Do-it-yourself outdoor art at festival

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33753, 28 January 1975, Page 10

Do-it-yourself outdoor art at festival

A scattering of “outdoor environmental structures,” which will be made on the spot by nine Christchurch artists and sculptors, will be one of the more unusual “fringe” events at the Christchurch Arts Festival in March.

The public will be invited to participate in the building of the structures, which will be erected in Cathedral Square, and on the banks of the Avon.

The participating artists have already designed the i structures, and will begin to make them on March 8, opening day of the festival. They wifi continue to work on the structures until they are complete. The nine artists are Rosemary. Muller Johnson, Tom Taylor, Larence Shustak, Neil Dawson, Carl Sydow, Michael Thomas, Martin Mendelsberg, John Coley, and Bruce Edgar. The Festival Committee, in a brochure about the festival just published, says the venture will enable members of the public to participate in “the building and internal workings of a creative endeavour.” This will not be the only attraction on the streets during the festival. Daily programmes of lunch-time entertainment in the Square are planned on weekdays during the two weeks of the festival, ranging from street theatre by the Court Theatre to the St Andrews Pipe Band.

The programmes are scheduled to run from noon to 2 p.m., and will include fencing. Punch and Judy, the Army Band, square dancing,

judo, karate, pop music, the Y.M.C.A. mummers, a Swiss horn, Highland dancing, magicians, singers, ballet, and instrumental groups. The Wizard is not listed in the official programme. Off the street, there will be craft demonstrations in which the public will also be able to participate. These will be in the Horticultural Hall, and will feature a wide range of crafts, from spinning and weaving to making com dollies. They will run from March 17 to 21; and on March 20 and 21 there will also be demonstrations of Maori arts and crafts, sponsored by the Maori Women’s Welfare League.

For those who just want to look, the festival will have plenty of attractions. Both public galleries are mounting major exhibitions; and various exhibitions have been arranged by dealer galleries and sectional interests.

At the Robert McDougall Gallery, the major attraction will be the Impressionist show assembled from New Zealand public collections. This will include works by Degas, Cezanne, Manet, Renoir, Toulouse Lautrec, Whistler, and other important Impressionists. Also at the McDougall will be an exhibition by six Christchurch professional photographers, Pat Dolan, Warren Jacobs, Lloyd Park, Harold Ruffel, Euan Sarginson, and Heinz Sobiecki. Their subjects will include abstracts, multiple images, seascapes, the human form, trees, and old houses.

“The President’s Exhibition” is the title of the show which will be offered at the C.S.A. Gallery. This will be an attempt to make a comprehensive survey of the work of leading "Canterbury artists and craftsmen, and all those represented will be participating by invitation of the president of the Canterbury Society of Arts, Mr Miles Warren.

No other exhibitions will be shown at the C.S.A. during the festival; the collection of paintings, pottery, sculpture, prints, weaving, and jewellery will occupy all the exhibition space in the building. More than 200 works will be on display, and all will be for sale. Other events to look at will be “an audio-visual review of design,” sponsored by the Industrial Design Council and the Society of Industrial Designers, in Haywrights Theatrette; an exhibition of antiques by the Canterbury Antique Collectors’ Club in Te Kura Lounge, Bealey Avenue; a Craft Centre exhibition of pottery, basketry, wrought iron, spinning and weaving in Springfield Road; and, last but not least, two exhibitions at the Canterbury Museum: heraldic art, sponsored by the New Zealand branch of the Heraldry Society; and an exhibition of historical New Zealand paintings. In addition, two cinemas will screen “film festivals,” featuring classic films old and new, one of which, at the Hollywood Theatre, Summer, will be Al Jolson’s “The Jazz Singer,” completed in 1927 and the first sound movie made.