Art in Auckland - August / September

This August and September is a great time for art enthusiasts!

Several shows are being held, which will feature a huge range of art from across New Zealand. 

August 22-25th was the weekend of the Inaugural Mount Albert Grammar School Fine Art Exhibition. Opening night tickets sold out, and the show exceeded their expectations in terms of visitor numbers and sales.

The committee put a fabulous range of work together, beautifully displayed in the grand hall. Here are a couple of photos - featuring stunning abstract works by Jane Tan on the stage, and some of my watercolour paintings.

There was also work by Lorene Taurewarewa, a New Zealand artist currently based in NYC. Her work was shown in the Pah Gallery last year, and the display of her monumental charcoal drawings was absolutely incredible. I have followed her work ever since seeing that exhibition, and added one of her exquisite watercolours to my collection! See http://taurerewa.com to check out her work.

This weekend (29-31st August) there is both the Franklin Arts Festival (which runs until the following weekend) and Carmel College Artfusions Fine Art Sale. 

The Franklin Arts Festival will include over 700 works divided into 20 different categories, with each section being judged.

Categories include watercolour (with over 70 works expected to be hung), printmaking, mixed media, and a new award for the Best Contemporary Piece. For me its one of the few opportunities each year of seeing watercolours hung en-masse, which is always a mixture of inspiring and very humbling. I fell in love with an abstract watercolour a local artist was delivering and have a feeling I will have to move quickly on opening night if I intend to buy it. 

The following weekend is the Auckland Grammar School Expo. This will be the first year I have exhibited in this show. I've heard a lot of good things about it, and one way or another haven't managed to visit one until this year. I'm looking forwards to seeing what I'm sure is going to be an amazing collection of contemporary New Zealand art. It looks as though there is an interesting collaboration with Mt Eden's NKB Gallery this year, with an auction being held on Saturday night, so I may time my visit to include that.