End of Year Exhibitions in Manukau

Take a break from the Christmas rush at one of Manukau City Council’s end of year art exhibitions.

Nathan Homestead in Manurewa is showing Dollmania until 22 January. The exhibition will display dolls from private collections including examples from the 1920s to 1950s and will include contemporary interpretations of dolls by local artists Tinesha Russell, Sean Hurst and Vicky-Lee Hipora Stark.

“Dolls have been a part of our history for hundreds of years,” says exhibitions coordinator Gabrielle Belz.

“Often they have made memorable gifts or marked a special time in our lives. They are loved, battered, given haircuts, hung upside down, played with and grow to have personalities of their own. Throughout history, dolls have had other uses - sometimes being perceived to have power, used to display the latest fashion, to hold night clothes and adorn a bed, or to describe folk tales.”

The exhibition includes doll-themed works by local printmakers Toni Mosley, Natalie Couch and Gabrielle Belz.

Fresh Gallery Otara features highlights from exhibitions held in the past year, including significant new works that have been acquired for the Manukau City Council art collection.

FRESH09 features paintings by Margaret Aull and Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi, photography by Vinesh Kumaran and Raymond Sagapolutele, textiles by Genevieve Pini, aerosol by Dean and  Shaun Purcell and sculpture by Siliga David Setoga and Visesio Siasau.

The show includes small axe 09, a collaborative video work developed for the ARTSPACE New Artists Show in Auckland and another specially commissioned video which was made in preparation of the Dawson Road Mural Project that took place recently in Otara.

At Mangere Community Arts Outreach Service, Vanessa Wynyard has curated a show that includes woodblock prints, digital art, painting, drawing and photography in the exhibition Identity.