Art as a reflection of life’s journey
An upcoming exhibition at Palmerston North’s Square Edge Gallery is a collaboration between friends, one that has helped them come to terms with life’s beginnings and also with its endings.
Rise. Rinse. Rest. Repeat: A Cycle of the Organic is a joint exhibition between Eris Newson and Brenda Manu. The pair have been friends for years and had talked about having an exhibition together. When Manu found out she had terminal cancer last year, time became more pertinent.
‘‘When I got my diagnosis, I retired from work and I stuck my head down into my art studio and I went mad. When I finished the last painting I just thought ‘I’m done’ and then I took a step back and realised I had really done quite a bit of work. Just painting, painting constantly for the last 10 months.’’
Newson said it was phenomenal what her friend had done. Newson is pregnant with her first child and said she was the repeat part of the exhibition.
‘‘It’s all about embracing the beginning and the end.’’
Newson said they were ambitious and booked out the whole of the Square Edge Gallery.
‘‘I got morning sickness and puttered out a bit but Brenda has been prolific, thank goodness.’’
Both artists said they painted quite organically and painted what they saw and liked. Manu used to work as a photographic colourist and has a love of colour, while Newson paints more from dreams. ‘‘Bird’s nests and roots of trees come through. In dreams the roots of trees are very structural, they are a very sound structure and it’s about family and spirit and soul and things like that. Which is quite ironic, I did start that before I was pregnant.’’
Manu said the exhibition was her living out a dream of being an artist and that her family were supportive and proud.
‘‘Its been fantastic doing this, it’s been really good for me. When I left work, I thought ‘what am I going to do with myself?’ I had so much time and no structure and I felf quite isolated. The doctors didn’t give me much time, so I just got stuck in.’’
Rise. Rinse. Rest. Repeat: A Cycle of the Organic: Works by Eris Newson and Brenda Manu opens at Square Edge Community Gallery tonight, September 18, and runs till October 13.