Calling All Dreamers

Outpost Hokianga

12th December to 3rd February

Opening Saturday 12th December 2pm

Hokianga is well known for its art community and for attracting artists to work and exhibit on its shores. From a tiny blue shack on the harbour’s southern most coastline, the art-show scene has grown exponentially over the last decade. Art lovers today will find five very different fine art galleries and five distinctly arty shops in the historic settlements of Rawene and Kohukohu. Well connected by a short ferry ride and with good coffee available on both sides of the harbour, the summer’s eclectic shows make for a very enjoyable day out.

Featuring the work of Panguru carver John Morunga plus a curated selection of works by artists and artisans, known and unknown, from near and afar.

‘Dreaming is considered a sacred activity in some societies, and a visionary roadmap for achievement in others. This show celebrates the vital role dreamers play in our culture. Our dreams are the poetry by which we transform the reality of our existence.’ says Lise Strathdee, curator, ‘The response has been truly phenomenal. We will be exhibiting thought provoking fine art and sculpture alongside beautifully hand crafted objects and fabrics. So is it a shop? Or is it an art gallery? You decide! All I will say is that it’s my own Outpost dream come true.’

Scheduled to open at 2pm on Saturday, 12th December, Kohukohu will be a hive of activity from 10am with live music and games on the green, a visit from Santa and a morning market in the Town Hall.

‘calling all dreamers’ is a collaborative showcase between Outpost Hokianga and Village Arts Gallery and will be open everyday except Christmas Day, from 10 am to 4pm. It runs until 3rd of February.

de-Construct

Jane Molloy-Wolt

7th November to 4th December 2015

Opening Saturday 7th November 2pm

Village Arts is proud to present Jane Molloy-Wolt’s new exhibition.

A personal experience of the Canterbury earthquake has led artist Jane Molloy-Wolt to four years of intense creativity, producing a body of work that addresses and exposes the transient nature of post-quake Christchurch and its unstable political and social environment. Her work is an ongoing commentary of removal and rebuilding within an empty landscape.

Boxed

An Exploration of Contained Space

3rd October to 5th November 2015

Village Arts Gallery in Kohukohu is celebrating 10 years of supporting and promoting visual arts in Northland with their anniversary exhibition Boxed – an exploration of contained space.

Artists have chosen themselves for this exhibition by claiming a 20x20x10cm wooden box which they have worked in their own way according to their art practise. Themed exhibitions like these are often hugely intriguing because of the wildly differing transformations of the same object by various artists.

Village Arts extends a warm welcome to all to the opening or to visit the exhibition anytime until it closes 5th November.

From its beginnings in 2005 as an art and craft venture in a somewhat dilapidated shop, Village Arts is now a white wall gallery, one of its operating principles being placing emphasis on hanging each artwork so that its visual language can be read without distraction.

While Village Arts is grateful for a small amount of funding received for a small number of projects, it is largely the the passion of its team of volunteer trustees and gallery assistants which keep the standard of this gallery so high.

In 10 years Village Arts has staged over one hundred gallery, group or solo artist organised exhibitions and showcase exhibitions. It has also been the venue for four annual Outpost Hokianga summer pop up shops, several film showings and book launches, and numerous artist talks.

Trade Axes

Robert Pinkney and Michael Matchitt

13 June – 23 July 2015

Traditional Trade Axes brought to Life

Blacksmith Robert Pinkney and carver Michael Matchitt have combined their talents to produce a series of ‘Trade Axes’ similar to ones used as exchange goods between Pakeha and Maori during earliest European contact in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Captain Cook is believed to have traded axe-heads with Maori and successive arrivals of explorers, whalers, early settlers and missionaries increasingly brought hafted axes specially manufactured for the purpose of trade. Prized both as implements and later as weapons Maori decoratively carved the handles to personalize them.

Rob Pinkney, a trained blacksmith who was born and raised in Kohukohu, Hokianga, has based his six axe-heads on trade axes that were mass produced in Europe. Five are English styles with curved blades and one a French design with straighter cutting edge.
They are forged in a coal fire from raw iron and left in their ‘just forged’ state, a technique called a ‘folding axe’, an early method of using iron and folding fire-welded steel into the blade to toughen the sharpened edge.

The axe-heads created by Rob come to life when combined with wooden handles fashioned by Michael, each a hand-carved contemporary artwork blending traditional surface patterns and using materials available to early Maori. Michael explores handle shapes other than customary straight ones, his paatiti (short handled axe) and kakauroa (long handled) being a little longer than traditional trade axes. Michael uses Hongoeka (Lancewood) and Jarrah to enhance the heads forged by Rob.

Michael, who comes from a long line of traditional Maori carvers, trained at Te Puia (NZ Maori Arts and Craft Institute) and has taught traditional carving in schools around the country, is always interested in creative collaboration.

Working together as Maori and Pakeha, each in their traditional role, Michael Matchitt and Rob Pinkney aim to highlight the positive relationship of our cultures in Aotearoa/New Zealand and also salute an important implement in early Pakeha-Maori interactions, the Trade Axe.

The inaugural exhibition of these Trade Axes in Village Arts gallery Kohukohu, Rob’s ‘home gallery’, is from 13 June – 23 July, the perfect compliment to Jennifer Ashton’s talk “At the Margin of Empire” about pioneer timber trader John Webster, happening at 2pm Saturday 13 June.

At the Margin of Empire

A talk by biographer Jennifer Ashton
on John Webster and the Hokianga 1842 – 1900

2pm Saturday 13 June 2015

Village Arts gallery Kohukohu, Hokianga – in association with Auckland University Press
Please RSVP to gallery@villagearts.co.nz or ph: (09) 405 5827

Jennifer Ashton’s book “At the Margin of Empire” is for sale at Village Arts.

Ashton, who graduated from the University of Auckland history department with a PhD in 2012, uses the life of John Webster as a unique lens through which to view the early history of New Zealand.

An intimate and revealing account of life at this time, Ashton’s biography explores the wider transformation of relationships between Māori and Pākehā during the nineteenth century. Described as “a fascinating portrait of both man and milieu” by Paul Little in North & South, the book has received numerous favourable reviews.

Food and refreshments are available right next door at Koke Hotel/Cafe.
We look forward to seeing you here on the day.