Dr. Anne Kirker, who recently viewed the new works in Blair’s studio in San Pedro on the
edge of LA, says there are “…some departures to what is now the practice of an artist in her
prime…For this artist, like many others, creative expression is the summation of a maelstrom
of influences brought about by a change in living situation, which provides a new iconography,
but also memories…travel undertaken, encounters made, and all the sensations involved
in engaging with early 21st century life. The paintings coming out of the San Pedro studio
are hence predictably dynamic and challenging… There is a strong linear pulse to Blair’s
compositions nowadays as though the painted sweeps of squeegee, the fine lattice webs and
the spare spray-gun tracks, work as a dense journey. Whether single or in diptych form, these
canvases take you into a terrain that simultaneously evokes the senses, not only of sight but of
music and sound, of the crackle of electronics, or the brute force of industry piercing the air”.¹
Blair uses maps and grids as a motif in her work, which reflect landscapes and as she
explains: “it is a way to become acquainted with foreign lands”. In her new series these
map-like compositions reference an aerial viewpoint of urban landscapes, from the industrial
port town San Pedro, (the southern part of Los Angeles) “where the 110 freeway meets the
Pacific Ocean”. This is a new gritty working environment for Blair, perhaps tempered with
remembered snowcapped mountainscapes of New Zealand. One thing is certain this cacophony
of multiple urban influences and visual sensations are completely captivating in this emphatic
new series of work.

(1) Dr Anne Kirker, Auckland, April 2010 – Email to Warwick Henderson Gallery

The first comprehensive survey exhibition of this New Zealand sculptor who came to attention in the 1977 as part of the Christchurch Arts Festival, by re-enacting the crucifixion of St Andrew (itself a re-enactment of Christ’s crucifixion). He was naked. He was tied to a wooden cross. As Drummond later told Art New Zealand, “As much as anything else it made people think about the role of witnessing. It wasn’t nice. But then it wasn’t supposed to be.” Coca Gallery has never seen anything like it since.

Focusing on the period between 1980 and 2010, this chalenging exhibition explores Andrew Drummond’s diverse practice, which spans performance art, sculpture, installation, drawing, photography and technology.

Drummond is renowned for producing engaging and dynamic large-scale mixed-media works that explore themes relating to the land and the human body, machines and movement. The exhibition features a major new kinetic sculpture installed in the foyer. His historic influences are Len Lye, Marcel Duchamp and that artist shaman Joseph Beuys who traveled to the USA in the same cage as a coyote.

Drummond’s home and studio is a converted power station between Christchurch’s Heathcote River and the railway tracks – on their way to the port of Lyttelton. Drummond can turn a dirty , lump of coal into something meteoric.
Go and see for yourself this best show in ages.

What is the political role of the artist? What is our function? Why do we do what we do, and what do fellow artists and non-artists look for in our work? It would appear the National Government wants to fast track dams and water irrigation for intensive farming. Artists for save our water is a group of artists who make art to draw attention and initiate dialogue around water issues. Their latest exhibition is very timely as the Government has torpedoed its own flagship water reform group and done away with the role of Environment Canterbury in managing Canterbury water.

The Government legislation on water conservation orders passed under urgency has sent a torpedo into the Government-backed national forum working on water management reform.

The Government’s legislation to replace Environment Canterbury includes provisions that reduce the statutory protection of iconic rivers, opening them up for dams and irrigation use.

The water bodies immediately affected are the Rakaia, Rangitata and Ahuriri Rivers and Lakes Coleridge and Ellesmere, along with the application for protection of the Hurunui River, which was awaiting a hearing in the Environment Court.
“Changing the rules for water conservation orders was not needed to fix any problems at Environment Canterbury. This Bill was used as cover to smuggle in a change in the law equivalent to allowing mining in national parks,” Ecologic executive director Guy Salmon said.

He awa reo : rivertalk

‘We are a group of artists who got together to make an exhibition about the Waimakariri River. Canterbury water belongs to all of us. We love our rivers but their water is being sucked up into irrigators and our rivers are varnishing. This is a sad day for our rivers and us all .We are worried that our rivers are disappearing into central pivot irrigators and that Canterbury’s braided rivers are becoming toxic trickles. The over allocation of our river flows for irrigation results in poor water quality, low oxygen content, high bacterial counts, high turbidity and a substrate masked by mud and silt. Canterbury’s lowland rivers are polluted to the point where they are unsafe to swim in or drink from because of ongoing faecal contamination.This is the first time a private company Central Plains Water has been given the water rights that belong to us all” says artist Sally Hope

Water is a hot topic in Canterbury these days. Water has been called the “new gold” and right now there is a conflict between commercial exploitation of our water resources and the effects on our environment.
This is the second Artists for save our water project. This time at the Chamber Gallery, Rangiora comprising Mark Adams, Nigel Brown, Linda James, Sally Hope, Sam Mahon, Margaret Ryley, Ramonda Te Maiharoa, Irene Schroder, Becky Turrell, Ben Woollcombe and Jane Zusters. Sponsored by The Malvern Hills Protection Society and Alpine Jets in March 2009 these artists journeyed the Waimakariri River seeking to gain understanding of the effects of the proposed Central Plains.Water Irrigation Scheme and inspiration for this exhibition.

At the time the artists made this journey, it was proposed to build a giant earth dam and flood the Waianiwaniwa Valley. On October 30, 2009 Environment Canterbury gave Central Plains Water, a private company, consent to take water from the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers for irrigation on the Central Canterbury Plains. Waianiwaniwa Valley farmers are delighted that their valley will not be flooded but a private company still got the water rights. This eclectic group of artists celebrates the Waimakariri River through their art.

HOMAGE TO DON PEBBLES WHO DIED RECENTLY IN CHRISTCHURCH AT THE AGE OF 88. He was a great artist and a great human being in a world where seldom do the 2 things go together.

Reviewed by Jamie Hanton

Looking out Ramonda Te Maiharoa’s digital doors to the Waimakariri River and seeing the spectre of dairy farming beside the untouched scene undoubtedly prompts those with any interest in their land to begin re-evaluating their attitude to the precarious status of the region’s natural resources. The clear as crystal montage and the rest of the work in He awa reo gives a glimpse of a possible future and are a catalyst for questions to be asked of those in positions of power and of citizen bystanders.
‘Protest art’ carries a rather loose definition, as much for its range of media as its historically vast number of messages. Crucially, The River Talk Artists capture a number of voices and perceptions with an eclectic group show that comprises an array of disciplines. Work from Canterbury school children has also been included creating a truly representative show.

At its most successful, an exhibition of a dissenting nature can crystallise information and still remain impassioned. Better yet, they can provide a forum for voices that could potentially go unheard. The gurgling and rushing Waimakariri, while voluble, often goes unnoticed in the din of a debate. At times it needs those with oesophagi to speak for it. He awa reo amplifies the rumble of the river; with the hope that in the future the remark, “The people don’t even know it’s being given away” in Jane Zusters’ video work cannot be uttered.

Despite the range and variety of media there is a unified message and common thematic dichotomy running throughout the show, simply put, what we have now and what we will have should the Central Water Scheme go ahead. Linda James’ Waterfall series has its aesthetic roots in Van der Velden’s Otira Gorge works, as well as a geographical connection, the Waimakiriri begins its journey above the plains in the Otira Gorge.

It is a sign that attitudes to the primacy and beauty of water as a vital part of Aotearoa have persisted over the course a century. Though in place of Van der Velden’s romantic darkness is joyous illumination, sun cast across the scene. Sally Hope’s small oil canvasses also revel in the light, as flecks of dusky pinks and murky khaki are reflected in the river; a kaleidoscope of perspectives. Her series presents a collection of rivers emphasising the plurality of the river, its many different things to many people. At once a place of recreation, of beauty and a habitat to all manner of creatures. Sam Mahon’s George and Irene Mura Schroder’s Threatened Mudfish make the living connection explicit. The nationally endangered Canterbury Mudfish, whose habitats have been destroyed as waterways have disappeared, becomes a tangible symbol of what may be lost if the proposed scheme goes ahead.

With irrigation comes the threat of a withering river flow; diametrically opposed is Jane Zuster’s invigorating Watertalk in which blueness and all its connotations are celebrated, a symbol of purity, hydration but also deep melancholy.

Indeed, the thought of such deprivation is emotionally charged, Nigel Brown’s black singleted farmer is a portrait of conflicted sentiments as he stands in front of the land, looking away, arms folded in a practiced staunchness. Brown continues to successfully question and subvert long held symbols of kiwi-ness. The historic backbone of the New Zealand export market, farmers have in part the status of economically proclaimed guardians of the land, and potential executors of its Will. That their position in the debate is ultimately torn is spelled out in Brown’s We are water which states ‘if we abuse rivers, we abuse ourselves’ thus tying together the river’s life-giving properties and its living and thriving properties as a natural entity in and of itself.

Emphasising this point is Ben Woollcombe’s delicate watercolour Finding her way, Waimakiriri; an illustration of the will of the river, scything gracefully through the land. Irene Mura Schroder’s ceramic works capture a glorious wetness unusual for their medium, and the direct juxtaposition of Margaret Ryley’s Fragments of a river, a porcelain and stoneware work that exudes a more familiar arid texture, is striking.

Becky Turrell’s Path of Light stretches from one end of the gallery to another, a winding ochre track of vinyl that leads to Albert McCarthy’s Guardianship (Kaitiakitanga), which, in unison with Nigel Brown’s We Are Sorry invokes the roles and responsibilities the wider community has in protecting the land. Mark Adams’ moody composite photographic work of five views across the plains shows irrigation canals, but these artificial implements are dwarfed by the magnitude of their surroundings, yet there is an uneasy sense that such slashing will continue. However, there is a suggestion in the vastness of the scene that in this conflict there is not a singular path into the future, but options.

And this is the great success of He awa reo, through the high individual standards that the participating artists set for themselves the works collectively open the debate regarding the Central Water Plains Scheme to a larger audience, provoking viewers with works of great depth and clever aesthetic contrast.