Three shows for Taupo¯ museum
There’s plenty on at the Taupo¯ Museum over the summer season, with three exhibitions planned.
The Museum’s current exhibition is On the Road Again, where photography meets painting as photographer Helmut Hirler teams up with painters Sally Maguire and Gary Waldrom until January 14, 2019.
The exhibition is described as a scenic road-trip, with visions of what we might see on the road as we travel across New Zealand.
■ Helmut Hirler is a Germanborn photographer who has travelled the globe capturing elements of light undetectable by the human eye through infrared photography.
Where traditional photography deals with the visible light spectrum, Hirler’s landscapes are captured using film sensitive to the infrared spectrum. The dreamy black and white images, infusing familiar landscapes with sublime lighting traits, have earned him international repute.
Hirler has travelled the globe to build up an image library of landscape studies and since 2009 has lived and worked in New Zealand.
He has a list of at least 50 exhibitions, 27 published books and calendars and more than 50 international and overseas awards.
■ Sally Maguire always painted for fun, but about 20 years ago she decided to dedicate herself to it fulltime.
“At first I thought, ‘Oh what do I think I’m doing?’ But when I sold my first painting for $50 I was beside myself with excitement. For me, painting is like meditating. I can’t sit still for a minute, but having a paintbrush in my hand calms my mind. At the moment my favourite subject is clouds or scarecrows, but actually my biggest passion is portraits and while they don’t sell so well, if I could just paint portraits of children that’s what I’d do.”
■ Gary Waldrom is one of New Zealand’s significant painters. His provocative dreamscapes entice the viewer into an imagined world where one has an active involvement in unravelling the relationships, narratives and symbols within the work.
Waldrom has a distinctive yet varied painting style. Characters and figures play an important role in his works and their unrevealing yet inquisitive expressions are familiar and at times unsettling.
On The Road Again is followed by Around the Mountain in the museum’s main gallery from January 19 to February 25. It features local artists Sue Graham, Carole Cornes, Robbie Graham, Doug Anderson Di Michels and Mari Moore.
Sue Graham says the idea for the exhibition came from a chance conversation.
“Somebody astute remarked to me, ‘Sue, you must have painted our mountains from every angle by now. Perhaps you should do an exhibition that showcases that.’ So the idea was born, but I realised I’d have to position these artworks in the middle of the room for people to physically walk around to really get the full effect. I talked it over with Kerence at the Taupo¯ Museum who was excited by the novel idea. My paintings will show my impressions of Mt Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro and Mt Nga¯ uruhoe from the north, south, east and west, featuring a variety of large and small, acrylic and watercolour, realistic and interpretive.
“I have invited five other artists whose art I admire very much and whose work was conducive to the theme of the Tongariro National Park, to display their own series of complementary artworks around the walls of the gallery, including photography, sculpture, drawings and paintings of NZ native flora and fauna of the area and even sayings inspired by mountains.”
A second upcoming exhibition is The Small Print which will be showing in the museum’s Niven Room from February 16 to April 1.
It is a touring exhibition from the Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand, an organisation comprised of experienced printmakers throughout New Zealand, plus members from Europe and the Pacific. The exhibitions are varied and showcase the diversity of print on paper.
The Small Print is one of the regular PCANZ exhibitions and is always popular. It is a touring exhibition that has been running for the last decade.
Also at the Taupo¯ Museum children are not forgotten. Throughout the school holidays children (and their parents and carers) will once again have a chance to take part in the museum’s popular dinosaur hunt. No matter how many times your kids may have taken part in the past, they always love this activity which has them returning every holiday period and scouring the museum and its garden in search of colourful plastic dinosaurs. Museum staff have thought up countless clever new places to hide these dinosaurs each time and always succeed in making this a fun and engaging activity. Organisers say it’s worth visiting the museum for this challenge.
■ Taupo¯ Museum is open daily 10am to 4.30pm. Entry free to children and Taupo¯ residents with proof of address. Entry $5 adults, $3 seniors and students.