Art made local, global and affordable

Art made local, global and affordable

Corban Estate Arts Centre

Corban Estate Arts Centre's latest solo exhibitions feature Auckland-based artists, Tessa Laird and Sam Thomas, in conjunction with our annual showcase of affordable art. This series of exhibitions, responding to local conservation and global urbanization, and helping make art affordable, are all on display from 5 December to 18 January 2015.

Tessa Laird's House of Bats responds to the plight of New Zealand's pekapeka, our only native land mammals. A small colony of long-tail bats remains in the Waitakere ranges, and it is in honour of this tenacious group that Laird has created a house (or at least, a room) of bat related imagery. Working in both print and ceramics, Laird creates decorative elements of an elaborate Victorian parlour. This exhibition says the artist, “merges the niceties of well-bred table-manners together with some of the magical, exotic, and yes, maybe even monstrous characteristics of the fascinating world of bats.”

As part of the exhibition, Ben Paris, Senior Biodiversity Advisor at Auckland Council, will present a specialist talk on bats on Saturday 6 December, 11am. This free talk will be about bats around the world, bats in New Zealand, and the work that is happening with Auckland’s population of long-tailed bats. By the end of the talk, Paris promises you will be bat fans too!

In Serf Club KL, Sam Thomas presents a new series of embossed paintings and drawings developed in Malaysia during an Asia New Zealand Foundation residency in May 2014. Thomas responded directly to the rapid urbanisation of Kuala Lumpur by painting on location at several construction sites around the capitol. By painting outside he made his art practice accessible to the immigrant construction labourers and locals who would often stop to enquire what he was painting. Travelling internationally as an artist allows Thomas to engage with indigenous art forms not found in New Zealand. To date Thomas has worked with a master carver in Rarotonga and in India he learnt a national embossed painting process, which features in this new series.

In addition to these exhibitions, Corban Estate Arts Centre’s annual Affordable Art Show is also on view from 5 December – 18 January, and includes a wide range of works on paper all priced $200 and under. This is a cash 'n' carry exhibition and is aimed at making art affordable over the Christmas period. This exhibition features various emerging and established artists from West Auckland and the wider Auckland region who work in a range of art mediums including drawing, collage, stencilling, origami, and painting.

Artists Bios:

Tessa Laird
Tessa Laird is an Auckland based artist, writer and lecturer. In 2012 the artist completed her Doctorate in Fine Arts at Elam, the University of Auckland. Laird’s work has been presented nationally in a range of exhibition spaces including public art galleries, private dealer galleries and artists run spaces. Recent exhibitions include; We Are But Dust and Shadow (Melanie Roger, Auckland, 2014), Slip Cast (The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, 2014), Freedom Farmers: New Zealand Artists Growing Ideas (Auckland Art Gallery, 2013-2014). Laird is represented by Melanie Roger Gallery in Auckland.

Sam Thomas
Sam Thomas is an Auckland based artist. Thomas is a graduate of Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland and was a founding member of Snake Pit gallery, Auckland. Thomas has been the recipient of several international artist residencies including one at the BCA Gallery, Rarotonga in 2013 and an Asia New Zealand Foundation residency at Shalini Ganendra Fine Art, Malaysia in 2014.

Annual Affordable Art Show 2014
This exhibition features various emerging and established artists from West Auckland and the wider Auckland region.

ends

© Scoop Media