Arts+Culture

Find your type

by Jessica Allen

The best typography in the world will take over Te Atamira from Friday. Auckland-based creative agency Osborne Shiwan is bringing the annual Type Directors Club (TDC) Awards to Queenstown, which recognises design excellence and typographic innovation. The exhibition is called TDC68 Aotearoa and it will bring together a variety of pieces from entrants.

The display is a great opportunity to see future design trends and what’s on the horizon for the industry. It will highlight visual communication, so while some of the designs may be in foreign languages, the message their trying to convey will be clear. Another key focus will be the artistic side of designs, rather than their marketing or advertising meaning.

“It’s really special because it’s the first time for such a comprehensive design exhibition here in Queenstown,” says Olivia Egerton, Director of Te Atamira. “We have elements of some of these wonderful things, but what we’re finding is that being able to bring a comprehensive look at some of these topics – the community is really loving the opportunity.

Te Atamira has a diverse curatorial programme that’s centred around place, space and understanding the different realms of life that we operate in.”

The TDC is an institution when it comes to type design; curating a calendar of events intended to build a community and support the growth of students and those in the industry. Based in New York and founded in 1946 by leading design practitioners, they’re committed to increasing the level of diversity and representation in all aspects of their programming, membership and advisory board.

“The Type Directors Club itself came out of frustrated designers, who felt that design could carry deeper messages – it’s not just advertising. They came together to actually explore the art of it, and that’s where the magic comes from. Showcasing it in art spaces, it gets read in a different realm – like the Apple advertising, which we see in the consumer realm, we don’t often see the art of what goes on behind those campaigns.”

This year, 202 winners were selected from 63 countries by a diverse jury of leading designers and type designers. Osborne Shiwan are advisory board members of TDC and creative director, Shabnam Shiwan, says, “The TDC exhibition offers an exciting glimpse into future design and cultural trends in typography. Seeing the best progressive typographic work represented by so many languages, including te reo Māori, makes it unique – everyone will find something to enjoy.”

On Saturday, there will be a talk with Osborne Shiwan directors, Loyde Osborne and Shabnam Shiwan, who will discuss how type design drives culture and include examples of their own design work for brands like Karen Walker and Atamira Dance Company.

“The talk on Saturday morning is free, so it’s very accessible. It’s a great opportunity to hear from two of the industry’s leading design practitioners – to have that opportunity is awesome,” says Olivia. TDC68 Aotearoa: The World’s Best Typography exhibition will be at Te Atamira from Friday 18 August until 13 September. The opening is at 5pm on the Friday and the talk with Osborne Shiwan directors will take place on Saturday at 11am. You can find out more information at teatamira.nz

Queenstown has a new art space, Gallery 6, located at QT Queenstown. The inaugural exhibition will feature the colourful and joy-filled work of artist Alexandra Weston. Her art features repetition of dots, drips and swishes and often includes pops of colour. She paints on the reverse side of perspex, meaning the work is at the back of the acrylic sheet when viewed. Alongside the art space opening, on 11 August Lil Red will return to QT, offering a cosy fireplace and a punchy colour palette by award-winning designer Nic Graham. Executive Chef Ryan Henley embraces local NZ ingredients blended with traditional Japanese techniques.

Boards without Boarders -NZ Shred’s recycled snowboard exhibition returns

NZSHRED’s sixth recycled snowboard art exhibition will take place at Sherwood from the 21st of August. This year the exhibition is entitled Boards without Boarders, anyone can pop down to NZSHRED to pick up an old snowboard to turn into an art piece, which is then sold with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. This year’s charities are Happiness House and I Am Hope.

Owner of NZSHRED and event organiser, Jase Johns, puts in the mahi to get the event up and running. Each year, members of the public donate boards for the exhibition, and Jase also contacts brands to get donations. Anyone is able to stop by NZSHRED and pick up a board to start getting creative with. The original idea was sparked by Jase’s sister, who works in the art industry in Australia.

“She was teaching at a college in Aussie and one of the things they were doing at the time, for disadvantaged youth, was following a programme that had been done in the States with skateboards, where they’d hold back kids after school that were getting in trouble and make them do artwork on skateboards. They then got pro-skate boarders and actual artists, and put them together with the kids to do an exhibition, with no nametags – so no one knew who had done what. I grabbed that idea and extended it, thinking, how can we help the community charities that are doing some good work?,” says Jase.

Most of the people that participate in the event aren’t professional artists, which results in a melting pot of creative and interesting works. You don’t have to include your name on your artwork and can opt to keep it yourself. Jase makes the process simple for anyone that wants to get involved.

“If you can make it as easy as possible for people, giving them time to do it or getting them the resources to do it, they don’t have to do anything for themselves other than just create a piece of art. It helps that it’s year-on-year, so that people can actually get a feel of it from last year or see it from last year,” says Jase.

Students from Remarkables Primary School and Mt Aspiring High School Arts programmes are already underway preparing boards for the exhibition. As with previous exhibitions many of the boards will be available for purchase. Boards without Boarders will be a relaxing event where people can take their time looking at all of the artworks and enjoying themselves.

Jase loves running the exhibition each year and is happy to see the momentum it’s gained. Often people will recommend friends or family to get involved.

“The most amazing thing for me is standing there and watching people come in to look at their piece of art. Most of the people aren’t artists, they’re builders, or lifties, or walk around in a fluro vest, but they’ve just got a little bit of flair for doing something. They’ve got a level of anonymity, too, as it’s not an exhibition by them. If it does anything for the individual, it reminds them that they do have something more in them,” says Jase.

Boards without Boarders will run at Sherwood from Monday, 21st until Sunday, 27th of August, with prize giving being held on the night of Friday the 25th. You can find out more info or get involved by checking out the Boards without Boarders Recycled Snowboard Exhibition group on Facebook or popping into NZSHRED for a chat.