Art marathon planned for city

Organising a 24-hour art marathon are (from left) Carla Donson, Neddal Ayyad and Sarah Williams. PICTURE / PAUL BROOKS

Neddal Ayyad is a landscape photographer and has been in Whanganui for six months. From St John's, Newfoundland, he is here because his partner is working at Whanganui Hospital.
"When I look at a map, I'm as far from the South Pole here as I was from the North Pole in Canada," he says.

Now Neddal, Sarah Williams of Space and Carla Donson of the Women's Network are in the process of putting together a 24-hour art marathon.
"It's an event that's been going on in St John's for the past 16 or 17 years," says Neddal. "The main event is that artists would set up a studio and create a piece of art within 24 hours. At the end there would be an auction for this piece of art."

Neddal happened to start a conversation with Sarah at Space Gallery in Taupo Quay.
"I was talking about this art event and said it would be really cool if something similar was going on in Whanganui, because there are so many artists and there is a vibrant art scene here."
Sarah agreed and ran with it. The charity to benefit from the art auction would be the Women's Network.

"The idea is that we're going to set up stations here in the gallery [at Space] and people will be able to sign up for 24 hours or we'll do it in blocks. They then create a piece of art in whatever time they've signed up for. That'll go from 9am on October 13 to 9am on the 14th. The gallery will be open to the public for the entire time," says Sarah.

"And we have this idea of providing other activities," says Carla. "Like workshops. Anyone who wants to get involved — as an artist creating a piece during that time, or as someone who wants to come and run an activity; there might be someone who wants to come and provide food or set up a coffee cart ...
"People can come down, see the works being created, and the cool thing is, they then get the chance to purchase it and support a good cause."
"It should be cool and it should be fun," says Neddal. "So far response has been positive."

Carla says she sees it as a grand event before Space closes at the end of this year.
"Artists who have missed out on the opportunity to exhibit at Space can interact with it before the year finishes."
"We've had so many new artists move to Whanganui and it's about getting them included in things and getting connected," says Sarah.
"The Women's Network is really excited we get to be the recipient and we'll certainly be quite active on the day," says Carla.

To get the idea under way, the trio is holding a public meeting to generate interest and get ideas.
The meeting will be on Wednesday, July 25 at 7pm in Space Gallery. Refreshments will be provided.