It's been another colourful year for Otago art. Nigel Benson looks back on 2008.
It's been a stellar year for art in Otago. And the Dunedin Public Art Gallery has again been the jewel in Dunedin's artistic crown.
The city is fortunate to have the gallery in the Octagon, where it has flourished since relocating from Logan Park.
It has brought world-class exhibitions to Dunedin in the past year, including Colin McCahon and Rita Angus retrospectives, and shows by visiting international artists such as American Spencer Finch.
Mary McFarlane's "Hikoi" exhibition of walking sticks and ghostly spiritual journeys and sculptor Peter Nicholls' 35-year retrospective "Journeywork" were also highlights.
Another was sculptor Hannah Kidd's April exhibition "The Locals" at Milford Gallery in Dunedin. Only a West Coast artist would use corrugated iron flattened out with a Land Rover.
Outsider artist Martin Thompson's painstaking pen works at the Brett McDowell Gallery and Ewan McDougall's retrospective at the Temple Gallery, "Hard out: Twenty years of painting", in July were also standouts.
The Otago Art Society has benefited from its move to the Dunedin Railway Station from the former Dunedin North Post Office, which has led to a stream of people flowing between the DPAG and "The Art Station".
The Dunedin Community Gallery on the fringe of the Octagon and the Blue Oyster Project Art Space in Moray Pl have also hosted some memorable exhibitions in the centre of the city.
It was a good year for local artists, too. A record 18 Otago finalists were selected for the annual Wallace Art Awards.
University of Otago 2008 Frances Hodgkins fellow Heather Straka won the second prize, the $20,000 Kaipara Foundation Award, with Repeat After Me. Amanda #2.
Meanwhile, in regional Otago, Gallery 33 in Wanaka, the Forrester Gallery in Oamaru, Nadene Milne Gallery in Arrowtown and the Milford and Toi O Tahuna galleries in Queenstown continued to mount interesting exhibitions.
Perhaps the only downside to the year is the impending closure of Salisbury House Gallery this Saturday. The gallery has contributed plenty to Dunedin in the past four years and will be missed.
Here are some art industry picks for 2008.
Art writer and curator Peter Entwisle
• Favourite exhibition: Colin McCahon (DPAG). "An obvious choice but also, expectedly, a knockout."
• Most impressive artist: Diana Smillie. "How does she sustain that intensity and beauty?"
• Favourite work: I Have You at the Throat of Your Beauty by Ben Webb. "Its distance, its gravity."
Artist Pauline Bellamy
• Favourite exhibitions: "The Great Outdoors" by Frank Gordon (Salisbury House Gallery) for "timeless expressions and subdued colouring"; and "Almost Tune" by Bronwyn Mohring (Renaissance Gallery) for "whimsical sculptures inspiring ancient memories".
• Most impressive artist: Manu Berry. "Going from strength to strength with his woodcuts."
• Favourite work: Peppermint and Incense by Jim Cooper. "A wild conglomerate of life."
Artist Steev Peyroux
• Favourite exhibition: "Life and Vision" by Rita Angus (DPAG). "I love how she lived and breathed art and how her whole being and beliefs are so infused in the work. Also, to have such an overview of an artist's life work is very rewarding and inspiring."
• Most impressive artist: Olav Nielsen. "A very impressive artist because of the dedication to the mastery of his craft."
• Favourite work: Rain Clearing by Inge Doesburg (one of my biggest influences). "When I saw it, I stuck an image of it in my workbook and wrote: 'I love the emotion, the light, the instinct for viewpoint, the feel she achieves.'"
Otago Polytechnic School of Art sculpture tutor Michele Beevors
• Favourite exhibition: "Octarchy" (Art school sculpture exhibition). "Proof that the sculpture department at the polytechnic is alive and kicking."
• Most impressive artist: Reuben Moss. "Most promising, intelligent and thoughtful work."
• Favourite work: Boy 3 by Scott Eady. "A heartbreaking work about the loss of innocence and war."
Michelle Chalklin-Sinclair, The Artist's Room, Dunedin
• Favourite exhibition: "Flourish" by Olav Nielsen (The Artist's Room). "It showed what an incredible artist he really is."
• Most impressive artists: Olav Nielsen, Leila Ataya, Steev Peyroux, Sam Foley, Donna Demente and Jane Crisp. "All exceptional artists who somehow manage to get the mix right. They are both light and dark, figuratively and literally, and all true to themselves."
• Favourite work: A long story about life by Leila Ataya.
Steve Higginson, Milford Gallery, Dunedin
Favourite exhibition: "Old/New/Borrowed/Blue" by Neil Dawson (Milford Gallery). "Dawson reinvented the blue-willow plate design through a process of smashing, reassembling, distortion, visual and spatial illusion at a grand scale."
• Most impressive artist: Niki Hastings-McFall. "An inspirational artist who has worked tirelessly on myriad art projects this year."
• Favourite work: Thief Arranges Still Life by Rebecca Harris. "This painting acknowledges the nationally treasured collection of war medals, awarded to 12 of New Zealand's most highly decorated servicemen, that were stolen and later recovered."
Richelle Byers, Gallery De Novo
• Favourite exhibition: "Witches of Leith Valley" by Ivan Hill (Gallery De Novo). "An impressive body of paintings from a year's worth of work from this 75-year-old artist."
• Most impressive artist: Mahiriki Tangaroa. "Each piece is beautifully executed and the artist provides powerful descriptions about each of her works."
• Favourite work: Behave by Weston Frizzell. "An incredibly clever artwork that is the collaboration of two young artists, Mike Weston and Otis Frizzell, under the brand name "Weston Frizzell".
Raewyn Paris, Anchorage Gallery, Port Chalmers
• Favourite Exhibition: Anna Reid (Anchorage Gallery). "Amazing first exhibition. Truly gifted."
• Most Impressive Artist: Ralph Hotere. "Always outstanding, internationally admired."
• Favourite Work: Studio Wall by Karen Davis. "Exquisitely executed, precise and with a local vision."
Victoria Duncan, Temple Gallery
• Favourite exhibition: "The Alumni" by Peter Stichbury (DPAG). "Peter has a lot to say about the emphasis we as a society place on physical beauty."
• Most impressive artist: Mary McFarlane. "An outstanding year for this local artist."
• Favourite works: Reuben Moss' installation at "Site" and Rhohanna Weaver's Knowing me, knowing you sculpture in the Temple Gallery Christmas exhibition.
