Behind the scenes
NZ House & Garden contributors Barb Rogers and Juliet Nicholas have published Flourish: New Zealand Women and their Extraordinary Gardens. Barb explains:
We met: Covering gardens years ago and talked about doing a book when neither of us was quite so frantic with our day jobs. It took a few months of brainstorming: We’d been talking about the 125th anniversary of women winning the vote. And while comparing wish-lists of potential gardeners, women kept coming up trumps. What could be nicer than rattling around the country on the scent of fabulous gardens created by women? High point: That shiver of recognition when you meet a talented gardener who’s creating something unique. It was a joyful two-year road trip of discovery. See an extract from Flourish on page 116. In this issue we say goodbye to retiring arts columnist Warwick Brown. He hands the baton on to Kate Mullins, who has a BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts and is co-director of Seed Gallery.
Warwick says: When I started the art page six years ago my objective was to bring to public notice artists of merit who were not as well known as they should have been. Sixty artists later I think the project has been a success, and I hope readers of the magazine have benefited from the experience. We are so lucky to live in a country with such a depth of talent in the visual arts.
Kate says: I enjoy a wide range of art forms from the strange to the sublime and I can’t wait to share my choices with readers while satisfying my innate nosiness by delving into the lives of artists.