Our Realities

A special three-day exhibition featuring three local Martinborough artists.

Glenys Hansen - Art of the Activist

This is a very recent initiative of mine.

I have always been an avid reader and books have proved not only a source of entertainment but also opened my eyes to understanding our world and how it functions. Also books fill in the history and why we are where we are today. I am always learning. Some truths have been inspirational but gradually over time an awareness of our need to action what we believe seems imperative. So many things are coming to the fore, climate change, inequality, factory farming, racism, regenerative agriculture, the need to heed the voices of the indigenous peoples of our earth, the plunder of the old forests, the plight of our wild animals etc. The list is long and I believe time is short to address the issues. How to express these imperatives has become my challenge. And in seeing a friend who was making mosaics as a thing of beauty , I became keen to try this medium but to use it in a way that focused on these burning issues. I am still learning this craft. My intent is to present each one with the book that provided the original idea for the art work. To give an example, one I have made tells the story of a guy who was driving down a highway in the U.S., he stopped to make a comfort call and was horrified to discover that it was not a forest he was driving through but only a curtain of trees. All the ancient trees had been clear felled! This work will be paired with “The Overstory” by Richard Powers. If I had a goal it would be to awaken our team of seven plus billion of the necessity to work together to keep our planet inhabitable for future generations.

Debbie Dixon - Walks with Ruby

My images are the result of walks with Ruby, a Leonberger dog and shot on my iPhone. It was a bit on an experiment really seeing how well the iPhone would shoot and how I could work within the parameters of that kind of equipment.

I am local photographer exploring the region which is relatively new to me. I have found a few hidden gems of the Wairarapa as well as shooting some well known landmarks. Most of the shots take advantage of the soft evening light and they show the beauty in everyday, quirky and out of the way places.

Kate Caie - Nostalgia

There is a narrative thread to my work which examines the idea of longing, loss, dislocation and nostalgia. Hireth, is a Kernow word for longing, particularly around one’s own homeland. My searching centers around the dynamic of how the past, present and future are all interwoven and the notion that time is an unreal concept. I have collected and reclaimed objects, images and materials to form installation pieces. Their story has been lost and the only remnants left are faded images rearranged to create new meanings. I am intrigued by the notion of simultaneity, distortion and the encapsulation of different threads of time, represented with an innovative approach. My practice as a multi-discipline, multi-media artist has led me to work in Painting, Sculpture, Photography and Installation art. Born by accident in Surrey, I spent much of my childhood in Cornwall, which I regard as my spiritual home. I now live in Martinborough, South Wairarapa, New Zealand. I have a Masters Degree in Fine Art and teach painting, sculpture, print, design and photography locally.