Deborah Forkert - Remains of the Day

For five years Deborah Forkert has worked with the dried paper covers of used tea bags, experimenting with and developing a variety of textures, connection methods, spatial patterns and linear joins. In conversation with her, Forkert's enthusiasm for the materiality of the covers shows as she waxes lyrical about the brands, colours and texture tendencies. She describes each patterned cover as 'a moment captured in time with a memory imprinted on it', each a unique individual, which forms a collective as beautiful as a stained glass window. 

  

She notes the 'threads' of continuity of rituals and traditions of society's past, present, and future, and extends the use of her medium into that of a metaphorical fabric - a narrative of sorts. Using memories of her childhood for inspiration, she also sees the fabric’s similarity to tapa cloth, and has appropriated and extended this humble, yet ethereal material to make frequent reference to many of her Pacific and New Zealand roots.

'Memories of My Mother's Piupiu: Dawn'.  recycled teabags, mixed media on plywood

 

 

 Forkert's solo exhibition 'Remains of the Day' opens at the Cottleston Gallery at 6pm on the 4th January 2017.

Decision - a virtual visit

'Decision' by German-based artist Sheena Mayer was very well received.  She flies out from Auckland today and many in the local art community will miss her.  It has been so wonderful to see such a quietly confident artist working for the last two months in the studio during her artist in residency.  Her encapsulations and delicate black ink monotypes reflect her explorations into the concept of Wandering.
Here is a wee look at the exhibition as it was in the front room at the Cottleston.

 

Sheena Mayer with some of her monotypes from her solo show 'Decision'

Decision

Sheena Mayer is from Germany and her degree in Art (MLitt) is from the prestigious Glasgow School of Art.
While Artist in Residence at the Cottleston, Sheena has begun a body of work that will be continued when she returns home.  'Decision' consists of these first ideas in the form of monotypes and 'capsules' of found objects.

wan • der
verb /' wån-d(ə-)r / to walk / explore / amble in an unplanned or aimless way with a complete openness to the unknown.

The exhibition 'Decision' will open in the corner room at Cottleston on 10 December at 11 am and close on the 17th at 4.30pm.  All welcome.

Daily Voices - Viv Davy

'Daily Voices' has been very well attended over the last two weeks and it was great to see familiar faces as well as a large number of new visitors to the gallery.  It was especially nice to listen to conversations that grew out of visitors' reactions to Viv Davy's work, especially the Codex series, and the Lost Voices works.  Most visitors enjoyed the complexity and layering of ideas, which in turn brought up memories and new ideas for many. As manager I always so enjoy people's reactions and participation.
This exhibition has now closed but here is a wander through the gallery in case you weren't able to make it to see it.

Viv Davy - Intense Researcher

Cottleston Gallery is proud to present 'Daily Voices', 8 - 21 November 2016

Viv Davy has woven, both literally and metaphorically, her (and, by extension, our), mundane tasks, everyday words and thoughts into tangible art objects.  In her studio using weaving, stitching and other fibre techniques Viv has been creating diaristic works that range from miniature tapestries to large installation pieces.
In recognition of her extraordinary art preparation, she has recently received the AUT University Dean's Award for Excellence in Research.

The materials she uses include silk, cotton, handmade papers, bandages, wax, and recycled fabrics, often dyed with natural sources like fennel and pohutakawa.
The results are intellectually and texturally complex, and reflect not only the diverse materials and methods but also her personal and historically-based narratives. The viewer is drawn into the works to engage with the careful attention to detail that informs the pieces.

Viv Davy has been creating fibre art for over 40 years.  Based in Opunake, she has a Master of Art and Design and her most recent exhibition was as part of the 2016 Taranaki Arts Trail.  She also has work concurrently showing in the prestigious event 'World of Threads Festival' in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

You are cordially invited to view Viv's textile art at her solo exhibition “Daily Voices”, The Cottleston Gallery Tauranga (128 Oropi Road, Greerton).

Viv Davy's website: http://silktangles.blogspot.co.nz/

Where's my Ticket?

Please consider this your very own, personal, mass-produced, virtually real, invitation/ ticket to view this huge Cottleston exhibition of traditional oil paintings by Anne Stråtveit. 

Opening night Friday 13 at 6 pm. 
Thence usual opening times of 11 - 4.30 every day except Mondays.

'Art School' Exhibition opens next week.

Here at Cottleston we are so pleased to have received the work for the opening next week (6pm Friday 13th May) of  'Art School'. Oil paintings by Anne Stråtveit. We might have to open three rooms for all this proliferation!
Anne's bio is here.

Bees and Birds and Bugs too.

   Having embarked on a futile journey to paint the iridescence of beetles for the first six months of her post graduate degree, Tauranga artist Katherine Steeds developed a fascination for cockroaches, before finally settling on the honey bee Apis mellifera, and has been including bees in her art ever since.  She is currently painting a series of portraits of bees with people, which can be viewed in an exhibition at Cottleston Art Gallery Tauranga in the spring.
In the meantime you can see her paintings plus work by Dick Frizzell, Adrian Wesley Martin, Angela Moritz, Mandy Williams, Keith Woodley, Whareangiangi Pita, Peter McIntyre, Laurie Steer,  Jaime Jenkins, Nicol Sanders-O'Shea and others,  11- 4.30 at Cottleston every day except Mondays.

Anne Stråtveit

Anne Stråtveit is a classically-taught artist.  She currently lives in New Zealand and attended the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney, where, from the very beginning her developing style was compared with Cezanne's.  Her paintings show her ability to simplify the 3-D form and render it with a minimum of confident brush-strokes.
Additionally, her use of a limited palette and subtle warm and cool colour mixes, coordinates each work within its frame. Together these characterise her work.
Extensive travel throughout Africa and Norway extended her use of colour and subject matter.  Her simple, blocky fishing village houses appear almost to have morphed from the jetties and stones of the shore, and her elegant African woman seem at one with the water pots and clay bricks around them.

A large number of her oil paintings including still lifes and portraits, will be exhibited at the Cottleston Tauranga, between 14 - 30 May 2016.

New sign, new work.

Well, after a long hiatus at last the new Cottleston sign is up on the fence, and inside there are two large rooms full of interesting paintings for your perusal.  They include two of Katherine Steeds' painstakingly detailed diary-like works,  as well as a number from this artist that have not been exhibited publicly before. 

"Bees and Birds" will end on the 10th of May.

New: This exhibition has been extended until 30 May.