The Living Arts

Press, 22 August 1978, Page 18

The Living Arts

2Vew pots Pottery by Neil Grant, course supervisor at the Ceramic School of the Otago Polytechnic School of Fine Art, is being shown for two weeks at the Brooke/Gifford Gallery, in Manchester Street. The exhibition, which is his first in Christchurch for four years, opened yesterday. Neil Grant, born in Napier in 1938, studied sculpture at the Canterbury University School of Fine Arts, and graduated in 1960. He became interested in pottery later, while doing post-graduate studies in Auckland, and in 1965 he worked for two weeks with the great Japanese potter, Shoji Hamada. who visited Christchurch for the Pan Pacific Arts Festival. His last one-man shows were in Wellington and Christchurch in 1972, but

his work has gone overseas in a number of touring exhibitions in the intervening six years. He says: “My greatest interest lies in the field of both hand made and moulded pots with combinations of dry and glazed finishes and soft colour combinations and decortaiion.” Arts contest Sixty-three artists have entered for South Pacific Television’s $BOOO travelling arts scholarship, which has now closed. The award is for any man or woman who has lived in New Zealand for three years. Its aim is to enable artists to widen their experience through travel, and at the same time to bring an awareness of New Zealand painting to a wider audience. Entries have come from

artists all over the country. The selection panel will meet in Auckland later this month, and the announcement and presentation of the award will be made by the Minister for the Arts (Mr Highet)

at the Auckland City Art Gallery on September 1. Breath problems The Court Theatre has joined the children’s entertainment stakes for the school holidays, with a production, scheduled for next week, of “The Magic Hand,” a play for children written by a New Zealander, Philip Mann. The play is described as a “fairy story in the classic mould,” and is being directed once again by Robin Queree, who is becoming the Court’s specialist in children’s theatre. According to a synopsis of the plot, the hero is put under a spell

by the local witch, and when he goes to the king’s castle he accidentally turns the princess to stone. Only one thing can cure the princess: dragon’s breath. But three things hamper the hero in his quest. Dragons are extinct; he has a rival in the Wizard, who hankers after the princess; and a kind old lady in a forest is not all she seems to be. “The Magic Hand” will play at lunch-time from Tuesday to Friday next week, and there will be additional morning performances on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday there will be a matinee. Playbox Songs from a number of popular shows, and a selection of favourite stories, will be featured by the Riccarton Players in their school-holiday production of “Playbox Theatre,” which will open in the Wharenui School Hall on Thursday. The programme, which will run until August 31, is being directed by Doug Clarke, and features nine actors and a storyteller. The subjects of the playlets that make up the programme include “The Tinder Box,” “The Princess and the Pea,” “Dick Whittington,” and “Sleeping Beauty.”