Retrospective of our incredible artist's from 2017
For an archive of past Open Studios in the Waitakere Ranges,
see the main event website:
www.openstudioswaitakere.co.nz
JOHN PERRY
TE KAURI: The story of the Tree and it's Culture
Artist and curator John Perry will be creating a site specific installation filled with historic and contemporary art works, photographs, artefacts and objects that look at the Kauri tree, the history of it's various industries (timber, gum), and celebrate the Waitakere Ranges and the North's West Coast.
EKARASA DOBLANOVIC
Demo Soil Workshop
Ekarasa Doblanovic’s practice encompasses painting and installation with collaborative and participatory projects, working across New Zealand and Australia as well as internationally. Her works create an empathetic interaction between people, art and nature, using organic earth materials to heighten the sensation and affect of colour and its material nature. In her practice, she uses pure pigments and fabricates her own colours, and will be offering a special workshop for OSW that will present Waitakere's soil diversity, demonstrating how to make pigments from scratch.
BRITTA POLLMULLER, MARTIN SERCOMBE & JOC MACK
Poetry Stew Animation Experience
Saturday 18th November only*
Poetic filmmakers and animators Britta Pollmuller, Martin Sercombe & Joc Mack will spend a relaxing, fun day working on a train of consciousness animated poem together, picking words and phrases out of a poetry stew pot, arranging them into lines of poetry, and animating them alongside instant doodles. Come and add a line or two or just sit and watch. Some of their other animated poems will be screening on loop.
Martin Sercombe founded Media Projects in 1980, a film and animation company specialising in community arts work. He currently teaches film production at AUT in Auckland, and animation at Studio One in Ponsonby. Britta Pollmuller teaches Game Design at AUT and is a co-director of Media Projects, & Joc Mack is based in Norwich UK and is an experienced advocate of Theatre in Education.
HEATHERMEG SAMPSON
HeatherMeg is primarily a visual artist who is well regarded in her local community of West Auckland, previously running Titirangi's ArtBunker, and having works commissioned for events and spaces in New Zealand and overseas. She will be painting live in the Yurt as part of her November residency, and creating work in preparation for an evening performance art showcase directed by Tawanda Manyimo. The work will be an exploration of the circular motion of life’s events: investigating ideas related to the cycle of life, of beginnings and endings and everything else in between.
See evening event listing for more info*
JAZMINE ROSE PHILLIPS
Jazmine stayed at Te Henga Studios earlier this year doing a residency leading up to the EcoWest Festival, combining film, sound, visual art & performance, inspired by journeying with the native trees and plants of the area. Some of the works created during this time will be shown, as well as perhaps a few surprises*
FATS WHITE
Multi-modal artist Fats White has been painting and saving lives as a Fireman out here in Bethells Valley since 2015, where he has created a world of his own vision: “a day and night, night & day mantra that holds sway in my studio, my womb, situated over the quiet Earth on the black sand edge of civilization, where the World is seen from afar, but there is a need to engage in a visual conversation.” He will be giving studio tours and discussing his new work Figurehead, which he describes as a phantogram of visual antagonism.
JOELLE BUNT
Bethells painter Joelle Bunt is the winner of the Waitakere Art Awards 2017. Her landscapes are bright and magical, sometimes foreboding but always mesmerising. Joelle paints from a heart that truly is in love with Bethells Beach / Te Henga regions.
MAURICE VAN COOTEN
Maurice creates painting, sculpture and installation art in a range of classical and emerging media (mauricevancooten.com).
ROWENA COOMBES
Te Henga Ceramics
Te Henga Ceramicist Rowena Coombes describes her work as “functional art for everyday use: love it <3, share it, enjoy it, care for it! Every piece is unique.” Her vibrant pieces are full of life, like this wild west coast she calls home.
CLIVE TEARE
Clive Teare is a local creative who's work is “unique, eclectic and weird: Time Travelling Practical Art - Industrial furniture and light sources with a functional quirky uniqueness.”
MIC WATTS
Mic is an artist and Kaiako, passionate about encouraging creativity in others. He uses a variety of media which explore themes around the nature of reality, consciousness and perception. His work reflects the search to reconcile the shared universe of other minds with the abstract nature of the mental space he inhabits: a brain inside a black box skull, interpreting the electrical signals his senses send through.
DOMINIC OLDREY
Local artist Dominic Oldrey says of his painting process, “I am influenced by what I see Hah! Which sounds basic, but it is was it is, I see something and have a reaction to that something, sometimes little sparks happen in my mind and I react. If the reaction is memorable enough, I do something about it and make, create to reflect that moment.”
TERRY SMITH
New sculpture, painting & ceramics by this West Coast wayfaring wanderer*
BETHELLS BEANZ
Local legendary coffee roasters Bethells Beanz will have their delicious Bethells Beach brand available for the weekend so come enjoy a beautiful blend, an artform unto itself, as you take in the creations and meet the artists on site.
EVENING EVENTS – Saturday 18 November
HEATHERMEG SAMPSON & TAWANDA MANYIMO
Breadth
6:30pm in the Yurt. Koha.
HeatherMeg & Tawanda will be presenting a performance art piece as an exploration of the circular motion of life’s events: investigating ideas related to the cycle of life, of beginnings and endings and everything else in between. They say, “the images that are conjured up in our minds excite us because we are combining dynamic, in the moment canvas art work with the physical motion of bodies in space, that is, a combination of live dancers and live spontaneous art work. Our aim is to take the audience on a visceral explorative journey through the use of spoken word, music and lighting which in turn will provide a backdrop to showcase the canvas artist’s vibrant imagination.”
HeatherMeg Sampson is primarily a visual artist who is well regarded in her local community of West Auckland, previously running Titirangi's ArtBunker, and having works commissioned for events and spaces in New Zealand and overseas.
Tawanda Manyimo is an actor and musician from Zimbabwe, who plays guitar & percussion and has a passionate love for theatre. He is currently involved in directing, producing and collaborating in theatre productions and performance art pieces.
Breadth
6:30pm in the Yurt. Koha.
HeatherMeg & Tawanda will be presenting a performance art piece as an exploration of the circular motion of life’s events: investigating ideas related to the cycle of life, of beginnings and endings and everything else in between. They say, “the images that are conjured up in our minds excite us because we are combining dynamic, in the moment canvas art work with the physical motion of bodies in space, that is, a combination of live dancers and live spontaneous art work. Our aim is to take the audience on a visceral explorative journey through the use of spoken word, music and lighting which in turn will provide a backdrop to showcase the canvas artist’s vibrant imagination.”
HeatherMeg Sampson is primarily a visual artist who is well regarded in her local community of West Auckland, previously running Titirangi's ArtBunker, and having works commissioned for events and spaces in New Zealand and overseas.
Tawanda Manyimo is an actor and musician from Zimbabwe, who plays guitar & percussion and has a passionate love for theatre. He is currently involved in directing, producing and collaborating in theatre productions and performance art pieces.
JAMES CROMPTON aka JARMON RA
Poetry Tarot from the Tree of Live
7:30pm in the barn, $20 door charge.
An interactive show where willing participants from the audience will be given tarot poetry readings from Blue Avian Jarmon Ra based on their birth season. The collective wisdom comes from four poetry books spanning four seasons over 18 years of the life of a mortal having a spiritual experience. Whether the poem read is seen as having some cosmic significance or as pure entertainment is up to the individual, but the idea is to come open to possibilities of connection within the field of resonance, and see what magic might unfold. A surprise mystical musician will open by invoking the Muse-ic God.
Jarmon Ra is a starseed, a wanderer here to help humanity’s shift into a higher density. As James Crompton, he has been involved in many esoteric traditions as well as the creative arts through poetry, music & acting for theatre & film.
He says, “I have lived through The Leaves Of Autumn, The Dead Of Winter, The Birth Of Spring and The Heat of Summer and made Aspiration to the beyond, and now I'm here to share with you the whole gamut of Everything.”
BLACK SANDS
9pm - 10pm in the barn. Free*
Black Sands are a Waitakare based music project with a dynamic heavy sound reminiscent of wild west coast storms and swells.