BOOM! A day long event
Friday, 22 June, 9:30am – 4:30pm
REGISTER BEFORE JUNE 18 FOR ONLY $30!
What do artists’ consider when creating public works? What’s the role of a commissioner? Where to start when considering public sites and communities? Join us for two talks and a design-think workshop.
$40 registration required / refreshments provided (register before June 18 for only $30)
Special Friends of the Gallery Rate: $25
EVENT SYNOPSIS:
Session 1
An artists’ conversation: Elliot Collins and Kereama Taepa
Hear artists Elliot Collins and Kereama Taepa discuss some of their public art initiatives from Taepa’s the Four Plinths project at Te Papa to the Redwood Forest shrouds, to the Tauranga Harbour tidal stairs Karakia for Tauranga Moana designed by Collins.
Session 2
Creating iconic public work: a commissioning process
Curators Kelly Carmichael, Karl Chitham and Kate Darrow have worked on significant projects from Michael Parekowhai’s Tongue of the Dog, to Sculpture on the Gulf, to the International Award for Public Art. Together they discuss the role of the curator; how public art commissions happen; and what is the best environment for enabling public art…
Image credit: Tiffany Singh A Journey of a Million Miles Begins with One Step – The Stories of Beyond Refuge (2017). 2017 Sculpture on the Gulf, Waiheke Island
Session 3
Wondering how to transform some of our CBD spaces? Where to start - join us for a design think workshop. This is for artists, commissioners and anyone interested in a creative design process for public space. Workshop led by Karl Stevenson and Que Bidois.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:
Elliot Collins
Elliot Collins, born 1983, is an artist and researcher who recently completed his PhD at AUT University titled, Memory Markers in the Landscape of Aotearoa NZ. He works in a multidisciplinary way that includes painting, photography, sculpture and poetry exploring ideas of memory, death and language in the landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand. Represented by Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland and Bartley and Company Art, Wellington. Elliot has recently returned from just over two months in Varanasi, India as part of an Asia New Zealand Foundation, artist in residency program. He lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Kereama Taepa
Kereama Taepa’s first major public commissions 2013 saw him integrate his works into architecture designing the shrouds surrounding the Redwoods toilets in Rotorua and the screens for the toilets on the Waipa side of the Whakarewarewa forest in 2014. In 2016 his work A (very) brief history of Aotearoa was shown on the Four Plinths at the Te Papa forecourt, and in 2017 as part of Te Tuhi Mareikura Collective he collaborated on a new work wrapping the new pump station in Memorial Park, Tauranga.
Taepa studied at Massey University in Palmerston North completing his Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts, and Masters degrees. His involvement in the arts have been broad and varied including bronze technician at the Dibble Arts Foundry and participating in various Māori arts symposiums, workshops and hui. He is a Supreme Award winner of the Rotorua Art Awards 2017, the Molly Morpeth 2D Art Award in 2008 and currently teaches at Toi Ohomai, Rotorua.
Kelly Carmichael
Kelly Carmichael is a contemporary art curator and writer. She has recently returned to NZ after working abroad for 13 years in Europe, the US, and the Middle East. She works across gallery and public art contexts and is developing a politically-engaged approach to curating and research, developing site-specific exhibitions and projects that explore society and the histories of place.
Kelly is currently based in Auckland. She is an Assistant Director (Curatorial) at Starkwhite, and a nominator and researcher for the International Award for Public Art, a place-making award set up by Public Art Review (USA) and the University of Shanghai.
Karl Chitham
Director of Tauranga Art Gallery, Toi Tauranga, Karl Chitham has been involved in the arts sector for over 15 years as a curator, educator, writer, selector and instigator. Karl has participated as a curatorial advisor on various public art panels including MESH, Nelson Sculpture Trust, Rotorua Lakes Council and Auckland City Council.
Kate Darrow
Kate Darrow has worked in the visual arts in New Zealand for over twenty years. She has a BA in Art History and a MA in Arts Management and has held senior positions at the Auckland Art Gallery and the City Gallery, Wellington. She has worked on numerous exhibitions and public art projects throughout New Zealand.
Kate was the inaugural and lead curator for MESH Sculpture Hamilton, and worked on the first three projects by Seung Yul Oh, Lonnie Hutchinson and Michael Parekowhai. Other public art projects include curator for Brick Bay Sculpture Trail in Matakana and Headlands Sculpture on the Gulf on Waiheke Island.
Currently she is working with the Tauranga Art Gallery and the Elms Foundation on the presentation of the collaborative art exhibition The Rooms due to open in August this year.
Karl Stevenson
Karl's history is speckled with music, web, social responsibilities and the creative arts however he found a home in customer experience, branding and storytelling.
As part of this journey, he developed a deep passion for Human Centered, Service and Business Design utilising Design Thinking techniques and disciplines. He has been fortunate to work, learn and share his skill set across many cultures including the USA, NZ, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe and Scandinavia. He's energized by getting people together around challenges, facilitating the processes to drive lasting change and seeing the absolute gold that is inside all our teams.
Currently Karl works as Global Marketing Manager for Trimax. Outside of this he facilitates an innovation and design MeetUp which pulls businesses and the community together to help inspire and connect local innovators and designers, share tools and cultivate ideas. You should check out the MeetUp here: www.meetup.com/designthinkingbop
This event is supported by Chartwell Trust, Tauranga City Council Events Fund and Creative Bay of Plenty.
Photo: Tongue of the Dog, Michael Parekowhai, Gifted to Hamilton City by MESH Sculpture Hamilton 2016less
