Connections of four artists at Milbank Gallery in Whanganui

Bill Milbank enjoys Julian Karl's plywood BLINK wrapped around the wall with Kiran McKinnon's Violeta Dioxacina behind him.

The connections between the four artists on display at Milbank Gallery aren't obvious at first but they are a lovely quirk.

The exhibition titled Connections started on Tuesday and will run until Sunday, September 9.

They include sculptor Hamish Horsley and artists Jillian Karl, Claudine Kitson and Kiran McKinnon. All of them are Whanganui-based except McKinnon who lives in Auckland.

"They all have connections," said gallery owner Bill Milbank.

"Claudine Kitson is Jillian Karl's daughter. Hamish Horsley is the uncle of Kiran. And Jillian Karl and Kiran did their Masters together at Auckland."

Milbank said the idea to show all of the artists together started with Jillian Karl.

"Jillian was keen to do a show with Kiran, having no idea that she [Kiran] was Hamish's niece.

"She and her daughter Claudine have showed for the last two years in the Sarjeant Gallery annual arts review and I did a major showing of Jillian's work earlier this year. She was keen to bring Claudine along with her but she had said 'look it would be really nice to be showing Kiran's work'."

Milbank decided to then include Horsley to add a further connection.

Milbank said Kiran McKinnon's work is intuitive and abstract, done using seawater from an estuary in Auckland.

"She works with a lot of water. She puts her pigment on to the canvas and then saturates them with water and ... tips and turns it and moves it around on the surfaces [of her works]."

Milbank was describing the work called Violeta Dioxacina. McKinnon had also gathered water from Whanganui River and was hoping to make a piece using it.

Hamish Horsley's Stele sculpture is from 1998 and was made of bronze. He also had several maquettes on display.

Jillian Karl's BLINK is one of the most notable pieces in the exhibition and it is wrapped around the wall. It was being considered to be taken on by the Sarjeant Gallery, Milbank said.

Claudine Kitson's The Space Between dominates the left part of the gallery. It's the first time she has been shown in a gallery alongside her mother, Jillian Karl.

The exhibition could be seen Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 5pm.