ISSUE 73 - NOVEMBER 2018 - MARCH 2019 - DEPOT ARTSPACE
BETTER TOGETHER
Philosophy of LOUD Established in 1996 Depot Artspace has been involved in independent publishing since its early days. LOUD is the Depot’s quarterly publication showcasing exhibitions, events, artists, music and a host of other creative initiatives. LOUD is a condensed representation of our values - a clear and informative voice. LOUD is the voice of Depot Artspace. LOUD is about respect, support, advocacy and promotion of the arts. LOUD is about liberation of the arts from current narrow definitions. LOUD is a forum for discussion and opinion. LOUD is loud because it needs to be – art is an incredibly undervalued aspect of our culture, significant to our history and our society.
Cover Art: Drawn by Holly Rees
DESIGN BY EMMA LIAO, LINKEDIN: EMMA LIAO PUBLISHED BY DEPOT ARTSPACE, WWW.DEPOTARTSPACE.CO.NZ FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER & INSTAGRAM [@DEPOTARTSPACE] ALL CONTENT © 2018 DEPOT ARTSPACE AND THE RESPECTIVE ARTISTS.
CONTENTS 4. ON A MISSION SINCE 1996 5-10. BETTER TOGETHER: GRASSROOTS AND MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT Article by Linda Blincko 11-12. EXHIBITION DEGUSTATION – THE BACKGROUND STORIES Tracey Kitchingman 13-16. UPCOMING EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS Tracey Kitchingman 17-19. A WARM WELCOME TO NEW DEPOT CREW 20-21. VENTURING INTO NEW TERRITORY Dave Rhodes 22-23. ARTSLAB – THREE WAYS “BETTER TOGETHER” 24. AT LAST, CLARENCE ST UP GRADE Lynn Lawton
25-27. OUR MISSION AT THE DEPOT IS: Lynn Lawton 28. BETTER TOGETHER David Bailey 29. KUPU TUPU - TE REO MĀORI WHAKAPAPA Jermaine Reihana and Johnsen KiwiScally 30-31. CULTURAL ICONS – NEW WEBSITE WITH POD CAST 32-33. ARTS IN ACTION 34-37. DEPOT HIGHLIGHTS AND EVENTS JULY - OCTOBER 2018 38. WHARE TOI KERR STREET ARTSPACE 39. MEMBERSHIP FORM
On a mission since 1996: We employ the transformative capacity of the arts to engage, inspire and challenge the community. We are guided by the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi: partnership, participation and protection.
Our values, the turangawaewae on which we stand: We are Grassroots, Inclusive, Innovative, Responsive, Reflective and Courageous.
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BETTER TOGETHER:
GRASSROOTS AND MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT Article by Linda Blincko
‘Women’s Suffrage in New Zealand: Lady Voters going to the poll at Devonport near Auckland’
1893, 125 years since women won the right to vote is a timely and powerful example of how we can be and do better together. United by the significant cause of social equality women worked hard and long, and always together to bring about change. BETTER
TOGETHER
also
references Depot Artspace’s ethos and aspiration to unite people and communities, from exhibiting their work or showcasing a feature of community, collaborating on projects to bringing about significant social awareness and change. Our vision is to build meaningful relationships that don’t begin and end at our door. 5
Maori Land March
In the current social climate, where individualism and competition prevail and inequity is its sad outcome there is both opportunity and necessity for diverse sectors to combine and arts, culture and community development have potentially great synergy in representing people and developing a wider critical mass to create change. BETTER TOGETHER embraces and highlights the Depot’s mission and values. Together they encapsulate a commitment to strengthen the creative sector in Aotearoa, to provide opportunities for engagement in the arts across all disciplines and media, and to engage the arts in the wider
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environment. Our values, the turangawaewae on which we stand: We are Grassroots, Inclusive, Innovative, Responsive, Reflective and Courageous On a mission since 1996: We employ the transformative capacity of the arts to engage, inspire and challenge the community. We are guided by the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi: partnership, participation and protection.
Below are excerpts from our previous LOUD magazines, together with new additions that signify our commitment to community as part of our history. BETTER TOGETHER, NATURALLY A while ago, we developed a concept for unified social action because it was apparent that change for good for all was unlikely to take place without shared values and critical mass. It was titled The Gaia Manual for Sustainability, and grew out of a talk local MP Cam Calder organised in 2011 on a Genuine Progress Indicator for Aotearoa, lately picked up by the current government. Our Gaia Manual was named after scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock whose theory, developed in the 1960s, postulates that Earth functions as a self-regulating system, like a living organism. It encompassed each of the following components social, spiritual, ecological, environmental – which together form a living community. Its source is the creative because from this point it is possible to prioritise and coordinate the aspects of Gaia (according to need and resources), calibrating an approach relevant to discrete communities. As an evolving and all-encompassing creative community the notion of Gaia became a reference point for the value of our own activities.
BETTER TOGETHER COMMUNITY
IN
“Community is vital and unifying, selfsufficient and harmonious, an antidote to a fragmented, commercialised society that is fatally and contagiously diseased.” Robert Houriet, Getting Back Together, 1971 In 2010 we were concerned at the transformation of Auckland into a megalopolis, absorbing smaller cities and expunging diversity. A faint odour of the 60s and cultural assimilation surfaced, and we were intent on maintaining our community identity. It is a truism that in order to grow and thrive, every living thing must be nurtured. And yet we fail to attend to some of the most precious things in life, especially as they become lost in an amorphous whole. Once gone we are, to our detriment, unable to retrieve them. Extinct animals and dying flora are often testimony to neglect, if not wilful disposal/destruction. Our Gaia Manual comprised a number of observations and admonitions about the value we should attribute to our own eco-system. 1. The Taken-For-Granted: More vigilance and concern is required for the things we take for granted. These can be the most important things; the values we live by, the places we live in 7
Kuini Karanui speaks at the Turangawaewae: Sense of Place exhibition at Depot Artspace
and the people we live with. How can we question, sustain or protect what we have ceased to pay attention to? In an environment subject to accelerated change it is likely we could lose the things that actually underpin our lives. One such component is community. 2. The Endangered Community: A community whose components are neither recognised nor valued is always under threat of extinction. An abstract or uncommitted appreciation is ineffectual in sustaining or protecting a precious resource. External threats do not initially endanger a community – they can in fact further galvanise it; rather those threats from within (at its heart), such as apathy or inaction, are more likely to be its downfall. 3. The Importance of Community in Contemporary Society: Traditional
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or tribal communities were a naturally occurring phenomenon and continued to adapt to and thus occupy an unassailable place in a changing environment. The community withstood population growth, diversification and division of labour, migration, industrialisation and urbanism. Community continued to provide the necessities for a meaningful life, close affinitive relationships and shared experiences, among others. In a society where individualism, ambition, competition and materialism proliferate these qualities are no longer perceived, consciously at least, as priorities. 4. The Common Denominators of Communities. Each form of community has characteristics in common which define it as a community:
a) Something shared and to which members are able to relate such as geography; experience; a belief or value system; history; identity. b) A level of affinitive interaction, as opposed to functional transactions or business relationships. c) Common expectations, of behaviour, action, responsibility, knowledge, commitment, values. d) Interdependence; recognition that mutual support and exchange are as natural to human beings as the ecology and achieve greater sustainability for the group. The recognition of mutuality or interdependence provides the pivotal characteristic of community, something the Dalai Lama refers to as Big We, Small I. GRASSROOTS ARTS: WHERE CHANGE IS POSSIBLE ‘Grassroots’ is the cornerstone of Depot Artspace’ own commitment to a sustainable planet. Grassroots are the people in and of a community, as contrasted with those at the top, ‘the leadership or elite of a private or government organisation.’ Depot Artspace is proudly grass roots. From this point it keeps an ear to the ground, the place where people stand – their turangawaewae - and from which, if nurtured, things grow and are
sustained. Over nearly more than two decades, the Depot has developed facilities, services and new initiatives that respond to the needs and interests of the creative community, both local and beyond. These include: galleries; recording and rehearsal studios; ArtsLab, the biggest professional development programme for artists nationally; creative internships research and development; Cultural Icons, a filmed interview series (78 interviews so far) with people who have been significant in the cultural landscape; Depot Press, including ‘The Vernacularist’ journal, W’akaputanga, Turangawaewae/Sense of Place and LOUD magazine. A while ago we put together an alternative plan for arts and culture in a submission to Auckland Council. It was motivated by the observation and experience that while local and national bodies determine how the resources are distributed they seldom engage with grassroots in their decisions. ‘Knowing what’s best for you’ is the consensus among powerbrokers yet often their decisions lack relevance or interest to the people they are supposed to serve and support. In the current political environment, the creative sector languishes as the pre-election arts policies are retracted while MCH (Ministry of Culture and Heritage) researches more ‘salubrious’ services. They have surveyed the 9
Depot numerous times, drawing their own conclusions, but had we been bona fide experts in our field, our work may have provided some viable policy direction, and we may have even been paid a consultant’s fee! However, grassroots and expertise are seldom seen as occupying the same territory in a power structure. There is a widening chasm between community and a more evidently paternalistic elite. The wider the chasm becomes, the more evident inequities are, and the climate becomes ripe for social change. In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), Thomas Kuhn talks about disparities between ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ as a crisis, which could facilitate a ‘paradigm shift’. A crisis can be managed, as it often is by those who have a vested interest in the maintenance of the current structure, but it can also be addressed and can result in a different way of seeing and responding to the world. The signs in our society currently offer this evidence and opportunity, for example, the recent sad demise of national visual artists’ advocacy organisation Artists Alliance after more than two decades of service, the result ‘of dramatic decline in funding for and investment in the Visual Arts’. According to Buckminster Fuller, visionary and environmental voice of 10
the 60’s, unless we find new ways of living we are likely to self-destruct. “The world,” he said, “is now too dangerous for anything less than Utopia.” And Utopias are formed not by restructuring what has gone before but rather by creating new ways of living in the world based on issues fundamental to our humanity. It is at the grass roots, which under trying circumstances remains connected, proactive, necessarily resourceful and effective, where meaningful change is possible especially if able to galvanise critical mass. And the arts, so far, are the most uncorrupted vehicle of a necessary revolution. In “The Story of Utopias” (1922) Lewis Mumford made the following observation: “A community whose life is not irrigated by art and philosophy is a community that exists only half alive. The fundamental values of a true community are to be found in poetry, art, music and the free use of the imagination,…the production of nonprofit-making goods, the enjoyment of non-consumable wealth. Here are the sustaining values of a living culture.” Art is the last bastion of freedom, for freedom arises from our capacity to question the fixed and inalienable ‘reality’ of the status quo, from whom few benefit. Grass roots arts provide alternatives by which freedom is able to be reclaimed.
EXHIBITION DEGUSTATION – THE BACKGROUND STORIES Tracey Kitchingman Insuffragable’s Kirsten Smith, Linda Gair and Jacqui Kay bring to us an exploration and celebration of New Zealand’s world leadership in women’s suffrage and just how we came to be the first self-governing country in the world in which women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections Today, the idea that women could not or should not vote is completely foreign to New Zealanders. However, this has not always been the case. This exhibition is an exploration of just how we became a central part of our image as a trail-blazing ‘social laboratory’. Each artist brings to their own work a personal interpretation of suffrage and women’s rights challenging the viewer to acknowledge that women have strived for centuries to gain equality. Once a deputy leader of the National Party in the New Zealand Parliament (and was considered by many to be a possible contender for the leadership itself ), George Gair was known for his polite and diplomatic style, which often contrasted with the political situation
George Gair
around him. Michael Laws once described him as “a refugee from the age of manners”. ‘Ephemera’ endeavours to showcase his memorabilia, writings and correspondence that document the history, quality and colour of his service to the public and the North Shore Electorate (1966 – 1990). ‘Ephemera’ runs alongside ‘Insuffragable’, a group exhibition with artists Linda Gair (George and Fay’s daughter), Kirsten Smith and Jacqui Kay. Depot Artspace’ first Pre-loved, Re-loved exhibition, another exciting project inspired by our local community, was first held in 2014 to assist owners to find a new home for 11
Haromi Rutene Karaitiana
their once-loved fine art and objects. It also presented an opportunity to advocate for the introduction of Artists Resale Royalties legislation. Artist Resale Royalties entitle the artist to receive a royalty payment (normally a percentage of the sale price) from the sales of their artwork on the secondary market and we introduced this into our exhibition. Of any works over $2000 that sold 5% would be returned to the artist or to their estate. We also produced the initial ARRA publication which we have now revised and updated and will have available for purchase during this exhibition. Born in 1922 in Prague, Czechoslovakia to Austrian parents, Harry Sangl was a professional painter in Germany when he married a New Zealander and immigrated to her homeland in 1970. Chance circumstances led him to his first ‘kuia with a moko’ in Ruatoki, Bay of Plenty in 1972. For the next four years, Harry travelled the country
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to seek out the 34 moko bearers who would consent to be portraited. As Harry painted, he heard these remarkable kuia describe their lives. These women were of an advanced age, the oldest being born around 1850. Believed to be a ‘dying art’ in the 1970s, Ta Moko has experienced a renaissance of sorts. Harry’s quest to document the remaining kuia bearing the moko resulted in a collection of 34 oil on canvas portraits which were brought together in a book called ‘The Blue Privilege’. The Depot Artspace are honoured to host Te Kuia Moko, an exhibition featuring thirty-four prints from the original paintings of kuia who bear traditional moko. The prints allow us to bring together these remarkable kuia, alongside their painter Harry Sangl, who in 2019 marks his 97th birthday.
UPCOMING EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS Tracey Kitchingman
INSUFFRAGABLE Kirsten Smith, Linda Gair, Jacqui Kay Main Gallery Opening Sat 24 Nov 2:00 – 3:30pm Sat 24 Nov – Wed 12 Dec 2018 This exhibition celebrates 125 years of New Zealand women’s fight to vote. Kirsten Smith, Linda Gair and Jacqui Kay, art teachers at Pinehurst School in Albany, each bring to their work a personal interpretation of suffrage and women’s rights challenging the viewer to acknowledge that women have strived for centuries to gain equality. The origins of women’s rights have long been fraught, with free-thinking women witch-hunted and persecuted for their desire to be seen and treated
as equals. Inadequacies ranged from unfair pay and poor working conditions to the outright abuse of power and the use of old, entrenched, archaic laws to silence the female voice. “This is no longer a man’s world, and ‘Insuffragable’ for these three artists, is a long-awaited visual platform pioneered 125 years ago in New Zealand by a movement heralding in a new wave of women. Here in New Zealand we can now freely express our views and opinions of the struggle and oppression of women through our art. Honourably standing, counted and adding our mark to the women’s movement, amongst those women of the now and yesteryear.” Linda Gair.
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EPHEMERA George Gair Opening Sat 24 Nov 2:00pm - 3:30pm Sat 24 Nov – Wed 12 Dec 2018 George Gair was the Member of Parliament for the North Shore Electorate 1966 - 1990, and NSC Mayor 1995-98, and with his wife Fay, courageously and over a long period served this community. He was Mayor when Depot Artspace was established and during its formative years from 1996. He died in 2016 and Fay Gair passed away in February 2018. This exhibition of memorabilia, writings and correspondence will document the history, quality and colour of their service. For example, as an MP his exercised his conscience vote to support Homosexual Law Reform.
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The goal is to celebrate our local cultural icons and characteristics of leadership and social consciousness this community is renowned for. It will include ephemera, correspondence with dignitaries including PMs, Commonwealth leaders including the Queen. The exhibition will be opened by Marilyn Waring: Marilyn Waring was mentored by George Gair during her parliamentary years and remained a good friend throughout his life. When George undertook an MPhil degree at AUT Marilyn mentored him. ‘Ephemera’ runs alongside ‘Insuffragable’, a group exhibition with artists Linda Gair (George and Fay’s daughter), Kirsten Smith and Jacqui Kay
PRE-LOVED/RE-LOVED Main Gallery Opening Sat 2 Feb 2:00 – 3:30pm Sat 2 Feb – Wed 27 Feb 2019 FEAR UP HARSH DEBUT CD RELEASE Event Sat 15 Dec at 3:30pm The electronic/acoustic duo Fear Up Harsh is releasing a debut double cd. Fear Up Harsh is: Jeffrey Gane, percussion, zither, melodica and voice and Michael Ferriss, synthesizers, piano and sound treatments. Each piece is excerpted from live studio sessions that they recorded over the past two years. The release is a double cd with close to two hours of music, spanning a wide range of styles. Many of the tracks have a filmic quality to them which explains why some of the music Fear Up Harsh have been making is included in a US/ NZ short film due for release in the near future.
The Depot Artspace wants to help you on-sell your artworks that no longer find a place in your home, in our exiting new exhibition Pre-Loved Re-Loved. We will accept pre-loved paintings, prints and objects. All work must be of a high standard, ready to hang and a realistic price. Those wishing to contribute to the exhibition should contact our gallery staff for further information. • $10 per entry • 30% commission plus GST on sold works under $1000 • 15% commission plus GST on sold works of $1000 and over with 5% of that going to the artist • Please note: This is not a secondary art sale. Artists cannot directly sell their own work.
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TE KUIA MOKO – WOMEN WITH MOKO An Exhibition of prints from the paintings of Harry Sangl Opening Sat 2 Mar 2:00 – 3:30pm Sat 2 Mar – Fri 22 Mar 2019 As part of our 2019 programme, Depot Artspace is honoured to host Te Kuia Moko, an exhibition featuring thirty-four prints from the original paintings of kuia who bear the traditional moko. Painted by artist Harry Sangl in the early 1970s, Te Kuia Moko pays homage to the lives of these women and the tikanga of their time and place as embodied by Ta moko. In the absence of the original portraits,
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which have remained in storage for 25 years, the prints allow us once more to bring together these remarkable kuia, alongside their painter, Harry Sangl, who, in 2019 marks his 97th birthday. Te Kuia Moko also featured in ‘The Blue Privilege’, a book by Harry, which celebrates and tells the stories of these esteemed kuia. Kaupapa: “For the present and future generations I painted these old faces from life, to produce a record, not only of their appearance, but also to show their confidence, calm and dignity, the authority they had achieved by taking on the blue privilege of the moko – Harry Sangl, (from book ‘The Blue Privilege’)
A WARM WELCOME TO NEW DEPOT CREW
ALAN JOY Relationship and Operations Manager Truisms are edicts generally held as patently indisputable. As such, “better together” – by virtue of its normative sense – is an irrefutable attribute that has underpinned both my academic and professional careers. It would be routine to list my previous roles – corporate manager, gallery manager, facilitator, visual artist – however over the last thirty years, in organisations as varied as Aotearoa New Zealand’s most high-profile private-sector multinational to an academic gallery space serving the tertiary sector and associated communities, this seems self-evident. Whether leading direct
report staff in a global aviation setting or a close-knit team within an intimate office environment, collaboration has always been key to our combined success. As a practicing artist, I relate to creative endeavour as a contemporary, yet I believe I also draw on a skill-set that translates conceptual ideas into practical approaches along with a “human touch” in support of long-lasting, meaningful connection. The strength of my personal philosophy lies in a firm belief that building relationships builds results. This will be increasingly manifest as a member of the ArtsLab programme team and our network of creative minds. Moreover, throughout an extensive work history that has
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covered a multitude of sectors – my incentives have always remained team and customer focused. I feel incredibly grateful and humbled for the opportunity to join the Depot Artspace whanau and support its renowned ethos of sustained community engagement, extensive research and grassroots guardianship. The prospect of combining these singular elements as Relationship and Operations Manager for the Depot Artspace continues my personal and professional journey in a way that is completely unique in how much “better together” we can be for ourselves, our people and the wider community.
My role intersects working as part of ArtsLab providing creative development support for clients, and in the development of ‘Revolution Creative’. This inspiring interactive digital platform aims to enhance employment opportunities and potential between creatives/artists and business’s to flourish and build a more supportive engaged and interconnected creative economy. I have been working in NGO community mental health, education and arts for 30 years and thrilled to be now working alongside the Depot whanau to help facilitate this new endeavour. Love the added bonus of being close to the sea again, as was my life in what seems like a previous lifetime ago. For now my watery pursuits rests with the occasional jaunt rowing “Joan” our Dory, with my partner Charlotte Fisher, and previously when somewhat younger, our son Miro. We like rowing to places like Motukorea (Browns Island) or Rangitoto, to inevitably collect rubbish and haul it back …. dogged perseverance goes a long way in my career and recreational pursuits. Arohanui
ERWIN VAN ASBECK Creative Development Consultant. 18
Erwin
TEESH SZABO Careers Consultant
TRACEY KITCHINGMAN Gallery Manager
Kia ora, I am excited to join Depot Art Space as one of their Creative Employment consultants and help inspire individuals to find their way in the world of work and celebrate their creative ventures.
Kia ora, my name is Tracey Kitchingman and I look after our exhibitors and artists who showcase their work with us. I also oversee the Art Room and our wonderful suppliers, which is the Depot’s small but mighty shop with unique, handmade treasures to keep.
Having been able to experience a portfolio career that has utilised my success as a career counsellor as well as my love of the performing arts, I am excited to be able to engage daily with other creative minded people. Along with career development, is my love of musical theatre and dance. I am a Choreographer/Director and Dance Educator who embraces every opportunity to bring the best out of performers on stage and off while focusing on safe practices and encouraging growth and confidence.
In 2018 I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Auckland, majoring in Art History and Sociology. Having worked previously in various roles around retail, art/dealership galleries and museums; I enjoy combining the engagement aspect alongside the local arts and cultural scene and I am thrilled to be working at the Depot Artspace alongside such a collaborative and community minded organisation.
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VENTURING INTO NEW TERRITORY Dave Rhodes Depot Sound has formally embarked on two new ventures this past quarter, Audio Post Production and Multimedia Production. These are the result of a review of Depot Sound’s operation and potential undertaken by the Depot Board of Trustees earlier this year and facilitated by a business mentor. Audio Post Production mixing is part of the video production process where we take the location audio and any music and sound effects added by the video editor and clean it up. This involves balancing the sound with any other elements we may need to add like further music production, sound effects, voice-overs, and foley to create an exciting and engaging soundtrack, which is then synced with the final video edit. Recently we have worked on a series of three documentaries
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for Vice website’s Zealandia Women’s Suffrage Series as well as a cartoon short film for artist Rewa Walia and various other short videos. Multimedia Projects combine our knowledge of audio, video, and other media. We bring together talented people that we have worked with in the past to create engaging web and video content. The camera for these projects was funded by The Lion Foundation. Two projects we have undertaken recently are: NZ Sculpture OnShore 2018 We are creating engaging video content for NZ Sculpture OnShore to use in online promo across Facebook, Instagram and their own website. Check out the interviews with artists and promo videos on the NZ Sculpture
NZ Sculpture OnShore 2018
Devonport Library Associates
OnShore website www.nzsculptureonshore.co.nz/videos
and staff plus lots of pictures, audio, and video of recordings and projects we have worked on recently.
Devonport Library Associates The Devonport Library Associates had the idea of filming some of the incredibly interesting talks that they organise at the Devonport library. When they talked to us about it we quickly realised that they also needed a place to showcase the videos so we brought in a web designer and helped them through the process of creating a website and YouTube channel to host the videos. You can visit the website at www.devonportlibraryassociates.org Finally, Depot Sound is excited to show off our new website at www.depotsound.co.nz . You will find all the info you need about the studio
It has been a busy few months in the studio with lots of new musicians coming through the studio for various recording projects: Half Moon Baby, Slipstream, The Dark Third, Crimson Coast, Big T and the Dirty Tones all working on new projects. It has also been great to finish off recordings with Meer, DamDam Paname, Dead Beat Boys, Pale Flag, and an album for Velvetland. These projects are all available on Spotify now or will be in the very near future.
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ARTSLAB – THREE WAYS “BETTER TOGETHER” Depot’s ArtsLab enters a new era of engagement with an expanded team providing a programme bringing together both employment outcomes and personal, professional and business skills. This is in response to Work and Incomes initiative to better equip job seekers for sustainable employment. Our three new staff join Angela and Liesha bringing a breadth of expertise to the programme to meet the opportunities of our new contract: · Alan Joy: Relationship and Operational Manager who looks after the day to day operation of ArtsLab and is the main point of contact for the programme and client referrals. · Erwin van Asbeck: Creative Development Consultant who works one on one with clients to develop their creative practice: 22
· Teesh Szabo: fulltime ArtsLab Career Consultant who will be starting in mid-November. As the new team galvanises together in November, we will be taking the opportunity to review the programme and complement each other’s skills in the service we provide to creatives joining ArtsLab. Everyone is excited to enhance this new capacity to strengthen our work with current employment and creative industry knowledge to assist our client’s professional development and support into creative employment. As a big part of our new contract environment with MSD, the Depot is also in the process of building a new digital interactive website called Revolution Creative. This platform and creative community will host the work of ArtsLab creatives amongst others and will proactively promote their work to employers and
New Media Workshop - Facilitator Lewis Bostock, past ArtsLab creative
organisations to develop and inform the creative gig economy and their sustainability within it. As clients enter the ArtsLab six month programme, they first attend a three day workshop which provides participants with the opportunity to engage together as a group to reflect and learn about each other’s work experience, develop practical effective job search strategies and receive support to enhance their professional development. We place importance on working with our clients not only on an individual basis but also collectively where the
knowledge and support from peers are valued and acknowledged by the group, creating a sense of cohesion and unity. Creatives meet each week with a Career Consultant for supportive job search and creative development mentoring. Seminars to provide knowledge and skills in social media, self-employment, website design and build are also provided. The three way partnership of creatives, Work and Income and the Depot ArtsLab, together provides valued opportunity for creatives to secure sustainable employment and build our creative industries sector. 23
AT LAST, CLARENCE ST UP GRADE Lynn Lawton input and comment. Two years ago, we documented the real danger to pedestrians needing to cross Bartley Terrace intersection and the footpath along Caroline Sills to access the Depot and the Devonport Community House. Bartley Rd intersection
In 1997 the Depot approached North Shore Council to upgrade Clarence St, which even in those days was in a poor state. All that happened was several gardens extending from the curb were removed from the top of Clarence St. Over the years, a number of reviews have taken place and we have provided
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These concerns were presented to Council on two occasions and the good news is that the Clarence St upgrade is taking place after Christmas. This will involve a pedestrian crossing across Bartley Terrace and a remodelled footpath outside the Depot and Community House.
OUR MISSION AT THE DEPOT IS: Lynn Lawton “We employ the transformative capacity of the arts to engage, inspire and challenge the community� This Mission informs our decisions and we almost daily hear stories of how artists, visitors and those using the many Depot services experience meaningful engagement, are inspired in their creative practice and often challenged. Last year we undertook a review of the use of our facilities to determine how fit for purpose they were in relation to our Mission. The Board of Trustees also considered research findings by Linda Blincko concerning changes in the arts and creative sector over the past decade. As a result, we are implementing three changes to our facilities, largely funded by a much-appreciated grant from Lotteries, that will keep the depot in step with the opportunities and challenges of the creative environment both now and into the future. Below is the new internal layout for the Depot and details of these changes that will take place mid-January to early February. A critical question explored was the viability of galleries, given the
development of secondary markets and significant changes in primary arts markets, away from galleries and towards art fairs, charity art auctions, online sales from artists’ personal websites and national and international sites. In our experience, exhibitions that remain popular have most of the following characteristics; they convey meaning, tell a story, build a sense of cultural/historic/local/national identity across a variety of themes, and involve audience participation. We are excited about our 2019 exhibition programme and have accepted proposals from artists that meet these characteristics and we will also be reconfiguring the gallery space in January to better facilitate these exhibitions. The Art Room will be better position and furnished providing a variety of price accessible work from our members for visitors to explore and purchase. A concern was the off site location of the ArtsLab programme, which has been operating at Whare Toi - Kerr St Artspace for a number of years. Our 25
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Depot Artspace trustees planning workshop. Trustees left to right: Bill Bates, Gayle Morris, Tony McNeight, David Bailey, Margaret Taylor and Creative Director Linda Blincko
conversations with creatives tell stories of isolation and a desire to belong to a creative community and network with other creatives. The Whare Toi is distant from the creative and supportive environment of the Depot with all the creative services and facilities we offer. In response, we are shifting the ArtsLab programme to the Depot Artspace February 2019 and reconfiguring the current Art Room space to provide a workroom for ArtsLab seminars that will also be available for hire by artists and the community. A Hub area for networking and conversation will be established at the rear of the Main gallery with a moveable wall to provide for expansion for events. The high wall in the middle of the gallery, built for the Rembrandt Remastered exhibition will be removed to provide better
flexibility of use for the main Gallery A development need was upgrading Depot Sound Studio 2 to provide for both Studio 1 and 2 operating concurrently. Studio 2 was built in 1997 and sound leakage into Studio 1 occurs through the hay bale walls and lack of ceiling insulation limits its use. The upgrade will provide both a better operational layout and greatly improved insulation so that both Studios can operate concurrently. This will expand the volume and range of work we can do and provide a better workflow for our engineers Dave Rhodes and Morgan Allen.
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BETTER TOGETHER David Bailey I was breaking, heart was aching, But you came along just in time, Your love saved my life.
I guess this usually means that normally it is better to do things as a group than by yourself. But I see it as having people (friends) around who can save you. The following is how I feel towards all the people at The Depot Artspace. “ You pick me up with little things you say. Sometimes I get dark, And fall apart. But I’m alive pulling through, And it’s thanks to you.
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I was reckless, I was careless, I was hopeless, Your love saved my life. Trouble breathing, conscience screaming, wasn’t sleeping, Your love saved my life.
It’s like you’ve known me forever, You’ve shown me things do get better. Your words stick in my head, If not for you I would be dead. Regardless of what life brings, You will always be my everything. I was reckless, I was careless, I was hopeless, Your love saved my life. Trouble breathing, conscience screaming, wasn’t sleeping, Your love saved my life. I was breaking, heart was aching, But you came along just in time, Your love saved my life. ” - Anonymous Thank you everyone past & present at Depot Artspace (David is a member of the Board of Trustees, a volunteer who gives our Saturday staff a lunch break, helps on countless occasions at countless events, and does our design work)
KUPU TUPU - TE REO MĀORI WHAKAPAPA Jermaine Reihana and Johnsen Kiwi-Scally
Kupu means word and tupu means growth or to nurture. Kupu is like the seed that is planted and nurtured to grow into a tree that provides understanding. Kupu Tupu represents the whakapapa or genealogy of Māori words and the how we can grow together in our understanding of te reo. Kupu Tupu is a video project that came out of the weekly staff meetings here at The Depot, as an initiative to honour our commitment to te Tiriti o Waitangi. Before each staff meeting we would begin with karakia and also an introduction to a new word in te reo Māori. As time went on we found the conversations surrounding the
meaning of these words extending far beyond the word itself. Examining its context within te ao Māori and how it relates to our modern life. Every kupu has its own whakapapa, history and connection to the people and places that surround us. Kupu tupu is about sharing our ideas and knowledge with one another so that together, we can better understand our reo and how we use it in Aotearoa. The first series of four is on our Facebook page https://www.facebook. com/kuputupu/ Kupu Tupu.
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CULTURAL ICONS – NEW WEBSITE WITH POD CAST
Simon Kerr
This month, through the generosity of a Depot Artspace member donation, the support of an ArtsLab website developer and Iceberg website builders, we were able to rebuild the Cultural Icons website. With a greatly improved user interface and now with POD Cast, you will find it much easier to explore the stories of 80 iconic and emerging New Zealand creatives. These past three months we have been releasing a new series ‘Emerging Icons’. The Emerging Icons series identifies
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and celebrates the next generation of Cultural Icons in New Zealand. Simon Kerr talks about what he wishes to express with his work, his creative processes and his life beyond crime and prison cells. He states “I’ll either be called an artist or a criminal. Just as crime is all or nothing, so will this be” Photographer Drew Hill unravels his creative journey - the changes he has made in his processes and the varied projects he has undertaken over the last
Drew Hill
25 years he has been shooting street life. He also reveals what has remained steadfast throughout his work and life; his politics, love of Tikanga Māori and the need to remain ‘raw to the truth’. Jermaine Reihana is an emerging Māori artist. Born in Auckland with Ngati Hine, Hokianga and Pakeha whakapapa, he studied at Massey University School of Māori Visual Arts in Palmerston North, graduating with honours in 2012. Reihana’s work featured in the most comprehensive survey of Māori contemporary art, Te Atinga: 25 Years of Contemporary Māori Art, which exhibited during 2013. The catalogue for this exhibition was subsequently published in 2014. In 2015 he held his first solo exhibition Te Matahi at Depot Artspace in Auckland and continues to exhibit nationally.
We are planning to continue both the Emerging Icons and Cultural Icons series. Funding from the Lion Foundation to purchase a high quality HD video camera has significantly contributed to this. Donations Initiatives
to
Support
Depot
The Depot currently has a number of projects underway: Cultural Icons, the soon to be published book Te Hau Kapua - Devonport’s Buried Past and the Te Ao Maori project Kupu Tupu www.facebook.com/kuputupu/ . We would value your support for these and other projects currently in planning. Donations are tax deductible since we are a registered charity.
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ARTS IN ACTION Arts in Action features on the Depot Artspace website and provides an independent forum and medium through which it is possible to analyse and address issues of concern to humanity and our planet, and in doing so, to celebrate our power to act and to speak out. http://www.depotartspace.co.nz/arts-in-action/ LIFE, ART AND COMMUNITY: A Sunday with Auckland City Mission artists at Depot Artspace. The Depot Artspace ethos embraces the arts community in all its aspects and attributes. The arts have a universal voice with which all are able to speak. In July we were honoured to host the artists of the Auckland City Mission whose works were showcasing at the Depot Gallery in their second exhibition. Clare Caldwell, Visual arts Tutor with the Mission, spent Sunday at the Depot Gallery along with the exhibiting artists, enjoying kōrero (conversation) with interested visitors, and sharing their hearty lunch. Here is Clare’s colourful story of the day By Clare Caldwell Clare Caldwell is a contemporary visual artist, qualified art therapist and an Art Tutor for the Auckland City Mission Arts Activities Programme. You can learn more about her role
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with the Auckland City Mission in this interview she did with One News ‘Good Sorts’ in June 2016 or check out her website. So on Sunday 1 July 2018, we had the drawing workshop in the gallery with four of the Mission artists, Rob, Richard, Tiare, Martin and Grayson, the driver. Loads of people came in to look at the work and I was able to introduce many admiring punters to the actual artists which seemed of benefit to both sides! At one stage, a whole lot of Kahu’s1 extended family arrived, including many children. When I asked them if they wanted to come and do some drawing and colouring there was a resounding YES so we added another table and a pile of chairs and watched delightedly as they all engaged with great gusto, even some of the older members! At lunchtime the boys went off and bought a huge pile of fish and chips and fresh buns that we set up outside on the tables, and at our invitation, everyone came and shared the food and assorted drinks we had with us. It was a really wonderful sharing on many levels with conversations about art - children’s
Artist: Selwyn Vercoe (Bottom)
creativity as well as adult creativity and thankfully it didn’t rain! One of the most amusing moments was when a small group of elderly Chinese people arrived brandishing a copy of the Northern Star Times and wanting to know where Richard was! Richard meanwhile was having a little snooze in the van, but when informed, leapt out and ended up moving round the gallery with an entourage of clamouring Chinese people, who all began talking loudly to him at the same time, still brandishing their collective copy of the Northern Star Times! Richard of course towered above them and had a big grin, even when they told
him he was too fat! He later told me that if it had been said by any other group he might have reacted but he knows the Chinese can be very blunt about such things so he just laughed and said “Yes! I’m big like Godzilla and you are very small people!” I seemed to end up having many conversations with people about their own life journeys after they had looked at the art and read the statements, so the work is a great catalyst and maybe even a source of healing for others to open up and share their own experiences, many of which were quite harrowing. All in all, a great day of many learnings and interactions. 33
DEPOT HIGHLIGHTS AND EVENTS JULY - OCTOBER 2018
BIBLIOHUB - Geoff Allen Book Launch
Clare Caldwell – IN TIME 34
DIGITAL AURORA
FOREST HAS THE BLUES
Larisse Hall – LEMONADE 35
Pulse Art Collective - POTPOURRI 36
Takapuna Grammar School International Baccalaureate Students – ECLECTIC COLLECTIVE
Depot Artspace’s fantastic volunteers with Natali Rojas (3rd from right) 37
WHARE TOI KERR STREET ARTSPACE
In July this year, representatives from the Maunga Authority, Depot Staff and community members met one early July morning to acknowledge the transfer of the care and protection of the maunga and the Kerr St facility to the Maunga Authority. Kerr St Artspace was renamed Whare Toi. The Depot has leased Whare Toi for 14 years on Maunga Takarunga and its staff have had significant association with the facility since 1984 when, as a Community House, recreation and employment programmes were run for rangatahi/young people (90% of
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a group of 60 or more were Maori). A trust, Te Whanau Rangimarie, was subsequently established to address their needs and interests and eventually a family home was set up by the Trust in Kawerau Avenue, along with training programmes such as TOPS, TAPS, ACCESS, MACCESS and Conservation Corps. The facility Whare Toi is available for rent for workshops, events and as a performance and rehearsal space. Please contact Alan joy alan.joy@depotartspace.co.nz
Welcome to the Depot Artspace creative community! Your annual membership ensures access to LOUD magazine, e-newsletters, invitations to exhibition openings and special events. As a member, you also have opportunities to exhibit in the Depot galleries. To join Depot Artspace please fill out the Membership form below and drop it in to our front desk, 28 Clarence St, Devonport Auckland 0624, during opening hours. You can also pay online via direct deposit (Account #12 3015 0013510 00); please place your name and the word Membership in the reference section and email the form below to gallery@depotartspace.co.nz
Membership Form Membership means that you support Depot Artspace and its objectives. Circle the option that applies below: Individual $30 Organisation $40 Student & UB $10
Family $40
International $35
Name ....................................................... New Member/Renewal (Circle one) Landline .................................................. Mobile ................................................ Email ........................................................................................................................ Street No ....................... Street ............................................................................. Suburb ..................................................... City/Post code ................................... Signature ................................................. Date .................................................... Office paid ...............................................
Thank you!
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