Art of change
Tauranga Art Gallery’s planned renovation has begun; in the meantime, opportunities for art continue throughout the local community.
Tauranga Art Gallery’s planned renovation has begun; in the meantime, opportunities for art continue throughout the local community.
words Monique Balvert-O’Connor
Although the iconic Tauranga Art Gallery has temporarily shut its doors, there’s more than a silver lining to the closure. What will follow is pure gold, explains excited gallery director Sonya Korohina.
The gallery’s main building is closed for renovations, reopening next summer as a more inclusive and connected facility. Gallery visitors can expect some “wonderful” new inclusions, such as a creativity centre for all ages, a gallery space especially for tamariki, a dedicated retail space for destination shoppers featuring a high proportion of works by Tauranga Moana artists and designers; and a café offering a curated food experience by day, plus a bookable hospitality space by night. Adding immediate wow will be a grand new entrance allowing a “lovely interplay” with Masonic Park, and a view into the gallery.
The gallery’s closure coincides with work beginning on the redevelopment of Masonic Park. The art gallery’s entrance will relocate from Wharf Street to the opposite side of the building, to be part of the new Te Manawataki o Te Papa vibrant community space. The art gallery will open up into this new cultural precinct, kept company by the likes of Baycourt and the new museum and library. The licensed café will be to the side of the gallery entrance.
“The café will enhance the gallery as a social space, offering people a place to gather before or after their gallery experience. A great espresso is a good way to attract new visitors – ones who have been at the café and then decide to venture beyond into the exhibitions,” Sonya explains.
The gallery’s revamp will involve working within the building’s footprint, except for extending to the parameters of the gallery’s land to accommodate the new entrance. Internal spaces will essentially remain the same, except for the relocation of the foyer, and a reimagining of space in the children’s area. The creativity centre will move to what’s currently the entrance/foyer on Wharf Street, and above (in what’s now a super-high ceiling void) will be a children’s gallery.
“We have to always be looking to the future and creating a world that the next generation can live in and be uplifted by,” Sonya says. The gallery project will fit the bill.
Art opportunities continue during the main building’s closure. Check out the TAG POP UP Gallery and learning space on Devonport Road, opposite the library. POP UP Exhibitions include Tauranga Moana Waterscapes: 1800s – Present and Wunderboxes (involving a map and a quest to find captivating, interactive art installations hidden throughout central Tauranga Moana).
Art lovers rejoice
Live music, food, garden-related trade stores, tiny houses, guest speakers and art displays are all part of the fun at Bloom in the Bay.
Live music, food, garden-related trade stores, tiny houses, guest speakers and art displays are all part of the fun at Bloom in the Bay.
Words Monique Balvert-O’Connor Photos supplied
Dubbed a little like a festival within a festival, the Craigs Investment Partners’ Bloom in the Bay event has become a vibrant part of the biennial Bay of Plenty Garden and Art Festival. And there will certainly be plenty to enthral this year at the 17-20 November family-friendly event, assures festival director Marc Anderson.
Bloom in the Bay will be held at Tauranga Racecourse, where there’s room aplenty for the array of planned activities and stalls. New to the event this year is, for example, the inclusion of 30 garden-related trade stores offering their wares for sale – this exhibition space will be called Bloom Plaza. Also a first, will be an array of tiny houses and cabins that will form a charming wee art village, Marc explains, as there will be an artist set up in each.
Entry to Bloom in the Bay is free to BOP Garden and Art Festival attendees and to children under 14, and will cost adults without festival tickets only $5. The idea is to drop in whenever it suits on the four festival days and enjoy the many wonders of this colourful event, Marc says. It will run from 9.30am to 6pm on the first three festival days, and from 9.30am until 3pm on the Sunday.
The food options will be many, the bar will be open, and the live music lineup will include Kokomo Blues and Caitriona Fallon, for example, as well as emerging talent. There will be a “Make Art Not Waste” Envirohub catwalk event on the Saturday, and a scintillating mix of environment-focused speakers. Discover more about living predator-free, growing microgreens and making seed bombs, find out what endangered species we have living on our beaches, and hear from an award-winning photographer who has been cuddled by a whale
and attacked by an octopus.
Check the gardenandartfestival.co.nz website in the lead-up to the festival for the timing of the different Bloom in the Bay events and performances.
Meanwhile, tickets are selling fast for the festival’s Long Lunch, with gardening guru (and former NZ Gardener editor) Lynda Hallinan as guest speaker. A three-course meal, glass of bubbles on arrival, live music and entertainment will all be on offer.
And art lovers, rejoice: The festival includes more artists than ever and an Art Studio Trail, within the main trail, is being introduced. The festival map is marked with these 22 purpose-built art studios (see photos of
some of the art to be found in these studios).
Festival tickets are $40 for one day, and $65 for multiple days, and are available at Palmers Bethlehem (the festival’s trail sponsors), Décor Garden World, Pacifica Home & Garden Store, i-SITE Tauranga, Te Puke Florist, Katch Katikati information centre, online at Eventfinda (service fees may apply) and on the festival website.
The Bay of Plenty Garden and Art Festival is sponsored by Bayleys.
Two mates with a masterplan for the Mount’s booming music scene
Day and night, there’s always something on the go at multi-functional Mt Maunganui venue Totara St.
Day and night, there’s always something on the go at multi-functional Mt Maunganui venue Totara St.
As Tauranga and the Mount’s population skyrockets, the music and arts scene is growing along with it. The attraction of the city to touring bands isn’t just about the size of the audience, though – it’s also about the fantastic venues at which they can play. The Mount’s Totara St events centre is such a place. By day, it’s a music school, but at night, it morphs into a rock ’n’ roll superstar.
Totara St co-directors Ross Shilling and Jay Munro met almost 10 years ago through a mutual friend. Both share a passion for the music industry – Ross has been in bands, owned venues and worked for years as a sound technician, while Jay had been involved in the promotional aspect of the industry in his hometown of Whangamata, where he juggled making surfboards with promoting bands and acts on the side. Together, they set out to create a venue that incorporated multiple facets of the business and, says Ross: “The masterplan was what we’ve ended up with.”
Realising their vision was no mean feat. According to Ross, “We looked at this place and it seemed almost set up, so we decided to jump in boots and all, and build a venue.”
Patience and elbow grease brought the project to life. The final push was opening for the 2012 Tauranga Jazz Festival, which had booked Totara St to host a poetry reading. Jay says it was “a bit like being on The Block TV show, with things really running down to the wire.”
In retrospect, they’re surprised that the organisers put such faith and support in them, but they proved worthy of the show of confidence, as all was up and running in the nick of time. Except, that is, for the missing toilet doors; Ross and Jay say it was open-plan or nothing for that event!
Walking through Totara St today, it’s plain to see why it’s gone on to become so successful. The music school side of the business is front of house, and the layout perfectly suits its purpose – from the comfy, retro-feel lounge to the rainbow-bright classrooms. A staff of around 13 contract tutors offer lessons on most instruments, and pupils love that they have the opportunity at the end of every term to perform as a band on a professional stage.
The events side of the venue is another thing altogether. Access is through a side entrance that leads into a sleek space with pared-back décor, a mezzanine floor complete with bar, and a huge stage fitted with sound equipment that’d blow the boots off even the most experienced roadie. Considerable investment has been made into this equipment – the set-up boasts a Martin Audio sound system, built-in acoustic panels and a lighting rig that ensure a first-class experience for audiences and bands. Without the hassle or expense of having to haul in their own gear, the process is greatly simplified for performers, adding to Totara St’s appeal.
Totara St has earned its stripes, and today the line-ups here are a heady mix of local and international players. From British acts such as musician Midge Ure and ska band Bad Manners, to Kiwi names such as The Black Seeds, White Chapel Jak and LAB, the list goes on. Ross and Jay have been savvy enough to realise that variety pays dividends, so they offer a variety of genres – entertainment for all sorts of age groups and musical tastes.
Despite their success, the pair aren’t the type to rest on their laurels. They’re currently developing the catering side of the business, the Chur!Coal barbecue and eatery, which allows Totara St to tantilise the tastebuds of 20 to 400 people for parties and all manner of corporate events, from functions to team-building sessions.
Totara St is one well-run business, and one that has a huge appreciation for the community it operates in. Its ability to shapeshift to be as appealing to Millennials as it is to Baby Boomers and band members is amazing – and that’s rock ’n’ roll baby.
Tauranga’s Dominic Tupou makes his on-screen debut as a young Jonah Lomu
At a family reunion, Dominic Tupou sat down with Jonah Lomu’s mum Hepi and found out just how much he and his distant relation were alike. “I did some character study with his mum and family,” Dominic says. “I learnt a lot about Jonah. In Tongan we call it fie tangata lahi. It means ‘wanna be old’. Because Jonah was surrounded by older cousins and uncles, he wanted to be like them. That was just like me.”
WORDS Casey Vassallo PHOTOS supplied
At a family reunion, Dominic Tupou sat down with Jonah Lomu’s mum Hepi and found out just how much he and his distant relation were alike. “I did some character study with his mum and family,” Dominic says. “I learnt a lot about Jonah. In Tongan we call it fie tangata lahi. It means ‘wanna be old’. Because Jonah was surrounded by older cousins and uncles, he wanted to be like them. As soon as I told my family that that was just like me.”
It was December 2018 that the now 16-year-old headed to Auckland to audition for the role of young Jonah Lomu for a television mini series. “I didn’t think I did too well. We did the scene where I was crying after I got a hiding from my dad,” he says. “I thought I over acted.”
But he nailed it and began filming mid-March in Otara, Auckland. So committed to the role, he even had his newly fitted braces removed to film after finding out he’d got the part.
Dominic says he got a lot out of working with Director Danny Mulheron and the on-set Tongan adviser Nua Finau. “I learnt that acting on stage and acting on camera are two completely different things,” he says. “Acting on stage is more dramatized. You have to make everything big: sing louder, act bigger, all your emotions have to be over-exaggerated.”
“On camera, they’re right there, so you can’t act as much,” Dominic says. “I found it a challenge, especially because all my online stuff is still really exaggerated so everyone understands the character I’m playing.”
In early January 2018, Dominic started posting videos inspired by real-life experiences on Instagram (@holyboy.domtupou). “I started making little skits, funny videos, because I was watching @samoansefaa – he’s a big online creator in the Pacific community,” he says. “I think my first big, big one was How To Be Sexy.”
Today, he’s racked up over 76,000 followers. His following suddenly grew when American-born Polynesian singer Dinah Jane joined one of Dominic’s live streams. His reaction to the former member of the girl-group, Fifth Harmony was funny enough for her to post it to her 3.9 million followers.
“There was a phase where Mum and the rest of my family were like, ‘nah, that’s a waste of time,’” he admits of his insta-fame. “But now they’re all supportive because they’ve seen how much of an influence I am to the younger kids; a lot of them really look up to me.”
And it’s true. Dominic is often asked to visit several schools and chat about everything from role models to identity. He’s also been an MC, on panel discussions, a dance tutor and guest performer at a list of events around the region.
Born in Auckland, Dominic moved to Tauranga when he was and is now in grade 11 at Tauranga Boys’ College. He’s part-Tongan, part-Cook Islander, part-New Zealand Māori and lives with his number one supporter, mum Malia Soifua Tupou Pearson, along with his stepdad and four younger siblings, Marcus (13), Sammie (10) and twins Malia and Evelingi (11).
Dominic won his first talent quest in year three covering One Voice by Billy Gilman, and proceeded to take it out in years five and six. “I’ve been singing ever since I was in kindie,” he says. “I’ve always been interested in the arts. From singing and winning the contest, I started taking piano lessons, learning the ukulele, and then I moved onto musical theatre.”
First off, he landed a lead role in the Selwyn Ridge Primary production of Made in New Zealand in 2014 at age 10. Dominic played Professor Ludwig Von Drake (the German duck) from Mickey Mouse and sung The Spectrum Song. “It was a fun character to play. Ever since primary school, I've been the class clown,” Dominic says.
Then it was on to bigger things, playing Aladdin in 2015 and by Lord Farquaad in Shrek in 2017, both for the Tauranga Musical Theatre. “It was a step up from just your normal school play,” Dominic says. “With proper costumes, makeup and lighting.”
Red carpets aren’t the long-term dream for Dominic. Instead, he looks to what Samoan filmmakers and siblings Stallone and Dinah Vaiaoga-loasa are doing in the industry behind Take Home Pay, Three Wise Cousins and Hibiscus & Ruthless. “Watching and listening to them has inspired me to be where they are,” says Dominic. “Making movies, telling our people’s story through the screen and being able to share it with everyone.”
Dominic is currently in the midst of more auditions, with another role inevitably around the corner. “If that doesn't go to plan, I’ll study psychology and become a detective,” says Domimic. “I like the idea of being in the police force without a uniform.”
Mr G: capturing and connecting with whakapapa through art
"I respect the portraits that Goldie and Lindauer painted, but what I have that they didn't is direct hononga to the culture, so I feel that puts me in the best possible place to be Māori portrait artist of the future. My plan is to do more portraits of Māori, sourcing materials where they are from, and telling stories of hononga to their whakapapa and homeland."
With his large-scale portraiture work proliferating around the globe, UNO discovers that it’s Graham Hoete’s deep connection to home that gives this artist’s pieces a depth that extends far beyond their physical size.
WORDS JENNY RUDD / PHOTOS QUINN O'CONNELL
"Let me talk you through this portrait of my dad," says Mr G, showing me a photo on his phone. I'm having dinner with UNO publisher Mat and artist Graham Hoete, “Mr G”, in Izakai at Bayfair in the Mount. There's quite a bit going on around us in the busy restaurant as they serve a five-course degustation but, at our table, all I can hear is Graham's euphonious voice as the future of Māori portraiture explains why hononga [connection] to the art he's creating has become his true north.
Graham is best known for his large-scale spray paint murals. I wonder how far afield his art can be found and discover a video online of him in an All Blacks shirt and a kilt, painting a mural of his ancestor, John Alfred Borrowdale Murray, onto a wall of the oldest building in the village of Moffat, Scotland, where John Alfred was born. "I wanted to pay tribute to my Scottish three-times great-grandfather on behalf of all the Murray whanau in Aotearoa who are descended from him," says Graham. If you keep looking online, you'll find more celebratory photos unveiling Mr G murals across the world, most of which are portraits.
His current artistic focus plays a film in my head, starting with Graham in front of huge crowds – like the one where he unveiled an eight-metre mural of Prince in Minnesota – running backwards to New Zealand, then Bay of Plenty, then finally to the tiny island of Mōtītī where he grew up and, before him, his father. Home.
Graham is putting together pieces for an exhibition called Home to be shown at Tauranga Art Gallery from November 9, 2019. Graham and photographer Quinn O'Connell flew to Mōtītī to take photos that show the importance of his hononga to home.
It's easy to underestimate the everyday things that are so precious to us. Quinn's photo of jars of preserved peaches sitting on a stove resonated with Graham. "To someone else, it's just fruit and glass but, in the context of my life, it's so much more. It's a symbol of home. I felt the deepest of hononga when I saw those peaches. And it won't last forever as, one day, my mum won't be here to make them, and someone else will be in this house, using this stove."
That takes us back to the portrait he's showing me on his phone. "I'm going to talk you through every aspect," he says. "You will see and feel something else when you understand the context."
"Portraiture isn't just about painting a face, it's about representing a person and all they are connected to."
Every element in the multidisciplinary portrait has some kind of hononga to Graham's father. Photorealism, spray-painting, whakairo [wood carving], sculpting, weaving, fabrication; each has its role in connecting Graham's dad to his past, his whakapapa [genealogy], whenua [land], and to the artist, his son.
"Portraiture isn't just about painting a face, it's about representing a person and all they are connected to." And in this, the first in the series, the artist is part of the story; the bloodline is the ultimate connection. The next day we meet in Graham's Papamoa studio, where I can see, touch and feel it all.
Capturing a father’s spirit
Graham's dad grew up on Mōtītī Island. The islanders grew maize and spent time in the ocean. "He's a hardy, gruff, old school kind of guy," says Graham. As the kaumātua at the marae, he introduces himself by saying,
Ka tangi te titi
Ka tangi te manu
Ko te manu ko te karoro
ko te karoro ko kere am e Hoete
"He's saying he's a black-backed seagull. The first time I heard him say these poetic and soulful words, I was blown away. It was true, too, as that's what we would have seen all the time while he was working in the fields or on the beach. And, when I see the birds from Papamoa where I live, I feel hononga to my Dad."
Painting the face
"I chose to spray-paint the face because it represents the hononga to my artistic journey. Using spray-paint to convey this level of detail isn't easy, and I really went steroids on the photorealism. It helped not having the time constraints that I usually have on a mural.
"Photorealism has an amazing ability to engage and attract people. It's universal. They always buzz out saying, 'Oh, it's so real, look at the lines on the face!' It draws everyone in, no matter their background. You then have their attention to look at the context of the image through the visual storytelling around the frame.
"It's not a traditional head-and-shoulders portrait. The face is pushed forward because I wanted to focus on his eyes, the most engaging component of a portrait. He's always had a great weathered, journeyed look which is well-suited to a portrait. I maximised every detail.
The yellow G
"In the centre of the portrait there's a yellow portion. That's a zoomed-in painting of the yellow pōhutukawa flower. These yellow trees were discovered on Mōtītī Island in 1814, and they are the symbol of the islanders who'll be reminded of home every time they see the bright flower. There are only two of the trees left on the island and one of them's outside my dad's house. The G symbol will continue throughout this portrait series."
The frame
The face has a beautiful aesthetic and spray-painting has a modern, edgy, street feel to it. That contemporary discipline has been fused with whakairo, the ancient art of Māori storytelling through wood carving. The frame tells the story of the central portrait. The wood is a blend of kauri and matai, and it's extremely heavy. It took three people to lift it onto the wall at the gallery for the photoshoot. The physical weight and density of the wood gives heft to its role in the portrait – to solidify and make tangible the histories and stories of Graham's father, his tribe, his home.
"I have always wanted to learn how to carve. I used to live with one of my uncles, he was a master carver in the traditional style. Its purpose is to tell each tribe who they are and show their cultural identity visually. The history of a tribe is told through carvings to future generations.
"About a year ago, I started to learn how to carve, and I'm lucky to be learning from one of the best Māori carvers in the world, Todd Couper. He's just a real Jedi when it comes to whakairo. I was walking up Papamoa Hills one day and he was walking down. He called out, ' Hey, Mr G!', and, from then on, we became friends. His work is exquisite. He's an exceptional perfectionist, and shows his work around the world. He lives in Papamoa, so we see each other most days.
The kupenga
Each marae has a theme which connects the local iwi, hapū and whanau to their ancestry and story. In Tamatea ki te Huatahi marae, which is the main marae on Mōtītī Island, the kupenga [fishing net] plays a central role in its interior storytelling. There are carvings on the pillars as you enter the marae and references throughout the buildings. The curved shapes on the bottom left and right of the frame echo the kupenga hanging below the fame.
“I feel very connected to my dad through his sea-venturing stories, especially through my own love of the moana."
"It shows the connection to the moana [sea] and that lifestyle. My mum and a few of my aunties still go diving for kina and pāua. It's not often you see groups of ladies my mum's age going diving! They are legends.
"There's strong hononga with this element of the portrait. The kupenga has been woven by my sister. She went and collected harakeke [flax] from Mōtītī, and the sinker stones are from Tumu Bay on the island too.
"When my dad was young he used to take me out diving. I loved watching him and my uncles spear fish with a Hawaiian sling. They were graceful, like the fish they swam after. As a young guy, I was inspired to watch them. Many people never get to go diving but, to them, it's second nature. Dad and Uncle Patu used to have competitions to see how many fish they could catch, as kids. They'd make their own spear guns out of poles and bits of rubber and spear blue maomao then thread them and trail them around as they fished. I feel very connected to my dad through his sea-venturing stories, especially through my own love of the moana."
The carved heads
As we move through the portrait, it's clear that the role of the sea is absolutely central to Graham's dad's life as an islander. The two faces on the left and right are based on the amo [posts] outside the marae.
At first glance, the eyes which look inwards at the portrait appear cartoonish. But Graham explains they've been painted to represent maramataka [the lunar cycle], and the waxing and waning crescents of the moon around which island life is based. The phases of the moon affect the tides, when to fish and when to plant crops. The economy and lifestyle of the island is centred around the moon. Mōtītī is so small, but all life upon it is driven by cycles way bigger than any of us.
The double tongues on the faces are common in Māori portraits. And there are various different meanings. Te Kau wae wai runga, Te Kau wae raro refers to the celestial and terrestrial language we use, but it can also refer to how you speak to people inside and outside the marae. Protocol is a big part of Māori culture, especially on the marae ātea [open area in front of the meeting house]. The two tongues can also represent division and deception. You'll often see the double-tongue depiction on maraes on the east coast in the Bay of Plenty, towards Whakatāne."
A closer look reveals many elements of traditional whakairo in the faces with their own inherent meanings. The little notches or taratara ā kae along the tongues represent food
and eating, and the pattern above the mouth is called pākati and is one of the main surface
patterns of whakairo.
"And at the top of the portrait is kōruru, which represents the main ancestor of his marae, Tamatea ki te huatahi. It's the same face that presides over our marae and is the symbol of our tribe and so it's fitting that he does the same job over the portrait of my dad."
The future
Learning about Graham's portrait has opened up discussions about how we relate to each others' cultures and what we can all do to stay respectful. And what's happening to Māori culture in its home, New Zealand, and how we can keep its roots watered and well.
Later this year, Graham and his wife Millie are travelling to Art Basel in Miami – one of the world's biggest and most prestigious exhibitions of modern and contemporary art – to see what place in the world his series of portraits could hold.
Graham believes his portraits are unique and are the future of Māori portraiture. "I respect the portraits that Goldie and Lindauer painted, but what I have that they didn't is direct hononga to the culture, so I feel that puts me in the best possible place to be Māori portrait artist of the future. I have a commision for a lady in Hamilton after she saw my father's [portrait]. My plan is to do more portraits of Māori, sourcing materials where they are from, and telling stories of hononga to their whakapapa and homeland."
When you go to the Home exhibition, you are now able to stand in front of this magnificent portrait and know the connection of this man to the life he has led.
Home Exhibition
Tauranga Art Gallery
9 November 2019 - 9 February 2020
hapū (ha-poo)
sub-tribe, clan a number of whanau (families) make up a hapu, usually from the same ancestor. A group of hapu make up an iwi.
harakeke (ha-ra-kee-kee)
flax
hononga (hoh-nung-uh)
connection
kaumātua (koe-mar-to-ah)
tribal elder
korero (koh-re-roo)
black-backed seagull
koruru (koh-roo-roo)
carved faced on gable at the marae
kupenga (koo-pen-nga)
fishing net
manu (ma-noo)
bird
marae (muh-rye)
meeting house
marae atea (muh-rye ah-tee-uh)
flat piece of land in front of the wharenui
maramataka (mah-ra-ma-ta-ka)
lunar calendar
moana (moh-ah-nah)
sea
takarangi (ta-ka-ran-gee)
the heavenly realm
taonga (tah-ong-ah)
possessions
whakairo (fuh-ky-roh)
Maori carving
whakapapa (fuh-kuh-papa)
genealogy
whanau (fah-noe)
family
wharenui (fa-re-noo-ee)
the main building at the marae
whenua (fen-ooa)
land
The Framer
Looking around, there are stacks of pieces - paintings, prints and photographs, each waiting for the right casing to bind them and make them wall-ready. Danny boasts some of the best machinery in town, including an ancient looking guillotine; apparently it’s one of a kind.
WORDS TALIA WALDEGRAVE PHOTOS TRACIE HEASMAN
Ten years ago, Danny Redwood was admitted to hospital on a Friday afternoon and told “If you are alive on Monday, we’ll start chemo.”
Before that cheery conversation, Danny had been working on his family’s farm, and ignoring the signs that his body was finding the relentless, menial toil, tough. He was neglecting creativity and became very, very sick. “I was working harder, not smarter, and had become increasingly run down for months. When I couldn't lift my arms above my head, I knew something was seriously wrong.
It was his mother Barbara who eventually encouraged him to go to the doctor. Barbara recalls “Looking at Danny next to his brother, his skin looked a ghostly grey. I had to plead with him to see someone.”
Danny says “My blood cells were completely out of whack and although I had been given the all clear for cancer a couple of weeks earlier, in a short space of time. I’d developed the early signs of acute lymphoblastic cancer, an incredibly rare form of leukemia in adults.”
“I needed a bone marrow transplant. Thankfully, my brother James was a perfect match. He is my only blood sibling so the odds of him being a match were pretty slim. In fact, I met someone else in the same boat as me - he had eight siblings - and none were a match.”
“The recovery was brutally intense but as soon as I was strong enough, I picked up a paintbrush. I now know everyone needs to have a creative outlet. It’s so important for our mental health.”
Ten years on, and an herculean recovery later, I meet Danny at work, Artisan Framing and Plaques, in the Chapel Street shopping centre in Tauranga.
"I love being an artist, but it's not always sustainable financially, so I wanted to do something that incorporated what I love to make a living. Being an artist puts me in a great position as a framer."
"I bought this business because it had a great, long-standing reputation. I then moved into this space because I wanted to have room to exhibit work from local artists. We’ve got so many great artists in Tauranga, but we are limited as to where they can showcase that work."
Looking around, there are stacks of pieces - paintings, prints and photographs, each waiting for the right casing to bind them and make them wall-ready. Danny boasts some of the best machinery in town, including an ancient looking guillotine; apparently it’s one of a kind.
Being someone who loves and appreciates art, Danny uses the very best stock, top quality fastenings and mountings for all his frames. “My machinery enables me to provide conservation framing. It’s a very high level of framing, which displays an artist’s work in the best way possible, lasts longer and galleries will far more seriously. It’s also about preserving family memories and making them shine in just the right way.”
It’s clear Danny’s experience has given him a mental calmness and clarity which extends to his work, giving life to the many beautiful prints and paintings he is tasked with preserving.
The one, the only…
Anyone who’s watched Ben Hurley perform will tell you he’s a bloody funny guy, but he isn’t your typical Kiwi comic.
The Katikati-based comedian makes Friday nights funny nationwide on TV3’s 7 Days, and now he’s set to make us locals laugh as the host of the second-annual Mount Comedy Festival.
WORDS Andy Taylor PHOTOS Brydie Thompson
Anyone who’s watched Ben Hurley perform will tell you he’s a bloody funny guy, but he isn’t your typical Kiwi comic. He didn’t grow up using humour as a defence mechanism like so many others. “I really liked school, actually,” he says.
Has he always wanted to be a stand-up comedian? “At the end of fourth form, the school sent around these forms that we had to fill out to check that we were taking the right subjects the following year, for whatever you wanted to do as a career. I’ve always been somewhat suspicious of authority, and I thought it was ridiculous that they were asking 13- and 14-year-olds what they wanted to do in life, so I put down ‘male model’. Then I crossed that out and put ‘comedian’, because that was the next most ridiculous thing that anyone could do. So ‘technically’, yes, I have always wanted to be a comedian. But I was living in a small-town in Taranaki at the time, so it wasn’t really an option.”
University, however, was, and Wellington beckoned, so off Ben went to study politics at Victoria. “They had an improv comedy club, and I met my best friend Vaughan King, who was an actor and comedian and started doing stand-up – and that kind of motivated me to do my first gig in 2001 at the Wellington Fringe Festival.”
“I thought it was ridiculous that they were asking 13- and 14-year-olds what they wanted to do in life, so I put down ‘male model’. Then I crossed that out and put ‘comedian’.”
So much for the politics degree. “Yeah. It’s just what you do isn’t it, something academic? Stand-up is something you shouldn’t really do straight out of school because you just don’t have the life experience, so politics and international relations it was. Dai Henwood has a degree in eastern religion, Jeremy Corbett has a computing degree and Jon Bridges has a philosophy degree – or something like that. And then there are people like Ewen Gilmour and Mike King who came to comedy out of the workforce. Ewen was the funny guy at the factory and Mike was the funny guy on the ferry, and they just got pushed into it by their mates. So you kind of have these two schools and to be honest I don’t really know if there is a stylistic difference between the two or not, or whether it’s more about influences.”
For young Hurley, the influences were the usual suspects: Billy Connolly, Jerry Seinfeld, Blackadder, Basil Fawlty. Humour was always appreciated in the Hurley household, and his father was a big fan of British comedy – although in those pre-internet days, you tended to like what you were given. “It was not like now, where you have every single comedian who has ever been at your fingertips,” says Ben. “There was a very limited range of stuff that we could see. If you were lucky, maybe the Montreal comedy festival or something like that, and the Kiwi show A Bit After Ten, which had the Corbett brothers on it. I was probably about 14 or 15 and I loved their running gags. They’d say, ‘Shall we do the Floyd gag?’ and then never, ever do the Floyd gag. And they had an open-mic section, where I saw some comedians who are good friends now and that I’ve worked with often. In fact, I still say, ‘Shall we do the Floyd gag?’ to Jeremy. I’m probably the only one who remembers it, though.”
(The early-’90s A Bit After Ten can be found at nzonscreen.com and is definitely worth a watch. In addition to an outrageously young and clean-shaven Jeremy Corbett, it also features the wonderful spectacle of contestants vying for the grand prize of a 14-inch TV.)
After making a name for himself as a comic in New Zealand, Ben started gigging in the UK, and toured extensively in Europe and Asia. The winner of the two biggest comedy awards in New Zealand (the 2004 Oddfellows Billy T Award and the Fred Award in 2008), advocate of cricket as a way to achieve world peace (“No two cricketing nations have ever gone to war with each other – that’s a fact”) and one of the few Kiwis to be invited onto America’s prestigious Comedy Store TV show now calls the Bay of Plenty home, but touring is something he knows an awful lot about. Google his name and it’s clear he spends more time on the road than a Fonterra truckie.
“I was in England for four years, gigging around the country five, six, seven and eight times a week, sometimes doing two shows a night, because the clubs are really full and lively over there, and doing it over and over again is how you learn your craft. I love being on the road – well, not so much now that I have a family, but I can’t imagine going to work at the same place every day. It’s hard to be away, but I guess I’m just hardwired to do it.”
Ben says there are regional differences in what people find funny, though they’re relatively subtle in New Zealand. “There are some places that are a bit more conservative than others, but that’s changing. And it all comes down to it being relatable. I mean, I can’t do a joke about Winston Peters in America or anywhere outside of New Zealand really, but even in New Zealand you have to keep it relatable. When Winston Peters left Tauranga as an MP, I made the joke that this was the first time a 70-year-old man had ever left Tauranga. And although that’s a joke that works really well in the North Island, in the South Island they just don’t know that many old people move to live in Tauranga – in the South Island they have their own version of that, it's called Nelson.
“In America, they don’t get the self-deprecating humour so much – that’s very much a UK thing. American comics are much more defined. It’s much more about the character – you’re the angry guy or the party girl or whatever – whereas in the UK, people just say funny things.”
Although the constant gigging and vibrant comedy circuit scene in the UK was formative for Ben, he was also happy to come home with a new appreciation for Kiwiland. “After being in the UK, I came back to what has proven to be a bit of a renaissance in New Zealand comedy over the past 10 years or so,” he says. “And that largely comes down to the TV networks and the overseas success of people like Flight of the Conchords and Rhys Darby. That woke up the networks to the success of comedy and the need to give it some legs here and air some home-grown stand-up. And out of that we got 7 Days, which has been the most popular and longest-running comedy show in New Zealand history. So people get out now to see stand-up, and that’s great.”
His extensive gigging across the globe must also have honed his skills for dealing with those who get out to see stand-up and feel the need to chip in. “Yeah, I kind of encourage hecklers now, to a certain degree. Well, I encourage interaction at least. On this tour, for the first half of the show I pretty much just chat to the crowd, and try to keep it as fluid and interactive as possible. In New Zealand, the heckling is almost never nasty – its just drunk people wanting to be a part of the show. I’ve done thousands of gigs, and I can count the times that heckling has been genuinely nasty on about three or four fingers. But, then again, if they don’t shut up, I do start feeling bad for everyone else.”
In an industry known for driving ambition and raging egos, Ben has a refreshingly down-to-earth approach and concern for his audience and his community. Last year, in response to what he describes as a sense of helplessness about the state of things in the newly Trumped world, he put together a three-night festival at Auckland’s Classic Comedy & Bar. Called Comedy in Action, it raised money for some great charities while also showcasing some top Kiwi talent.
“It was just a reaction to what I saw as the whole futility of people commenting on injustice on social media,” he says. “Liking a post actually changes nothing, so instead I wanted to do something that would have an actual effect – and make people laugh.”
Now he’s at it again, and is busy organising the second annual Mount Comedy Festival, which he’ll host in January. Ben says this year’s event is going to be even bigger and even better than the last. “Tauranga is New Zealand’s fifth-biggest city and I just thought there was a real need for it. There wasn’t really anything going on comedy-wise in the area; there was the odd thing going on with people coming through to play Baycourt, but no regular event. Last time, we had three nights with basically three shows, but this year we’re expanding things over five days. We’re also going to do some matinee shows with family-friendly comedy.
Ben says the support has been amazing. “I mean, it is the place to be, because everyone loves the Mount, so it's something that people want to be involved in and a lot of people have come on board with, like UNO for example. But it does really seem like this is really a thing that has found it’s time.”
Ben makes it sound like it happened, but with scheduling, promotion and venues, not to mention getting the right mix of performers, producing something on this scale isn’t easy. “I really made it the best I could, and it really is a great line-up,” says Ben. “We’ve got Wilson Dixon [aka Kiwi comedian Jesse Griffin) headlining, who is, um, ‘technically’ from America; we’ve got the great Josh Thomson; Justine Smith, who was on the line-up last year and so loved that we brought her back again; newish comedian Hayley Sproull, who’s a 7 Days regular; Brendhan Lovegrove, who will be hosting a new acts competition, so if any locals want to test the water, this is their chance; and Te Radar, who will do his one man show 'Eating the Dog'. So yeah, something for everyone.”
This well-travelled, internationally known performer is bringing something for everyone to our neck of the woods because it’s now his necks of the woods too. After growing up in Taranaki, and living in Wellington, Auckland and the UK, Ben now calls a little piece of paradise in the Western Bay home – a lifestyle block somewhere between Katikati and Waihi Beach with “some sheep, some chickens, some kiwifruit”. Where does he find time to manage that, with all he has going on? “Fortunately, my wife is the property manager,” he says.
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, why here? “I don’t really know,” says Ben. “I just like it here. It has a real lifestyle thing going on, it’s a great place to bring up kids, it’s beautiful, but it's not a million miles away from everywhere else. I mean, I love Taranaki as well, but unfortunately it’s just a little bit too isolated. So here kinda has it all. The best of both worlds. The best of all worlds.”
Ben’s not a typical comedian, no. But for his originality and the fact that he not only makes us laugh but also makes us think, he’s definitely one of our best. And you know what? He might be onto something about the cricket.
Grace Wright: Tauranga artist
We meet Tauranga girl and artist Grace Wright as she prepares for the Auckland Art Fair.
We meet Tauranga girl and artist Grace Wright as she prepares for the Auckland Art Fair.
INTERVIEW CLAUDIA CAMERON / PHOTOS HEATHER LIDDELL / SAMUEL HARTNETT
UNO: How did you start out as an artist?
GRACE: I grew up in Tauranga, so when I finished Elam in 2014 I moved back home for a year to have time to develop the ideas I had generated during my BFA at Elam School of Fine Arts, without financial pressure. During this time I rented a studio space out the back of Zeus Gallery, when they were based on Eleventh Ave. I loved painting there, with the industrial-style spaces, plus having the time to intensively work and establish my practice.
Although I live in Auckland now, I love coming back to see my family and have some down time. Tauranga will always be home.
UNO: What have you been working on lately?
GRACE: Recently I have been working on a series of paintings for the Auckland Art Fair as well as planning for my upcoming show at Parlour Projects in July. My practice is a continually evolving one, so I’m always trying to push myself forward and create something that surprises me.
UNO: Ah, yes, Parlour Projects in the Hawke’s Bay selected you as the recipient of its inaugural artist-in-residency programme. Congratulations!
GRACE: I was so honoured to be selected for this residency and have the support to bring my ambitious 11m x 6m installation concept to life. I had been wondering how our body would feel if we experienced painting more spatially by thinking of the room as a canvas. The body has always informed my work throughout its evolution and in this residency I wanted to recreate the physical sensation of how you feel when you stand beneath something monumental in scale.
UNO: Can you tell us a bit about your process?
GRACE: I see colour as a construction process, so the painting almost builds itself. I never know what the paintings will look like in the end, but I start with one colour or gesture and construct the colours and layers until the final work emerges.
UNO: What inspires you and your work?
GRACE: I’m inspired by an international style of painting that has a real presence with the viewer through scale and the relation to the body. In 2015 I visited Albert Oehlen’s exhibition Home and Garden at the New Museum in New York. It was such a thrill to stand before these huge, three metre square paintings. This feeling of intense physicality is what I’m interested in creating in my own work.
UNO: You’re showing at the Auckland Art Fair as part of the Parlour Projects stand, what can we expect to see from you there?
GRACE: I will be exhibiting a series of new large-scale works measuring 1200 x 1500mm which continue to explore a sense of artificial space and gestural abstraction reminiscent of the body. Recently I’ve been interested in constructing space through subtle illusion and colour combinations so the work will reflect these ideas too.
UNO: You’ll be joined by a number of incredible artists and galleries showing at the AAF this year, what are you looking forward to the most about the event?
GRACE: It’s such a unique experience to see all these galleries in one space, along with work from top galleries in Australia and some further afield. I also love the social aspect of the art fair! It’s a great way to catch up with lots of people in the industry and celebrate all the hard work put in by artists and galleries.
UNO: What are you hoping to achieve from being part of the Art Fair and speaking to an international audience?
GRACE: I’m excited to be exhibiting at the fair and have the support of Parlour Projects. My goal generally is to build up steadily and create work that endures. At the end of the day, art is what makes life worth living, as are the ideas and conversations that surround it.
UNO: What’s it like making art as a full-time job?
GRACE: I love it! I’m pleased with how I’ve set up my week to allow myself the time to paint. I’m definitely a morning person, so my day starts by getting straight into painting. In the afternoons I tend to stretch canvas and gesso, then attend to admin later in the day.
UNO: What skills do you think are useful in your job?
GRACE: I think you need to have a lot of faith in yourself and belief in what you’re doing.
UNO: Can you share a piece of advice for anyone wanting to move into a similar creative space?
GRACE: The best advice I ever received was learning that talent will only get you so far. The way you think determines the rest.
INSTAGRAM: @gracewright08
The real glamour in the real Vegas: Kharl WiRepa
Designer Kharl WiRepa has won award after award for his wildly glamorous couture. He met Trelise Cooper at 15. At the age of 23, Anna Wintour’s gang have come knocking.
Designer Kharl WiRepa has won award after award for his wildly glamorous couture. He met Trelise Cooper at 15. At the age of 23, Anna Wintour’s gang have come knocking.
WORDS JENNY RUDD PHOTOS MICHELLE CUTELLI
Kharl WiRepa has been named as one of the country’s top 20 influencers under the age of 25 by www.scout.co.nz, had two shows at New Zealand Fashion Week at which front row tickets were requested by US Vogue. At age 15 he was the only person at a fashion show to be able to curl Trelise Cooper’s locks properly. So he has talent by the truckload.
The 23 year old born and bred Rotorua boy is sooo fashion, darling, all high cheekbones, slender physique, svelte tailoring and dark glasses. He’s also as cheeky as an imp and his honesty probably gets him into trouble. Half the stuff he says isn’t printable and is naughty and funny enough to necessitate plenty of covering of mouths to stifle giggles and scoffs from both of us. Warm and confiding, he’d definitely make the perfect dinner guest: outrageous, beautiful, fun, well spoken and well read.
NOT FOR ME
An only child, Kharl went to a smart, private Catholic school. He said he found it hard there with both the other students and the teachers.
“They wanted to mould everyone. I didn’t feel I needed to be moulded as I am quite happy as I am. Why should I be something I’m not? I will do what I like because I am not subject to anyone’s conditions. As an only child, I was used to socialising with adults and I didn’t appreciate being spoken down to at school by the teachers. What makes them better and more important than the students?
“I was bullied severely for the way I behaved and carried on. Gang bashings were commonplace. I can throw a punch though, I stand up for myself. I don’t like losing so I was happy to get stuck in. I suspect it’s different going to school now for people like me. I hope it’s better.”
YOUNG STARTER
“At 18 years old, I was the first ever male and youngest ever senior manager at Supré, I looked after all the store managers nationwide. I had the skills to do it but was far too young for that kind of role and that kind of money. I got carried away with it all and ended up in casinos, spending money on things I shouldn’t have, taking drugs and hanging out with the wrong people.
“I thought my whole life would be at Supré, I loved the job. I was a stylist at Cleo magazine at the same time, buying clothes and styling models. When it all spiralled out of control I lost everything: my car, all my money, everything. Apart from my jewellery of course. I couldn’t lose my Chanel watch.”
Kharl’s design as seen in British Vogue.
A stint at rehab and a move back home to live with his family in Rotorua led to enrollment in fashion school. He didn’t even finish the course, just got on and started work. One to court interest, TV3 produced a documentary on him. He produces collections but everything on his catwalk shows can be made to measure. Haute Couture is where he wants to be.
GIVING BACK TO HIS PEOPLE
He’s also generous and clever. That’s an enormously useful combination. The manager of the Rotorua Salvation Army Store approached Kharl to help them find a way to increase sales.
“Each day, the Salvation Army give out 32 food parcels. There are so many people who need them – I know lots of those who do; some of my own friends and family, my indigenous people. To fund these parcels the Salvation Army need to increase their sales. Each year, we put together a fashion show ‘A Million Dollar Look for $2’. We use the stock in the store, local models and hold a catwalk show.”
He takes the Salvation Army show as seriously as his high profile shows. And that’s what makes him so endearing. He can play the game at being utterly fabulous, with plenty of emphasis on the first syllable accompanied with air-kissing but is also knowledgeable about how a large chunk of the demographic live in New Zealand and the politics behind it. He also spoke of the exploitation of young models and is working within the industry to expose those with poor working practices.
TRAFFIC STOPPER
On December 5th, the streets in central Rotorua are closing. Salon St Bruno and Kharl are putting on a summer fashion show with other local designers.
“The council are renovating the square in the middle of Tutanekai Street but they are waiting until after the fashion show.” He clearly gets a kick out of holding up the council in favour of a flurry of glitz.
Next year will be big: he plans to open a store in Tauranga straight after New Zealand Fashion Week. “I’m thinking all white and perspex.”
The range of experience and insight for a 23 year old is quite astonishing. The boy has gumption, ability in spades, a love of sparkle and is, quite firmly, in the ‘look out world’ category.