Gallery turns back clock on special seven

The only surviving member of a 1960s South Canterbury art group is looking forward to seeing the artists’ work on display once again.

Group of Seven, as the artists were called, exhibited together at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 1966 – and now their work has been reassembled for a new audience, and on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery until September 11.

‘‘This exhibition is a re-enactment of an exhibition that was held in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 1966,’’ Hamish Pettengell, the gallery’s exhibition curator, said.

Made up of predominately cubism works, the exhibition includes paintings, drawings and sculptures.

The 1966 show was well received by the critics at the time, Pettengell said.

‘‘The critics described their works as one of the strongest and most interesting exhibitions from South Canterbury.’’

The exhibition is made up of works by Clifford Brunsden, Molly Stevens, Gypsy Poulston, Vivian Lynn, Ruth Millar, Pat Rowell and surviving member, Morgan Jones.

The group used to meet at painter Steven’s house, on Beverley Rd, Jones said.

Sixty years on, Jones speaks highly of the bunch and their individual creativity, describing Brunsden and Stevens as his ‘‘early mentors’’.

‘‘If it weren’t for them, I certainly wouldn’t be where I am now,’’ Jones said.

‘‘Molly was a gifted painter and, although I didn’t fully realise it at the time, quite radical in her practice.

‘‘The Dunedin Art Gallery show came completely out of the blue. In retrospect, it seems almost hard to believe it took place.

‘‘Painting and sculpture were very minor sports in those days.’’

After the 1966 show, Jones said he ‘‘really started to work more intensively’’, going on to win the Hansells’ Sculpture Award in 1975 – the only recognition at the time in New Zealand for contemporary sculpture.

His work has also been displayed in Wellington’s National Gallery, and the Auckland City Art Gallery.

‘‘In the middle of the ‘70s I realised that carving stone or wood had its limitations. And so I started to make sculpture by assembling materials, mainly through those a commercial builder would use.

‘‘Almost immediately I struck gold.’’

Jones lived in South Canterbury from 1959 to 1967, working as a teacher and at The Timaru Herald, writing a jazz column and also television reviews.

For the past 30 years, he has lived in Arrow Junction, Central Otago, with his wife Pat who he met at the Dunedin Art School.

JOHN BISSET/STUFF Hamish Pettengell, Aigantighe exhibitions curator, setting up the Group of Seven exhibition, and below, a Morgan Jones’ wooden sculpture titled Rural Machine.