I wrote about Shand’s Emporium in one of my ‘pen vs earthquake’ posts a couple of years ago (click on the photograph below to read the article). Relocation has taken years rather than months but moving day finally came last week.
Here’s a link to a news report on the move, complete with a video showing how they lifted it over the tram lines: Shand’s Emporium touches down on Manchester Street, Christchurch.
Here’s a video of opening night which was put together by the nice folk from the Christchurch Art Show. If you pay close attention, you can see my little corner of the exhibition at the two-minute mark : ) but you’ll have to be quick — blink and you’ll miss it.
The Christchurch Art Show has come and gone… and what a fantastic event it was!
It was a privilege to be part of such a wonderful event. I met a lot of very talented artists and spent the weekend surrounded by beautiful art, quirky and unusual art, colourful and inspirational art…
We set everything up on Thursday afternoon. The installation went mostly according to plan with only a few minor adjustments (I was given a corner spot and had to swap the panels over so that my table, portfolio and business cards were on the right, see below). The plan continued to evolve over the weekend.
Opening night was a lot of fun — wine, cheese, good conversation — and the three (long) show days ended up going by very quickly. I was thrilled to discover that The New Zealand Artist magazine posted a photo of me and my work on their Facebook page. I’ve made dozens of new artist friends, I must’ve spoken to hundreds of people, and I even sold a couple of paintings while I was there. Yes, I’m very happy with my first art show.
The exhibition plan wasn’t the only thing that evolved over the weekend… I went from feeling like the new kid on the first day of school (will they like me? will I fit in?) to having a real sense of belonging. Going into the weekend was like coming to the high point of a very steep learning curve. I’m now buzzing with ideas and entertaining all sorts of possibilities : )
My thanks to you all for your kind words and encouragement and for supporting me on my big adventure. And yes, I’ve already started planning for next year’s show. First thing’s first though, I really need to catch up on some sleep.
As promised, here are a few WIP photographs of my new painting.
My final painting for this month’s art show was inspired by one of my favourite photographs (below) which I took using an eight-second exposure. It was quite a windy evening and so the kinetic sculpture is moving just as much as the tree, something I really wanted to show in the painting. I’ll post WIP photos later in the week. There are a few more photos of Phil Price’s wonderful sculpture ‘Nucleus’ in action here.
Anyone who knows Christchurch will appreciate that although the sculpture is still standing, the Majestic Theatre/Majestic House (on the left) and the ANZ Bank Chambers building were damaged beyond repair by earthquakes a few years ago and are no longer with us. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to take lots of photographs in the central city in the months prior to those devastating events.
This commission was a bit special, both for the client and for me. The Press Building was the home of The Press newspaper from 1909 until February 2011. A beautiful building situated in Cathedral Square, it was one of the casualties of the Christchurch 2010–2011 earthquakes. Even though the painting shows its last autumn (in 2010), we wanted it to represent happier times and evoke fond memories.
The painting is a combination of two of my In the Style of… paintings: the building and tree from The Press and the leaves from Tram. The red geraniums originally appeared in Press Lane, an experimental sketch I did in 2013. I photographed the final painting on a dull day — the tree is actually very dark brown, not black. And at 40″ x 54″ (1015mm x 1370mm), it’s my largest ever painting.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 