Open Studios bigger than ever
Midweek events will add to the event’s appeal to visitors and residents alike
Whanganui’s Artists Open Studios organisers promise the 2024 arts trail event will be bigger and brighter than ever. Opening on Friday, March 15, and concluding on Sunday, March 24, AOS will have several new facets this year, co-ordinator Charlie Meyerhoff said.
“One of the biggest changes this year is a range of midweek offerings,” Meyerhoff said.
“Whanganui has one of the biggest and oldest art trail events in the country so the aim is to keep it vibrant, interesting and appealing to a wide range of visitors.”
As part of the AOS opening on March 15, there will be the Riverside Paddle & Palate with food vendors, a dockside bar and live music.
Mid-week activities include a range of Sarjeant Gallery-hosted artist talks to be held at The Backhouse on Taupō Quay and local artists will host pottery, print, glass, mosaic and fibre art workshops.
On March 22, there will be an auction of glassworks by renowned Whanganui artist the late Lyndsay Patterson.
Patterson died in a motorcycle accident in February 2023. His family has chosen to honour his memory with the establishment of the Lyndsay Patterson Art Foundation, offering scholarships for young artists.
After completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Wanganui Polytechnic,
in 1999 Patterson founded Chronicle Glass (now NZ Glassworks) with glass artist friends Katie Brown and the late Karen Ellett.
After selling Chronicle Glass, Patterson and Brown opened Cosmopolitan Glass in Rutland St in 2016.
Patterson’s work is held in public and private collections including The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and The Dowse Art Museum.
His glassware can also be seen on the big screen in Peter Jackson’s trilogy The Hobbit.
A new event added to the AOS schedule this year is the opening of Te Ao Hou Marae in Aramoho as a studio stop on March 16 and 17.
Visitors will be welcomed to follow a pathway into the marae where they will be able to witness a range of traditional and contemporary arts from well-established and emerging Whanganui Māori artists.
There will be poetry, photography, carving, weaving and writing on display.
Children’s art will feature on a series of banners displayed on Rutland St and there are several children’s art workshops, including a block party where traffic will be stopped to enable a safe space for budding young artists to work.
Over both weekends of AOS, there will be more than 90 local studios open to visitors.
Whanganui Artists Open Studios has grown from the first arts trail conceived by Whanganui artists Catherine MacDonald and Sue Cooke in 2001.