ART EXHIBITION AT PONSONBY CRUISING CLUB 7 - 11 May Open from 11am to 7pm From October 1900 the Ponsonby Cruising Club has existed (first in St Mary’s Bay) to promote sailing - whether it be racing or cruising - friendship and camaraderie. In 1920 Sir Thomas Lipton presented the club with a magnificent silver trophy which rivals even the Americas Cup, to be presented to the winner of the annual Mullet Boat competition. This regatta is still sailed by these Mulleties every year along with weekly racing for their keel boat fleet. The club history is long and has had many challenges. Their current challenge is to keep their sailing school afloat. The boats used for the school are always in need of repairs and maintenance and from time to time the club needs to add new boats to the fleet and safety vessels to keep the kids safe. An art exhibition is being held at their clubhouse at Westhaven to raise funds for the sailing school. Approximately 66 artists will be supplying over 250 fabulous works in all media as well as glass art, jewellery and model boats. Water-colourist, Amanda Brett will be ‘artist in residence’. The exhibition will be opened in the Harbour View Lounge by Patron Peter Montgomery. Join the club in celebrating the artists’ fine works and maybe find a piece of art to decorate your walls. The funds raised will keep alive their sailing history PN and the ‘City of Sails.’ F PONSONBY CRUISING CLUB - 141 -151 Westhaven Drive Westhaven Marina T: 09 376 0245 www.pcc.org.nz
ARTS + CULTURE 'FEATHER' FLIES THE NEST "I was grinding steel in St Mary's Bay for years, no one ever complained," says local artist Virginia King as she stands beneath her latest commission, 'Feather'. The 10.8m high steel beauty has been brought out of the shed at Stainless Engineering for the only time it will be viewed in New Zealand. Projects of this magnitude mean that the days of working from her St Mary's Bay home have been left behind, but Virginia's family are still involved; her architect husband Mike and their son Luke provide technical support, from drafting and computer drawing to sanding sculptures by hand. 'Feather' was commissioned last year by Canberra Airport in Australia, the work will be installed outdoors, but inside the building an escalator will carry airport users up past a huge expanse of window, allowing for an impressive view of the sculpture. Inspired by the plumage of the lyrebird, an Australian native bird noted for its ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds, the client gave Virginia a single tail feather as a sample. "The lyrebird has spectacular plumage, I wanted to get the feeling of the whole lyrebird into the work," Virginia says. With 'Feather' the single tail feather has taken on the arching and proud quality of the full plumage of the lyrebird. The shaft of the feather is brightly polished and glass-bead blasted barbs give contrast; each of the curving barbs has been pierced with holes, carefully aligned to allow light to pass through. There is something 'naturally unnatural' about ‘Feather’ as it stands outside the shed in East Tamaki, gleaming against the blue sky, framed by power lines and industrial buildings. It is a sculpture that, as with all Virginia's work, seems delicate and alive, despite being constructed in solid stainless steel. One of Virginia's recent commissions is 'Woman of Words' for the Wellington Sculpture Trust, Wellington City Council and Katherine Mansfield Society. It was a break from tradition for Virginia, creating a figurative work, and it was a challenge making the folds of Katherine's gown drape elegantly in stainless steel - but the project has been a success with a flow of positive feedback. "This has been a joy," Virginia says of ‘Feather’. "At one point the client came over and decided he wanted it more 'forwardly' inclined, so we had to go back to the engineer... but you solve the problems as they come along." Working with engineers, in this case Steven Thorne of Thorne Dwyer Structures, is a large part of Virginia's process, and fabricator-welder John Brannan worked full time with Virginia during the construction phase of ‘Feather’. "I have become very interested the engineering part of it, although it's on a need to know basis," Virginia says smiling. Virginia credits the grant she received early in her career as the catalyst to working seriously as an artist, and sculpture became her preferred art form in the 1980s. Her work can be seen around the country, in Auckland alone there are 16 of Virginia's public commissions, among them 'Feather and Fern' at the Telstra Clear Pacific Events Centre and at AUT; 'Fifty Bronze Fish,' and 'Limpet Coracle' can be found at Auckland Airport and her 'Amphitheatre Earthwork', is right here in Ponsonby as a part of Tole Reserve. It will be visitors to Canberra Airport that will delight in 'Feather' for years to come, but as the completed sculpture stands outside the shed before shipping, two and half tonnes of stainless steel and nine months of full time labour seem to have disappeared. In their place is a shining work of art that, and it must be said, is as strong and as light as PN a feather. (JESSIE KOLLEN) F
The World Belongs to the Dissatisfied
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PONSONBY NEWS+ April 2014
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