Art by all ages at Cooks Gallery

In the youth exhibition New Aotearoa, are tutor and Art Society President Rei Hendry with Youth Councillor Ara Molijn who led the Youth Committee working party in organizing the exhibition.
PHOTO / Paul Brooks

Variety sums up the work on offer at Cooks Gallery over the two weekends of Artists Open Studios.

The efforts of a large group of society members is on panels, walls and easels and reflects a vast amount of talent.

In a departure from past exhibitions, each artist has been allocated a bay in which they can show their work and paint if they wish.

"We're all enjoying the participation. It's just great, there's so much of it," says society publicity officer Judy Webby. "It's more personalised, because people can ask questions while the artist is working."

About a dozen artists are represented in the exhibition, displaying work in oils, watercolours, pastels, acrylic, pen and ink and ceramic.

Judy's own work is on a grand scale and she has started a landscape which she will work on throughout Open Studios.

"It's mostly about the mountain because I can't get it out of my system," she says. "The bigger it gets the more challenging it is."

Lorraine Halliwell has a mixed media display of watercolour and pastel with small cards supporting her work.

Richard and Doreen Cotgrove share a bay, where Richard's oil paintings and Doreen's needlework are on show. Richard's work is all over the world, having been sold in Japan, UK and the US, as well as New Zealand.

John Singleton displays his versatility in two and three dimensions. He says he paints in a "glazing" way, removing paint to produce the colours and shades he needs.

Both John and Richard started life in England where they trained as toolmakers. They met through the Art Society.

One of the bays bears a mixture of work from various artists.

In the rear of the gallery is the Whanganui District Council Youth Council's Young People's Art Exhibition, New Aotearoa, also on display over the Artists Open Studios weekends.

"It's for young, local artists to get their work displayed in a way that can be seen by the public in a larger scale event like Open Studios," says Youth Councillor Ara Molijn. "It's open to ages 12 to 24 and we're running it as a competition in age categories."

By Paul Brooks
Whanganui Midweek 27/3/19