Find New Zealand Artists in one place

Media Release: 26 November, 2013
For the first time Find New Zealand Artists in one place

Find New Zealand Artists (www.findnzartists.org.nz) is a new website that directs people to information sources on exhibiting New Zealand artists past and present. It enables everyone from hobbyists to professional researchers to easily locate the wealth of artist information held across New Zealand libraries, published sources and art society records.

The Find New Zealand Artists website results from a joint project between Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tâmaki and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, and offers access to the databases of 12 libraries, published sources and art society records. Operating as an information portal, the site allows users to search for and locate information on over 17,000 New Zealand artists in one place.

Auckland Art Gallery Research Library Manager, Catherine Hammond, says they developed this online tool with a diversity of researchers in mind – family historians, artists and writers, auction houses and gallerists, as well as students and academics at all levels.

‘Find New Zealand Artists saves you having to trawl through vast amounts of material, and simply directs you to where more information on an artist is held.’

Christchurch Art Gallery Director, Jenny Harper, says the project is a wonderful example of collaboration.

‘Librarians at the Christchurch and Auckland galleries spotted the same problem, and talked about ways of solving it. Together they worked out an inexpensive and elegant solution that both institutions were happy to support. There is a lot of valuable information about New Zealand artists in gallery libraries and this website will help people find it,’ she says.

Auckland Art Gallery Director, Rhana Devenport, says the new website is a much needed resource allowing people to deepen their knowledge of New Zealand art.

‘By working together across various organisations, we can both increase the quality and quantity of information available on New Zealand artists, as well as create positive relationships amongst arts organisations across New Zealand.’

Data was generously provided for the project by:

• Te Aka Matua Research Library, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand
• Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena
• E. H. McCormick Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
• Robert and Barbara Stewart Library and Archives, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu
• Fine Arts Library Te Herenga Toi, The University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services
• Dr Warren Feeney from his PhD thesis Canterbury Society of Arts, 1880-1996: Conformity and Dissension Revisited
• Robin Kay and Tony Eden from Portrait of a Century: The History of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts 1882-1982
• Elizabeth C’Ailceta from her research paper The Group: An Annotated Bibliography
• Ian Thwaites and Rie Fletcher from We Learnt to See: Elam’s Rutland Group 1935-1958
• Una Platts from Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide and Handbook by Una Platts
• Ministry for Culture and Heritage from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
The initial development of this project was made possible by a grant from Te Papa National Services. This online tool is now live at www.findnzartists.org.nz.

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