A Sunday morning drive to visit some of the artists involved in the annual Open Studios Waitakere event, organised by Lightbox Projects and the Waitakere Ranges Local Board. The storms on the previous days (literally with a couple of decent thunderstorms; and metaphorically with the General Election the day prior) had passed. We focussed our attention on the wonderfully narrow windy roads of Titirangi hugging the Kauri-clad hillsides overlooking the Manukau Harbour.
Katherine Simpson’s display space
First stop: Katherine Simpson. A welcoming, beautiful open space to exhibit her work, the only ones who weren’t enjoying themselves was the pair of Welcome Swallows nesting in the eaves. Too much activity on a Sunday morning for those little guys. Katherine has plenty of history as an artist and has recently engineered more time in her busy life to devote to painting.
“Working through layers of paint, sanding, scraping, washing back and drawing into the surface, Katherine allows earlier marks and decisions to remain visible. Her paintings reveal a sense of history, movement and discovery, inviting the viewer to look deeper and find something new within each work.” (www.openstudioswaitakere.co.nz)
You can see more of Katherine’s work on her website - www.katherinesimpsonart.co.nz
Katherine Simpson - “The Party”
Next stop: Bryn-Paints-Ceramics. Indeed he does; and freely shares the process although of course you need access to a kiln. He makes various sized “tiles” designed generally to hang on the wall. We came away with several to liven up our kitchen. “His practice combines photography, lino cutting, painting and sculpture to create unique hand made tiles of local architecture”. (www.openstudioswaitakere.co.nz) On the Open Studios website he also talks about “With the city’s growing population, many older homes and commercial buildings are being replaced by intensified forms of housing. ….. I use ceramic tiles to depict these changing structures. The durability of ceramics mirrors the lasting impact of these shifts on the city’s landscape, while also preserving a visual record of what is being lost and reshaped”.
One of the pieces we bought is an image of an abandoned building “halfway down Dominion Road” as another visitor put it; which has been waiting for the axe to fall for some time. I also photographed this building with an eye to painting it. I’m still contemplating this (!) whilst Bryn has executed his take on it.
Bryn-Paints-Ceramics
We move on to “Kurved Lines” – Karin works with glass. If you can pull yourself away from the wonderfully decorated garden to the studio you will find magnificent work on display; a range including lamp shades, windows, mirrors, sculptures and jewellery. If you had the right spot at your place, one of these light shades would transform the space. You can see for yourself at her website: www.kurvedlines.co.nz.
And speaking of great garden spaces we loved our visit to Rachel Carter Ceramics and were only dragged away by the attraction of the gentleman making great coffee for visitors. Rachel is very well set up here, with kilns on site and plenty of product for visitors to contemplate. We came away with a collection, some of which will make great Christmas gifts. The products are just beautiful, they are hard wearing practical ceramics which Rachel supplies to commercial operations in hospitality. Check out her website: www.rachelcarterceramics.com
Rachel Carter Ceramics
Rachel Carter Ceramics
Also on the Open Studios list is McCahon House. At the risk of repeating what is well known, this is the first house Colin and Anne McCahon and their young children lived in when they moved to Auckland in 1953. It was a fairly undeveloped neighbourhood and the house was a bach really; and despite a lot of work that they put in to making it more accommodating for the family it is still a bach. What a great piece of history! It has been well preserved and protected yet has the right feeling to it. It is surrounded by the ubiquitous Kauri and there is adjacent accommodation for the resident artist. www.mccahonhouse.org.nz
In a similar vein, it is well worth noting that a plan is underway to preserve another piece of history, that of Pat and Gil Hanly’s house at 7 Walters Road in Mt Eden. The Hanly House Charitable Trust has been established to this end (www.hanlyhouse.nz) and we will be watching with interest.
I borrowed this from the display at McCahon House. I hope that’s ok! Great image……
