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A creative trio are generously donating a portion of sales from their upcoming art exhibition to help preserve a grand old building, which is just one year shy of turning a century.
Hakaru painter Phillipa Reeve and Auckland artists Aviva Clark and Clare Woods will showcase Tuned to Wonder, a pop-up exhibit, at Hakaru Hall on February 8.
All three artists have work on walls around New Zealand, as well as overseas and in art collections.
However, while their individual styles may differ, Reeve says their creative process is similar.
“We are all responding to something deeper, more and moving, using colour,” she says.
Reeve’s work titled From Soft Grounded Passion, was sparked by her experiences of the last 12 months, “a time crawling with the crazy, wild and unbelievable”.
“I was reminded once again of the need to respond rather than react to life – to envision and activate a future I value, ideally coming from a space of soft, grounded passion,” she says. “The mixed media paintings are my response to the feelings, thoughts, sensations and longings that arose with the visioning.”
A love of paper, layering and experimental paint application led Woods to create collage pieces with hundreds of handcrafted swatches for her ‘Sensibility’ series.
“Papers connect, overlap, overlay and blend, each telling their own story and delivering an intense colour experience of joy,” she says. “Each artwork starts with a feeling and morphs into a visual expression of that feeling.”
From her home along the Waitemata Harbour, Clark says she brought inspiration home from walks along the sea and next to the mangroves to create her display, ‘There Are Trees in My House’.
“Particularly from the settling mud in the waterways, the movement and reflection of water, the patterns found in nature and the sound of birds in flight. I bring back shapes, smells and colour to have conversations mixed with feeling and paint,” she says. “Mine is a process of shifting, sorting and settling to make sense and create meaning.”
The artists will donate 10 per cent from their sales to the hall’s kitty for maintenance of the community facility, which was built in 1926.
Local musicians will also bring a touch of jazz and blues ambience to the exhibition, including Reeve’s musician husband and hall committee secretary Dennis Reeve.
He says although the hall earns a small living through hosting private events and community gigs and activities, more funds are always needed to help conserve the building
“We really appreciate this generous offer from these artists as costs are continuing upward,” he says.
“We’ll also be having an ongoing fundraising effort in advance of next year’s Hakaru Hall Centenary. We want our lovely old hall to remain relevant and useful to our growing local community.
Pop-up art exhibit Tuned to Wonder, Hakaru Hall, Settlement Road, February 8, 10am – 3pm.
