Ukulele - Hokianga style

What do you get if you give 30 artists a plain ukulele and ask them to create a work of art? Visit Village Arts to find out!

Village Arts Gallery in Kohukohu Hokianga is fundraising to increase the profile of art in its rural community and has invited 30 artists to re-design and re-interpret the ukulele in a multi-media symphony.

’30 ukulele, 30 artists’ will see well-known artists including Gretchen Albrecht, Judy Darragh, Toa Fraser and et al. exhibiting alongside local artists – each producing individual works of art using the ukulele as their focus.

Curator Marg Morrow says the exhibition was inspired by a visit to the Ukulele Festival in Auckland last year.

“Village Arts is always looking for new and challenging ideas for exhibitions. The rising popularity of the ukulele has encouraged a whole new group of musicians to explore this simple and fun instrument in new and innovative ways.

“Just as it has brought music to the masses, we thought it was time for the ukulele to make its presence felt in the contemporary art world,” says Marg Morrow.

Each artist has been supplied with a plain ukulele and asked to decorate it or create a work of art around the instrument.

“Village Arts has invited 30 artists from many different disciplines to give this exhibition a very eclectic flavour.

 "As there are no restrictions on how to present the ukulele, I’m expecting to see some turn up decorated and others reconstructed as part of a more abstract piece. It’s a case of anything goes,” adds Morrow.

The works of art will be for sale with 50 per cent of the proceeds going to Village Arts Gallery.

’30 ukulele, 30 artists’ runs from 6 March to 6 April 2010, with a variety of ukulele bands lined up to play at the opening.

Visit www.villagearts.co.nz for further information.

About Village Arts

Village Arts is an art gallery run under the umbrella of the Kohukohu Community Trust, a registered Charitable Trust. A group of committed volunteers have been running the gallery for the past three years. In this time the gallery has come to the attention of the mainstream art world and has been described as the best white wall gallery in Northland.

Village Arts has developed a reputation for offering cutting edge and exciting exhibi­tions, concentrating on Hokianga artists and has recently hosted the 'Hotere Country' exhibition featuring the work of Ralph Hotere.