The Dowse Art Museum: Recent Episodes
The Dowse Art Museum
Join us as we talk to artists, curators, and The Dowse staff about the latest behind-the-scenes info, and explore what makes the art world tick.
On a rainy morning at the beginning of autumn, in a slightly unpredictable council car, I joined photographer Ans Westra and curator Sian van Dyk for a four-wheeled wander through the streets of Naenae to visit some of the photographs taken by Ans in the area in 1988 -1989, and which have now been produced as billboards as part of the exhibition Time Capsule: Ans Westra in the Hutt.
We talk with Ans about her relationship with her subjects, her proclivity for getting in and out of trouble, and the real struggle photographers face in trying to keep their eyes on the road…
'So... Tell us about the cheese and the bananas.'
Artist Mark Schroder and Gus Fisher Gallery Curator, Lisa Beauchamp take us on a workplace orientation in 'Mark Schroder: Fortune Teller (No. 2) (Branch Office)'.
Inspired by his day job as a “corporate lawyer drone”, Mark has created a dystopian office plastered with absurd inspirational posters, copious memos about employee well-being, and handmade ceramics that speak to the workaday grind.
Did your mother ever tell you, ‘There’s no I in team’? Claudia Kogachi’s mom did, so she made it the title of her exhibition.
Senior Curator Dr. Chelsea Nichols sat down with Claudia to discuss hairy legs, The Simpsons and using portraiture to explore a complex mother-daughter relationship – warts and all.
Visual artist Jess Johnson & video-maker and animator Simon Ward in conversation with curator and Dowse director Karl Chitham about their unique collaborative relationship and the process of developing their virtual reality exhibition, Terminus.
BC Collective, Cora-Allan Wickliffe (Ngāpuhi, Taniui, Niue) and Daniel Twiss (Lakota Sioux, Rosebud Reservation) in conversation with curator Grace Ryder about Following the herd, a new installation and performance featured in the exhibition From the Ground Up: Community, Cultivation and Commensality at The Dowse.
Sharing food has been a central element to BC Collective and their installations since their establishment in 2017. Partners and collaborators, Wickliffe and Twiss work with food, specifically Indian Tacos, to encourage conversations with their audiences about culture and inherited knowledge, - in this instance looking at colonial food sources adopted and elevated by their indigenous and native communities.
Artist Reuben Paterson sat down with The Dowse Director Karl Chitham on the opening weekend of Black Matter to chat about what draws him to blackness, chicken wings and all that glitters…
Artists Fiona Amundsen and Tim Corballis in conversation with listening theorist Emily Beausoleil as they explore listening as a social responsibility and a methodology for connecting.
This discussion is part of Human Hand: Fiona Amundsen and Tim Corballis, an exhibition seeking out ways of living in a sprawling, urbanised and militarised world.
Listen to the conversation with this panel of thinkers about how built environments can build community.
Do the structures we live and work in ‘set the scene’ for how our lives are lived? How do our shelters define us and our communities? What are the ways we can create shelter without erecting borders?
Join the discussion with urbanism senior lecturer Dr Rebecca Kiddle (Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi), PhD candidate and public art curator Sophie Jerram and landscape architecture senior lecturer Bruno Marques, facilitated by writer and lecturer Dr Tim Corballis.
Presented in partnership between The Dowse & Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
‘Care corresponds to quite an ordinary reality: the fact that people look after one another, take care of one another, and thus are attentive to the functioning of the world, which depends on this kind of care.’ – Sandra Laugier, Ethics of Care
This discussion is part of Human Hand: Fiona Amundsen and Tim Corballis, an exhibition seeking out ways of living in a sprawling, urbanised and militarised world. It explores three history-laden sites in Arizona, United States: Arcosanti, a 1970s experimental micro-city; Biosphere 2, a structure built to test whether humans can live in space; and the Titan Missile Museum, with the largest intercontinental ballistic missile deployed by the US Air Force.
At each site, people have coped differently with the consequences of military capitalism—hoping either to build alternatives, to escape, or to live right at the heart of it. Exhibition ends 11 October 2020.
Speaker bios: Dr Rebecca Kiddle is Ngāti Porou and Ngā Puhi and is a senior lecturer in the Wellington School of Architecture at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Her research focuses on Māori identity and placemaking in Aotearoa New Zealand and the nexus between community creation, social processes and urban design. She also works to develop better participatory design processes to ensure rangatahi and tamariki voices are heard. Bruno Marques is a senior lecturer in Landscape Architecture and Programme Director for Landscape Architecture in the Wellington School of Architecture at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. His main research interests relate to the integration of indigenous methods in participatory design and place-making in landscape rehabilitation and ecosystem services. Sophie Jerram is the co-founder of public art programmes Letting Space and Urban Dream Brokerage. Her PhD is being undertaken in a cotutelle partnership with Te Herenga Waka— Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Copenhagen and examines ‘commoning’: the relations and governance approaches to shared space that are formed and transformed through artistic agency, and its relationship to collective Māori land practices in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dr Tim Corballis’s writing deals with how political experience can be reflected in the composition of literary text. He is based in Wellington, where he works as a lecturer at the Centre for Science in Society at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. He has published five novels as well as a substantial corpus of essays and art writing. He has received major awards and prizes for his writing, with his essay ‘Winter’ winning the Landfall Essay Competition in 2013. He has turned to speculative fiction with his latest novel, Our Future is in the Air (Victoria University Press, 2017). See less
For the opening of Nikau Hindin: Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai at The Dowse, Nikau was joined by apprentice navigator Hinerapa Rupuha (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whānau a Apanui) and indigenous activist and voyager Raihania Tipoki (Ngati Kahungunu, Rangitāne) for a very special workshop.
Together, they explored the relationship between the star compass, used for celestial navigation, and the Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar).
In the second audio recording of the workshop, learn from Raihania of Te Rua o Mahara Trust about how the star compass is representative of knowledge and tikanga of local Maramataka.
Nikau Hindin: Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai is on at The Dowse from 20 June – 4 October 2020.
http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/kokorangi-ki-kokowai
For the opening of Nikau Hindin: Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai at The Dowse, Nikau was joined by apprentice navigator Hinerapa Rupuha (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whānau a Apanui) and indigenous activist and voyager Raihania Tipoki (Ngati Kahungunu, Rangitāne) for a very special workshop.
Together, they explored the relationship between the star compass, used for celestial navigation, and the Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar).
Listen to the first part of the workshop, as Hinerapa speaks about constructing and reading the star compass, a framework for finding direction using the stars, ocean swells and currents.
Nikau Hindin: Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai is on at The Dowse from 20 June – 4 October 2020.
http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/kokorangi-ki-kokowai
Relive a defining moment in Aotearoa’s jewellery history, with this special presentation by Areta Wilkinson, Alan Preston and special guests at The Dowse Art Museum, 12 July 2020.
Join some of the most innovative jewellers of the past 40 years, as they revisit and update their lively and prestigious keynote presentation delivered at The Design Museum Die Neue Sammlung, Munich as part of Schmuck Jewellery Week in 2016.
A tūturu kiwi-iwi PowerPoint, complete with hongi and waiata, exchange of jewellery pieces, costume changes and quirky slides displaying New Zealand, it showed the longstanding friendship of the jewellers inter-woven with tikanga Māori. Contemporary Jewellery Aotearoa New Zealand: Māori, Oceanic and International practices underpinning Fingers development for 40 years, became an instant hit.
This was a ground breaking moment for New Zealand jewellery, and makes public this unique dynamic and bicultural whakapapa. 'We demonstrated our tikanga and this collective identity and that was Māori and Pākehā together,' says Areta.
This talk ran in conjunction with Ngā Hokohoko, an exhibition exploring the kaupapa of hokohoko–exchange, trade, barter–within the contemporary jewellery community in Aotearoa.
Curated by Gina Matchitt (Te Arawa, Whakatōhea) 2019 Blumhardt/Creative New Zealand Curatorial Intern. http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/nga-hokohoko
Join Gina Matchitt (Te Arawa, Whakatōhea) in conversation with Areta Wilkinson (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha) about her practice, PhD and recent projects.
Areta is featured in Ngā Hokohoko, an exhibition exploring the kaupapa of hokohoko–exchange, trade, barter–within the contemporary jewellery community in Aotearoa, on at The Dowse until 30 August 2020.
Curated by Gina Matchitt, the 2019 Blumhardt/Creative New Zealand Curatorial Intern
Listen to Nikau Hindin speak about her work in Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai, during a live artist talk recorded at The Dowse on Saturday 20 June 2020.
On at The Dowse until 4 October 2020. Find out more: http://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions/detail/kokorangi-ki-kokowai
Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai is Nikau’s journey in understanding Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar), through the revival of traditional aute practices.
Using aute plants she harvests in Hawai’i, she strips, beats and soaks the fibres into a cloth-like material, and inscribes it with patterns derived from tukutuku and tāniko, using kōkōwai and ngārahu (charcoal pigment).
“Kōkōrangi ki Kōkōwai is about bringing celestial bodies into the physical, documenting the movement of the moon and stars to find direction,” she says.
“I hope people reconnect with the importance of slowing down and noticing things in their environment,” she says. “To wake up to the sunrise or seek out the sun setting, to watch the stars rising and see the position of stars change over time.”
“It’s just a starting point for learning this native language of Aotearoa. Our ancestors were incredible scientists - they knew the whenua - we need to get back to that if we want to survive this climate emergency.”
In celebration of our first ever exhibition of international contemporary jewellery, The Language of Things: Meaning and Value in Contemporary Jewellery, The Dowse hosted a special open day featuring a lecture by Lauren Kalman (USA) , which can be listened to here.
The Dowse is grateful to all the artists and supporters who have made The Language of Things: Meaning and Value in Contemporary Jewellery possible, especially The Rotasa Collection, USA; The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney and CODA, The Netherlands. Exhibition sponsors and partners include Creative New Zealand, Blumhardt Foundation, Massey University, Asia New Zealand Foundation, Goethe-Institut, Handshake, Fab Lab Wgtn, and Allied Pickfords.
Blumhardt Foundation trustees and ceramic specialists Simon Manchester and Brian Wood in conversation about the history of pottery in Aotearoa and what makes a good pot.
In this episode we talk with Michael Pester and Sasha Greig about The Dowse's Pattern Project - a partnership between emerging and local designers, and MINE: The Dowse Shop.
Hear Nicholas Mangan and curator Melanie Oliver in conversation, discussing Limits to Growth, a new survey exhibition at The Dowse Art Museum.
Hear Richard Stratton talk about his practice as a ceramic artist and his new works for the exhibition 'Living History'. While researching for the show, Richard spent time discovering his ancestor, Francois Narbey, and the ceramic processes of his era.
Richard Frater discusses Stop Shell (oyster version) 2017 as part of the exhibition, This Time of Useful Conciousness - Political Ecology Now.
Hear from artist and researcher Dr Huhana Smith on adaptation strategies to address climate change impacts on coastal Māori communities.
This talk was conducted alongside the exhibition This Time of Useful Consciousness—Political Ecology Now, as part of the Hutt STEMM Festival.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to Greg Donson and Emma Camden about the exhibition NOW. Greg curated the exhibition for the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui, featuring six brand new works alongside older works from Emma. They discuss the works in the show, the process of creating large cast glass works, and how Emma came to be one of the foremost cast glass artists in New Zealand.
In this episode of the podcast we use this exhibition as a grounding from which to explore how memory, loss, longing, and emotion are explored in artworks. Courtney Johnston, Director of the Dowse Art Museum, Alice Tappenden, Curator of this is the cup of your heart, and Ruby Joy Eade, one of the artists featured in the exhibition sat down to discuss the ways in which artists are not only creators, but also editors, which allows them to allude to and invoke emotion, without becoming overbearing or mawkish.
For the last episode of the year we are celebrating the top 12 Dowse highlights for the year, including events, exhibitions, and other cool projects The Dowse has been involved in over 2015.
This week Chloe continues her investigation into the changes going on at Petone Settlers Museum. She continues her conversation with Emma Bugden and Jen Boland, and also hears from Clark Stiles, Heritage Specialist at Hutt City Libraries.
This week on the podcast, we’re chatting with Priscilla Pitts. Priscilla is an art writer and curator, who has been researching the work of Christine Hellyar’s for many years. She was kind enough to come in to talk about Hellyar’s Thought Cupboard, and share her thoughts on the last Dowse exhibition of the same name.
Join Chloe and the Petone Settlers Museum team to hear about the upcoming changes at the Museum.
In this episode we talk to Faye Johnson, daughter of Bob Gerrard. A number of Bob's fantastical arks and paintings are currently on show at The Dowse. Faye spoke to us about her father's love of art and history, and shares some fascinating stories of the man behind the art.
This episode comes to you live from our 70th Late Lounge at The Dowse. Late Lounge is an event run once a month at The Dowse Art Museum, the galleries are open late, there is a bar and food, and each month a different band preforms the night away right in the middle of The Dowse. This month, we caught up with The Dancing and Drinking Society.
In this episode, Alice chats to Emma Bugden, Senior Curator at The Dowse, and Emma Ng, past Blumhardt Curatorial Intern and Curator at Enjoy Public Art Gallery. Both have been luck enough to go on Asia NZ Curator's tours, exploring art and galleries across China, Japan, and Korea.
In this episode we chat to our Director, Courtney Johnston, who has just returned from a whirlwind research trip to The States. She talks about the lessons we could take from American museums and galleries, what they could learn from us, and just how much being away makes you appreciate what you have at home.
In this episode of the podcast we chat to the kids of Dee Club, our after school art programme run twice a week. They tell us about their favourite art works in the exhibition Mix it Up, our currently family exhibition that explores blue, yellow, and green.
In this episode, Sasha chats to Michael Pester, Graphic Designer at The Dowse, and Sian Van Dyk, Curator of Seraphine Pick: White Noise. They are talking about their work on a new book based on the exhibition, and about the value of art publications in general.
In this episode, Alice and Chloe travel out to Pataka Art + Museum in Porirua to chat to their new Director, Reuben Friend. Reuben was the Creative New Zealand/Blumhardt Curatorial Intern at The Dowse six years ago, so Chloe and Alice found out how exactly one goes from being an intern to a director, and what Reuben hopes to achieve with Pataka, and his own curatorial practice.
We are continuing our mission to demystify the public art museum in this episode of the podcast, chatting to Gerda Nana, Exhibitions and Projects Manager at The Dowse Art Museum. Gerda's job involves so much more than just making sure a painting is hung correctly on the wall, and he has many interesting stories to share!
This episode is part two of an interview that Cat and Sasha conducted with Ruth Meier earlier in the year. It is Ruth's collection of buttons that is featured in the exhibition All That Jazz, currently on at The Dowse Art Museum.
In this episode of the podcast, Sasha and Mackenzie sit down with Heather Crichton, the President of Friends of The Dowse, to talk about how friends groups support cultural institutions, and the 2015 ECC NZ Student Craft Design Awards.
This week we are Chloe and Alice were joined by Herbee Bartley, the mind behind the recent Chop Suey Hui held at The Dowse. The Chop Suey Hui is an event run by The Kava Club around Wellington, and The Dowse was lucky enough to host one as part of the opening events for Lonnie Hutchinson's Black Bird. In this episode of the podcast we talk to Herbee about the origins of the Kava Club and what is involved in their events, as well as hearing from Gem Wilder, Kasaya Manuleva and members of the Tupuna Collective, all performers on the day.
In this episode of the podcast, Ngai Tahu and Samoan artists Lonnie Hutchinson talks to us about her new exhibition at The Dowse, Black Bird. She talks about some of the works in the show, her process, and her hopes for the Christchurch rebuild.
Cat has taken off on some exciting adventures overseas for a year! So this week we are welcoming three new members to The Dowse Podcast team. In this episode of the podcast they get the opportunity to introduce themselves and the stories behind how they came to be with us at The Dowse Art Museum.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to Areta Wilkinson about her exhibition Whakapaipai, now on at The Dowse Art Museum. The exhibition is the culmination of Areta'a PhD work, so she talks to us about what was involved, and the meeting of academic and artistic practices.
In this episode we chat with Jay Hutchinson, one of the exhibitions preparators here at The Dowse. Jay talks us through what a preparator does... and no it isn't "all the work", and what his favourite exhibition to work on has been.
In this episode of the podcast we talk to Curator Sian Van Dyk, and Painter Seraphine Pick about their creative processes and working together. Seraphine's show White Noise, is currently showing at The Dowse and was curated by Sian
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to three of the jewelers that are involved in Wunderruma, a jewellery exhibition that has a recently opened at Auckland Art Gallery. They talk to us about the process of being selected for Wunderruma, and what being part of such a large exhibition has meant for them and their jewellery practices.
The Dowse recently opened an exhibition featuring buttons from the collection of Ruth Meier, a Lower Hutt resident and avid button collector. This is the first of a two part feature on Ruth, exploring her life and where her passion for buttons came from.
In this episode we talk to Katrina Smit, the Communications and Relationships manager at The Dowse. Katrina shows us why her role is about so much more than "just telling people what's on", and why it is important to show people the value of museums and galleries in our communities.
In this episode, Director of The Dowse, Courtney Johnston, chats to John Parker. They discuss his relationship with Lucie Rie, he influence on him and others in New Zealand ceramics, and some of the works currently on show at The Dowse Art Museum.
In this episode we sit down with Elizabeth Thompson, artist behind the exhibition Invitation to Openness—Substantive and Transitive States. She talks about where her work with moths began and how the exhibition evolved throughout the process.
In this episode of the podcast we chat with Pippa Sanderson, the Community Arts Advisor for Hutt City Council. Pippa is based here at The Dowse but her projects often see her out and about with the local communities, and we were very lucky to hear about one of her exciting projects going on right now.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to Justine Olsen from Te Papa. She gives her thoughts on the new Lucie Rie exhibition at The Dowse, and the show she curated at Te Papa, 'The Gallery of Helen Hitchings'.
In this episode of the podcast we explore the interesting history of Petone Settlers Museum, The Dowse's sister museum on The Esplanade in Petone. We talk to some of the most knowledgeable people we could find here at The Dowse to talk about the different stages of PSM evolution, right up to the current day.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to The Dowse's Senior Curator Emma Bugden about His Own Steam - the Barry Brickell survey exhibition. Emma talks about curating the show and her experiences in getting the works to The Dowse.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking to Peter Deckers, New Zealand jeweller and tutor, about The Bold and The Beautiful. This show features some of the more outrageous and extravagant necklaces from The Dowse's collection, and Peter lends his commentary to the show.
In this episode, we chat to Jen Boland about her job as Learning Programmes Manager here at The Dowse. She outlines what her job actually involves, and gives us a sneak peak into what goes into planning one of the great learning programmes on offer here at The Dowse.
This week on the podcast we talk to Bronwynne Cornish about her work Home Is Where The Heart Is, which is part of her show Mudlark, on at The Dowse Art Museum now.
In this episode of the podcast Cat sits down with Reweti while his work, Rangimatua, is being installed at The Dowse, to discuss the meaning and inspiration behind Rangimatua, how the work came about, and what it is like trying to fill such a large space with a single artwork.
This is the third of our 'demystifying the public art museum' podcast series. We speak to Jo Wehrly, Collections Manager at The Dowse Art Museum about what her role involves and how it differs from institution to institution.
In this episode of the podcast we chat to Sian Van Dyk, curator of The Dowse Art Museum's new show Cut + Paste, and Kerry Ann Lee, an artist in the show. They run us through the importance of collage, and where their inspiration comes from.
This week on the podcast we are talking to Courtney Johnston about the Wikipedia project that she has been working on for the summer. She runs us through what it has been like learning to edit Wikipedia, and some of the finer points of crowd-sourced information.
In this episode we feature an interview with artist Johanna Mechen about her video essay, Stepping into Social Waters. The video was shown for two days at The Dowse last year as part of Johanna's Masters project, and can now be found on her Vimeo channel here: https://vimeo.com/110319136
In this episode we chat to The Dowse staff members who are involved in the art handling process about the finer points of moving and caring for art. We also discuss the rules around visiting art galleries and museums, and why the staff are more afraid of them than you are.
In this episode we chat to Sian Van Dyk, Acting Senior Curator here at The Dowse. She fills us in on what is actually involved in curating an exhibition, her favourite parts of the job, and why it may not be as glamorous as sometimes thought.
This episode is a follow-up with Bridget Rewiti, the 2014 Blumhardt Foundation/Creative New Zealand Curatorial Intern. She walks us through the exhibition and the meaning behind it, as well as talks about what she will take away from this year-long internship.
In this episode we chat to Bridget Rewiti, the 2014 Blumhardt Foundation/Creative New Zealand Curatorial Intern at The Dowse. We talk about the exhibition she spent 2014 developing, how the transition from artist to curator has gone, and the hidden sides of developing an exhibition.
This week on the podcast, we talk about Solo: Five Welligton Artists, a show currently on at The Dowse. Cat sat down with Peter Trevelyan, one of the artists featured in Solo, about the importance of support for local artists and the value of doing things a little differently, sometimes.
In this episode, we chat with Brian Wood, Curator, Programmes and events, at The Dowse, about showing works from private collections, what long-term loan actually means, and the intricacies of dealing with deceased estates.
This week on the podcast, Sasha interviews Josie Brennan. She is the founder of the Fabric A Brac event, which The Dowse participated in as part of the opening festivities for the exhibition Age of Aquarius.
In this episode we begin to demystify the public art museum, by chatting to Director of The Dowse, Courtney Johnston. Courtney runs us through the importance of vision in running a public institution, what it's like to be responsible for that vision, and the legacy she has become part of.
In this episode we are taking an entertaining look at some of our favourite art stereotypes and tropes. We spoke to staff at The Dowse about the art stereotypes that annoy and entertain them, and why these stereotypes can actually get in the way of an art gallery experience.