Art In The Park – Days 2 & 3

I’ll start this post by saying up front that there was simply too much to see and do at Art In The Park to fit all of it into a couple of posts. I wouldn’t be doing it justice. So here’s a summary of the weekend, followed by an experimental slideshow of images from Art In The Park 2011.

Despite the panic during the weeks leading up to the event, it all seemed to gel together nicely in time for Friday night’s private preview event. On Saturday 5th March there were a few minor logistics issues to resolve and a few items of furniture to move around. The artists arrived early to ensure their works were optimally displayed, the Shantytown staff arrived even earlier to ensure that the venue was running smoothly and then the members of the public began arriving at 10am. Jack O’Connor and his team were outside managing the car parking and doing a sterling job.

It rained a little on Saturday afternoon – enough to warrant pulling the plug on the remaining live performances on the stage due to the risk of the sound equipment being short-circuited! And some of the RNZAF musicians reckoned their wind instruments wouldn’t sound the same when full of rain water. The rain had a positive spin-off in that visitors herded indoors to view all the artwork on display and many of the artists benefited with increased sales. On Saturday evening we stayed behind with a few of the artists for a drink and some snacks.

Sunday 6th March was a gorgeous day with warm sunshine and a very chilled-out crowd. It was almost as if they were handing out happy pills at the gate. Sitting in the sun on straw bales, amongst the art with a great coffee and great people, listening to Mel Parsons and other live acts …it doesn’t get much better than that! Nothing to do with Art In The Park, but as it was a really clear & sunny day, we could also a see a fresh dumping of snow on top of Aoraki/Mount Cook. A big factor in the feel-good vibe of Art In The Park is the fact that no alcohol is sold at the event, meaning everyone’s sober and it’s a great family day out.

The art was divided into several areas and I’ve listed artist names where I can remember them (some of them have their own websites and I’ve linked these where possible). You can view a PDF map of Shantytown at their website.

Sculpture Park near the entrance to Shantytown: five sculptors displayed their work here: Annette van Gent, Kerry McCormick, Donald Buglass, Rory McDougall and Paula Dixon. On a couple of occasions a group of kids performed violin recitals here and they were very cute.

The Church was home to some very evocative poetry readings by Greg O’Connell and his contemporaries Frank Wells and Nick (last name?). Greg also put on some performance poetry events for different age groups which were very well-received.

Under gazebos in the Churchyard were the Glassy Ladies with their colourful mosaic mirrors and glasswork, and Aroha Coxon with her beautiful woven flax creations. Aroha’s flax weaving workshops were very popular.

Gem & Mineral Hall: this housed the work of Karen McAdam, Janice Scott, Jenny Thomas, Marlene Trounson and Jools Tumahai. These artists variously specialised in jade carving, jewellery and glasswork.

Visual Performance Stage: saw stunning performances by Mel Parsons, the Royal New Zealand Airforce Brass Band, Silvertones (including the irrepressible Jean Kay Thompson), Just Jazz, the Red Dance Group (who’ve recently won a place at the dance championships in Los Angeles later this year), the Nkange Kwambile Dancers with their belly dancing, and finally the Westport Pipers. At the preview event on Friday evening, John (last name?) played guitar and sang at the private preview event on Friday night.

In the Old Forge, Noel Finnerty was fired up and hammering red-hot metal on his anvil to the delight of onlookers. Noel’s viking-style axes are very popular – not surprising since his axes are seen in the Lord Of The Rings films.

In the Masonic Lodge, the Westland Cake Decorators showed off their detailed icing skills and delighted dentists everywhere with the amount of refined sugar on sale.

In Ross House, the Grey Valley Quilters set up their sewing machines on the large billiards table and set to work creating a massive patchwork quilt.

The Youth Art tent was perhaps the biggest success of all, in terms of the Art In The Park mission statement to encourage young artists. The Youth Art tent held over 120 artworks this year, a record display from local schools. My personal favourites were Jenny Edwards and Aly Haarsma, with the Youth Art Award going to Aly Haarsma.

The Solid Energy tent was a delight for all the kids with the face-painting ladies scarcely having time for a cuppa.

The Art Activity tent was a hive of activity all weekend, with kids getting the chance to try their hand at all manner of artistic endeavours. A big draw here (geddit?) was the Department of Conservation corner.

Husband and wife team Bob and Barbara McQuarrie displayed their pottery and painted cloth respectively in the Golden Nugget Saloon.

Continuing through the Golden Nugget Saloon, the Miners Hall and the adjoining Welshmans Hall were the primary art venues with over sixty artists displaying their work. Paintings, wood carving, wire art, mixed media art, jewellery, stone carving, glasswork, ceramics, embroidered artwork, live portraiture and more. Between us we had a lot of favourites and we were easily & happily parted from our cash for some lovely pieces of art.

There were a number of catering tents outside: Rotary, Runanga Rascals from Runanga School, a soup tent (the soup was so good that I’ve forgotten their name!) and the Wheel Blacks, supporting NZ wheelchair rugby. And last but not least, a true artist in my eyes, was Kill’a Coffee. I’ve had a lot of serious coffee in my time and this guy stands head and shoulders above them all.

This post wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention all the great people behind the scenes whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with: obviously Linda & Ashley – Art In The Park is their baby. Their tireless devotion, insane number of hours and their vision makes it the great event that it is. It’s the 5th successive (and successful) year of Art In The Park. Linda & Ashley’s hardworking team of helpers: Rae, Gary, Clint, Karen, Kerry, Christine, Stewart, Robin, Daz, Stephen, David …and others whose names have slipped my mind. These guys all pulled together to make it a great event despite the recent tragedies that have affected everyone: the Pike River Mine disaster, Fox Glacier plane crash, the Christchurch quake in September and the terrible quake last month. Then there are the suppliers who came through for Art In The Park when quake struck and prevented the deer gates from being used: Dave Smith at Mitre10 who supplied all the timber and related tools & materials at short notice, Tony Hartigan from Westfleet who supplied off-cuts of fishing net to staple to the display boards and also Craig Jones who supplied additional fish net.

It’s been a pleasure!

Below is a small selection of photos taken during the event: