The story behind a painting.

Read the story behind this painting by Jenny Urquart. It illustrates Andrew Motion's poem 'Setting the Scene' but also commemorates the soldier from Oxford University who died or were wounded in the First World War.

Click on the image .

Latest News

Catch up

Finally trying to catch up on some news after our trip to Europe. So much art! We spent 6 hours in the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence as well as many other Galleries. La Sagrada Famillia in Barcelona was incredible. Almost every church we visited, large or small, held amazing work. The scale of the Forum in Rome was staggering as was the architectural achievements of the Colosseum and the Pantheon. I was pleased to see an old friend, the Leonardo cartoon in the National Gallery, London, but was unable to find the time to see so many other paintings I used to visit.

Hopefully you will have seen the campaign to bring Neil Dawson's sculpture 'Fanfare' back to Christchurch. It was a gift to Australia and was hung from Sydney Harbour Bridge for the Millennium. You can be part of this . Check out the links on the pictures to see how to become a fan.

On a more serious note. The current situation in Hong Kong has lead to a proliferation of artwork based on Umbrellas, the icon for this protest movement. 

Everywhere at works are springing up helping bring their message to people all around the world.

Our WAKA banners from the Big Printmaking Festival are now back at Heaton and are on display in the LRC.

Want to own an original artwork by a well known artist for $67. Go to St Andrew's College Friday 14th, Saturday 15th-Sun 16th November 10am-5pm.

check out 

http://www.muka.co.nz/gallery/artforyoungpeople.asp

LAST CHANCE TO SEE 

THE CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL OFFICE AND BALLANTYNES TEAROOMS EXHIBITIONS. 

They both finish this week 1st August.

Welcome to this site if you have been visiting either of these shows

 The Big Printmaking Festival Art Show

Christchurch City Council 

July 2014

Heaton Normal Intermediate School Printmaking Exhibition, The Tearooms, Ballantynes.

Big Printmaking Festival Art Show

Migration and Identity – An exhibition of student work from the

Canterbury Art Teachers’ Association Big Printmaking Festival, 2014

Back in August 2013, Canterbury Art Teachers applied to the Christchurch City Council Creative Communities Scheme for a grant to run a week long printmaking festival ending with a ‘giant printmaking happening’ on the street in the CBD. An occasion, it was speculated, that would uplift, entertain, educate and involve Cantabrians in a visual spectacle of relief printmaking on a ‘super scale’. The theme, we postulated, would be Migration and Identity in the CBD!

At the beginning of October, we learned that our application had been successful and we set to work, with the help of the Council, finding a suitable central location for the main event in what seemed to be an ever changing and challenging CBD environment. The vacant expanse where buildings once stood, at the intersection of Cashel and High Streets, offered a stunning visual backdrop of deconstruction and construction in the heart of an earthquake battered but resilient city. But could the weather, in May, be relied on for the outdoor printing of large woodblocks using an industrial road roller? We held our collective breath…

To support the main event, and with the help of CPIT, Hagley Community College Art Department and the Council, we planned a series of inspiring artist talks, trade displays and supporting exhibitions, focused on printmaking, from May to July 2014.

INSPIRE DAY on Sunday 18 May, featuring Jason Greig, Bianca Van Leeuwen, Sandra Thomson, Michael Reed, Gayle Forster, Sam Harrison, Kate Rivers, Ken Cartwright, Susie Cox and Lizzie Moyle, attracted a large number of enthusiasts. CATA will have videos of artists talks and Jason Greig’s superb monoprint demonstration available online soon for the wider community to access as a resource.

CPIT’s phenomenal exhibition, thINK, showcased International, NZ and student printmaking and was a must see show! Grant Banbury and Micheal Reed spoke of the powerful voice of the printmaking tradition be that personal or political.  

INSPIRED TO PRINT was an exhibition held at Christchurch South Library, Colombo Street showing Canterbury student printmaking from a variety of Primary, Intermediate and Secondary Schools. The show demonstrated printmaking is flourishing in our community.

South Library Show

South Library SHow

BPF Road Roller Day dawned clear and fine on Sunday 25 May. During the morning artists and many students from Canterbury schools inked their large scale works. Participants could clearly view a huge building being demolished two blocks away. There was a great sense of collective involvement and energy. Unfortunately the event was forced to close after lunch due to severe winds. Participants and bystanders were able to check out the SCAPE Stencil Art Project in Cashel Mall near the Bridge of Remembrance. The final printing of woodblocks was achieved through the use of a road roller (thanks to Komatsu and Contract Consulting) and the use of a very large printmaking press (thanks to Little River artist Josh Bashford).

As the photographs from our BPF Road Roller Day show, our CBD is certainly not what it was; it is now a very open, much flatter environment, but it is still a place full of rich and vibrant Art. Many works are permanent but others are temporary or being hidden by new buildings.

The work on these walls, from schools across Christchurch, shows even as people, institutions and amenities migrate and put down tentative new roots, the spirit of Cantabrians, both new and old, is resilient and our identity richly diverse.

We would like to thank the superb group of passionate and dedicated people who made the Big Printmaking Festival happen. Sue Pearce, Rachel Goldstein, Karen Lange, Fiona Taylor, Gayle Forster, Anton Mogridge, Fiona Van Oyen and Robyn Webster.

Lisa Ponweiser (CATA )Secretary and Kate Rivers

Click on image above to see the show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reQJxyeZIAs

Christchurch City Council Show preparation and opening.

Music by kind permission of Helen Webby.

The theme for this show was MIGRATION AND IDENTITY

Included in the show are 7 waka prints

 These large woodcuts, by Rangi Ruru Girls’ School, Breens School, Heaton Normal Intermediate School and a combined schools group ( Beckenham School, Christchurch South Intermediate School, Thorrington School and Cashmere Primary) form a small fleet

of Waka.

The one of the artists working on the Rangi Ruru Girls' School waka was Abi Hone. A candle , poems and a photo of her form part of the exhibition in her memory.

Waka iconography.

The imagery explores the theme of Migration and Identity, and includes personal cargo that the students, or their

ancestors, might choose to pack on their journey to a new home, be that within New Zealand or from another county.

A number of students were born overseas and many have also had to cope with packing and moving within Canterbury

as a result of the earthquakes. In each case choices have to be made as to what to pack and, and indeed what to leave

behind.

Our packing inventories included:-

Cultural items - that reminded us of our cultural roots, where we come from, who we belong to.

Useful items - the tools of our trades, technology, etc.

Sentimental/Special items - e.g. the teddy bear given by a grandparent, a favourite piece of music or jewllery

Spiritual items - of religious or spiritual significance.

We also looked at the Canterbury Museum Collection and have included some pieces from there.

In one print you may see a Christening Gown; in another a mug, that one imagines would have been given to someone

as they

emigrated from England, on which is written ‘ When this you see remember me though many leagues we distant be’.

These works, and prints from other schools, also on this theme, were printed by a Road Roller as part of our

Big print Festival.

We are very grateful to these sponsors for their support of the festival.

                              

Heaton Normal Intermediate School 

Ballantynes Tearooms Show

Road Roller Printing Day

Road Roller Printing Day

25th May 2014

Christchurch 

The Big Printmaking Festival

This movie works best set to Queen and David Bowie's 'Under Pressure', unfortunately not able to uplaod a copyright tune so you will just have to turn the sound down on the track that is substituted for Under Pressure and sing along. If you sing at the right speed the words should work with the roller clip!

What an amaazing day. Unfortunately curtailed by high winds. Bizarre setting , traces of Beirut, with half demolished buildings in the background. Shops still as they were on the day of the February Earthquake. Yet, there we were , young people and teachers 
re-purposing a road roller , a common sight in Christchurch, and using it to inspire and create. One would have thought that 'The Press' and other media would have recognised the significance of this event, but no!

The Real Art Roadshow

Yipee, The Real Art Roadshow has arrived.

Lots of excitement at school.

INSPIRED 

TO PRINT

south

christchurch library

19th May - 6th June

A selection of works in print by pupils from:- Rangi Ruru Girls’ School,

Christchurch South Intermediate, Cashmere High School,

Ashburton College, St Patrick’s School, St Joseph’s School,

Heaton Normal Intermediate School and Breens Intermediate School

This exhibition is part of the Big Print Printmaking Festival 2014

With Sophie and our stencils

Sophie with her stencil and Richie McCaw's.
Unfortunately Richie couldn't be there so
Sophie sprayed his for him.

Just finished spraying our stencils

Ellie and logan interviewing Sophie

On the 20^th of May Art Extension ventured off to the Re-start mall in Christchurch to spray the stencils we made of our faces with SCAPE.

SCAPE is an organization that supports and creates art for Christchurch. Josie Whelan, a teacher who works for SCAPE, came to Heaton to teach us how to make stencils. She took us through several stages, including taking pop art photos of ourselves, then laminating and cutting them out. The laminated stencils were then ready to be sprayed in black spray paint onto the Re-Start Mall walls.

We arrived at the Re-Start Mall with our stencils and spray paint cans in hand. Not soon after we had stuck our stencils to the wall a crowd gathered to see us spray our ‘legal’ stencils. Several newspaper reporters and TV people watched as we began to spray.

Sophie Pascoe, a Christchurch born Paralympian swimmer with many gold medals, came along to spray the stencil that she made of herself as well as Richie McCaw’s stencil.

After she had finished spraying her stencil she said “This is better than expected”.

We then went on to ask Sophie who her childhood idols were. She replied “My mum, because she stuck with me and was just like a best friend”. We also asked her why she chose swimming, she said, “I was good at it so I stuck with it, also at the time there weren’t many opportunities for children of my age.

We were then filmed and interviewed by CTV. Other members of Art Extension were also asked some questions by the Christchurch Star and The Press newspapers.

Finally Art extension would like to thank the efforts and help of Josie Whelan, Sophie Pascoe, Vicky Edwards – Brown and the fabulous Mrs Taylor.

Ellie Leigh-Thompson and Logan Cooper – Kākano Mano Visual Art