New Exhibitions at Forrester Gallery
Published on 12 November 2024
November sees five new exhibitions enter te whare toi, the Forrester Gallery. With amazing local support and visitors travelling from afar, it was a great weekend to celebrate our new additions to the 2024 programme. If you haven’t yet ventured through our doors, we would love to have you.
Caroline McQuarrie’s Like the Turf details Cornish settlement in Aotearoa New Zealand through the examination of skilled labour in the late 1800s. The exhibition notably combines social accounts of less visible labour - particularly that of women, children and families - with the legacy of industry. Like the Turffeatures photographic imagery, embroidery, and textiles, to contextualise the lives of colonial-settlers, with supporting text by The University of Otago’s Annabel Cooper.
Victoria McIntosh’s Sitting Pretty: The Desserts of Discontent offers a series of thirteen beige or ‘skin-coloured’ cakes, inspired by Mrs Beeton’s Guide to Cookery and Household Management (1861). Using an array of secondhand shapewear, lace, elastic, found Tupperware and much more, these cakes explore shared experiences relating to body image, self-expression and autonomy.
Seriously Valuable Art provides an enjoyable series of privately collected works, all works that cost the collector little money, yet register as valuable works of art. The exhibition offers insights into the creativity of widely celebrated and underappreciated artists, alongside thoughtful suggestions to help the public attain works of art themselves, without costing a fortune.
Sharon Mitchell’s Alice in Victorian Wonderland offers an opportunity to celebrate one’s true self. As Alice struggles with societal expectations and the limitations of young women, she journeys through the bizarre and unpredictable world of Wonderland, learning to accept her unique qualities and strength. This exhibition offers rare insight into some hidden narratives within her cleverly-crafted series of Wonderland characters.
The Forest Howls Tonight by celebrated local artist Ken Laraman introduces a recent collection of paintings expressing the artist's views on social issues such as sea pollution, climate change, consequential ignorance, and environmental loss - employing either poetry as a starting point or the use of language as a gauge of commitment. All works sold include a generous donation to a series of charities selected by Laraman.
All new exhibitions will be showing until the 26 January 2025, except for Ken Laraman’s The Forest Howls Tonight which ends on the 8 of December to make way for Warm Fuzzies, a Wonderlab exhibition curated by our gallery pouako educator Elizabeth King - an exciting exploration of local and national wool histories for all to love and appreciate throughout the Summer period.
You can view all existing and upcoming events and exhibitions on our website.
ENDS