The Whangarei Art Museum is delighted to announce an exhibition of works from the Whangarei Art Museum Collection to showcase a true summer in Northland - four seasons in a day. With both contemporary and historic works, get transported to our wonderful coastline and region while also delving into iconic memories of our past.
A variety of media is represented in this exhibition; watercolour painting, oil painting, printworks on paper, photographic images, and three-dimensional objects in ceramic and cast glass make a diverse collection on display. Over 30 works exhibited in the Community Gallery present a familiar theme of summer, from pohutukawa groves to iconic headlands and harbour estuaries ranging from 1888 until 2011.
Celebrating the season with imagery that depicts classic summer ideals - the beach, the boat and the bach across centuries to show, not only stylistic changes developed through individual artist's careers, but changes in our environment and traditions. George Woolley's 1921 oil on canvas Gathering Toheroa, 90 Mile Beach is an example of how times have changed - the gathering of the large bivalve shellfish is now prohibited as a result of overharvesting by a growing population following WWII.
Northland's coast features many harbours, enclosing headlands and splendid beaches - summertime's quintessential factors. Not always calm and sunny, the coast can reflect many different moods. Summer humidity brings mist, overcast skies and cyclones. Conditions can range from drought to flood, neither extreme welcome by farmers nor holidaymakers but captured nonetheless by paint and ink in scenes from the Whangarei Harbour, Woolleys Bay Matapouri, the Dukes Nose Whangaroa and Cape Reinga.
Our Summer represents a cross section of the Whangarei Art Museum Collection and artworks synonymous with the lifestyle brought about when the pohutukawa trees flower, the sand is too hot to stand on and the bays of Northland are full of boats. An asset to the city, the Whangarei Art Museum Collection assists with the museum's purpose of making art free and accessible for the enjoyment of citizens of the region and its visitors over our Northland summer.
