrative recommences.

With this exhibition David invites the audience to be more than just a viewer. He is interested in the interaction between the audience and the work. A familiar game of ‘Noughts & Crosses’ is to be played, surfaces to be caressed and vessels to be embraced.

Touch enriches the soul…