Japan on March 11th once again reminded us of the fragility of life. Bath Street Gallery artist Kazu Nakagawa has watched from afar as his family and friends living in Tokyo have suffered great upheavals and he wants to be able to give those caught up in the recent tsunami something that will give them strength for what lies ahead, something tangible. “I feel that while the basic needs will be taken care of, it is the emotional and spiritual recovery of the people that will need more support” says Kazu.

Along with several friends, Kazu is organising a gathering on Waiheke Island to launch PROJECT Chiyoni Japan.
He would like to invite you to a gathering on Sunday April 10th starting at Palm Beach at 9.30a.m. Full details can be found at www.chiyoni.org.nz

Andrea Gardner and Peter Panyoczki are exhibiting at The Pataka Museum of Arts and Cultures, Porirua , 18 Sept – 23 Jan 2011 for the SHEEP- NZ Icons in Art exhibition, ‘Recognising and celebrating the contribution that sheep have made to this nation’s development, these icons are seen as an integral part of New Zealand’s cultural heritage.’ www.pataka.org.nz

Kazu Nakagawa, Chiara Corbelletto, and Leon van den Eijkel have been selected for Headland, Sculpture on the Gulf 2011 Waiheke Island, 28 January – 20 February 2011. www.sculptureonthegulf.co.nz

Robert Jahnke - Te Manawa Gallery , Palmerston North, 3 July – 10 October 2010. The exhibition Tirohanga o Mua – Looking Back is a retrospective exhibition looking back at Jahnke’s practice over the last two decades since his first solo exhibition in 1990. www.temanawa.co.nz

Gallery artist Mark Braunias has been awarded the Fullbright - Wallace Arts Trust Award 2010, for an outstanding mid-career or senior NZ artist, to undertake a 3 month residency at Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California.

Gallery artists Geoff Dixon, Peter Panyoczki and Katie Thomas exhibited in the Tauranga Art Gallery’s exhibition Surface Tension, 21 May – 1 August 2010. It was an exhibition by contemporary New Zealand artists who treat the canvas like a sculpture. The artists explore texture and shape, treating the surface of the canvas similarly, but each using different processes with differing results. www.artgallery.org.nz  

Congratulations to Leon van den Eijkel who has been selected to represent New Zealand at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 29 October-15 November 2009, 450 applied and just over 100 were chosen with 24 living outside Australia.

Leon’s Smiling Windmills are at Avalon Park, Lower Hutt. The windmills were proudly presented to the people of the Hutt Valley by the E Tu Awakairangi Hutt Public Art Trust after the public fell in love with the vibrant sculpture at the Shapeshifter 2008 exhibition at the Civic Gardens.

Leon’s  Wellington Urban Forest, 10 May 2007, is also on public display  as part of the Meridian Energy Wind Sculpture Walk along the head of Evans Bay. These 3 meter high stacks of bright spinning cubes are a culmination of a two year collaboration between Leon and Hutt Valley engineer Allan Brown of Metallion Ltd. Wellington Urban Forest  is an intriguing play on urban values in a very exposed and natural area. Each stack of 5 cubes represents an urban tree.

PETER PANYOCZKI  has completed a successful exhibition in Switzerland Zunehmend Undeutlich ,New Works, 30/5/2009 – 28/6/2009. Bath Street Gallery looks forward to exhibitiong his new works in his forthcoming exhibition in December.

Gregor Kregor has completed an Art Omi Residency in New York and has just exhibited a large work in the second annual show in Newark curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud and a big project at Maiden Lane Exhibition space in downtown connected to Francis J Greenbourger Collection.

James Robinson has just completed a McCahon House Trust residency.  James was the winner of the Wallace Art Award with his work Taniwha/Dragon, mixed media on paper and canvas.  James goes to New York this month to take up residency.

Mark Braunius opens an installation work Visual Bank at the Tauranga Art Gallery.  Visual Bank is on exhibition in the Gallery Atrium from Nov 2 – March 9, 2008. 

Kazu Nakagawa won an award for his Lost Property Variation II  painting at the Walker and Hall Art Awards in late October 2007

An auction for Riduan Tomkins was held by Art + Object on 30 June 2007.  Our grateful thanks go to the former colleagues and pupils of Riduan who so generously donated works, Hamish Meikle and Simon Ogden and to Hamish and Ben at Art+Object.  

Thanks for the visit from our neighbours providing business management software who made sure their offices looked great with the help of Bath Street Gallery.

Louise Purvis and Leon van den Eijkel sculptures have been unveiled in Wellington as part of the Wellington Sculpture Trust.  Leon van den Eijkel in collaboration with engineer Allan Brown has installed Urban Forest, a 9m x 5m sculpture on Cobham Drive.  Seismic, a marble sculpture by Louise Purvis is installed in Bunny St.

Wonder-land will be shown at Bath Street Gallery in March in association with Auckland Festival AK07. Originally shown in Rome and then in Pingyao, China. Wonder-land is a collection of photographs revealing an intimate and complex make-up of New Zealand.

Gregor Kregar, Charlotte Fisher, Christine Hellyar and Gill Gatfield are all exhibiting in the NZ Sculpture on the Shore exhibition from 3-12 November at Fort Takapuna Historic Reserve, Vauxhall Road, Devonport

Alice Blackley, James Robinson and Kathryn Stevens are Wallace Art Award Finalists

Leon van den Eijkel and Louise Purvis have both been commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust to create work for the city which will be installed by the end of the year.

James Robinson is in Europe and has recently exhibited in Berlin.

Eight new sculptures have been installed in the Auckland Domain.  Chiara Corbelletto, Charlotte Fisher, Christine Hellyar and Louise Purvis are amongst the inaugural eight sculptors.  See link at http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/arts/publicart/sculpturewalk.asp
for more images and information about the sculptures.