Te Tuhi Youth Art Award
Congratulations to Hanako Chatani from Pukekohe High School, our 2011 Te Tuhi Youth Art Award Winner!!
This year's winner Hanako Chatani, has been accepted for Elam, sold the original work she designed for the billboard, and her school will be displaying the large scale billboard image next year. Congratulations to Hanako and the other 3 finalists of the 2011 award.
Here is Hanako's statement about her award winning work: "Although I do not remember the Great Hanshin Earthquake (aka Kobe Earthquake) of 1995, as a survivor I feel a strong connection with the Christchurch Earthquake and the Tohoku Earthquake in Japan which happened this year. My artwork references these three earthquakes to convey the idea of "Colonisation", "Reincarnation" and "Anonymous aid". The figures are an anthropomorphism of the earthquake stricken city and its future self; rebuilt to a form we are yet to discover, the new city inheriting culture from the old and broken. They are, at the same time the people of the cracked city and its anonymous supporter. We (from both a Kiwi and a Japanese point of view), received support from all over the world. We do not know them. They do not know us. But they are there, and what else can be such an encouragement? In this modern world with amazing information networks, there is always someone who cares; always someone who will lends us a hand. It might not be enough to pull us up on our feet, but in my personal view it is the mere presence of them that really matters. They are simply just there, for us. And that is the reason why we are not alone."
Hanako Chatani with her prize winning billboard.
Ben Richards
Hanako Chatani
Matthew Hutson
Kacey Robinson
2012 Te Tuhi Youth Art Award
Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts will be looking for next year's finalists and overall winner. Will it be you? Here are some important dates to keep in your diary:
Entries close - 15 June 2012
Finalist selected - 18 June 2012
3 day workshop - 2, 3, 4 July 2012
Finalist exhibition and billboard unveiling - To be confirmed
Iris Fisher Scholarship
Object of the scholarship
The scholarship is named after Iris Fisher, an important founding member of the Pakuranga Arts Society and driving force behind the creation of the Fisher Gallery, later to become Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts. Her original bequest has fostered and encouraged contemporary visual art practice, and in particular arts education, not only in Pakuranga, but also the wider Auckland region since that time.
The Iris Fisher Scholarship, therefore, has been created with those same ideals, that is, for the purpose of encouraging and assisting an excellent tertiary-level visual art student with their studies.
2011 Iris Fisher Scholar - Louise Menzies
Louise Menzies, Everything put to use, 2011, 16mm film still
Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts are proud to announce Louise Menzies as the 2011 Iris Fisher Scholarship recipient. Louise is the fifth recipient of the Iris Fisher Scholarship. An emerging artist with an already impressive exhibition history, Louise Menzies won the award from the largest pool of applicants ever received by Te Tuhi, judged by Director of Te Tuhi, James McCarthy, and Te Tuhi Curator, Bruce E. Phillips.
The judges commented that "Louise is an intriguing artist who brings personal and little known social histories into currency through conceptual and research based practice. There is an elegant conceptual rigour to her practice, which combines film, photography and text."
The grant will assist Louise to complete her Masters of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, where she is currently developing a series of works exploring the discursive possibilities of the individual gesture, through the mediums of film and print.
2010 Iris Fisher Scholar - Anthony Cribb
Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts and Fisher Trustee Stephen Fisher were delighted to award the 2010 Iris Fisher Scholarship to AUT Univeristy student Anthony Cribb. Anthony was selected from a wide pool of applicants by a panel comprised of James McCarthy, Director of Te Tuhi, Stephen Cleland, Curator of Te Tuhi and Peter Shand, Senior Lecturer Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University.
Anthony Cribb is a promising emerging artist currently enrolled in the second year of a Master of Art and Design (Visual Arts). Director of Te Tuhi, James McCarthy, says: "we are thrilled that that scholarship has been awarded to such a talented artist and to a student of another of our Cities highly regarded art Institutions, reflecting the caliber of art students in post-grad study"
2009 Iris Fisher Scholar - Jeremy Richard Leatinu'u
Jeremy Richard Leatinuu, Cutting The Grass 2008, Performance, Otara Creek Reserve
Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts and Fisher Trustee Stephen Fisher were delighted to award the 2009 Iris Fisher Scholarship to Te Manukau School of Visual Arts student Jeremy Richard Leatinu'u. Jeremy was selected from a wide pool of applicants by a panel comprised of Emma Bugden, James McCarthy and Stephen Cleland.
The panel described Jeremy's work as conceptually unique and articulate. Jeremy is developing a body of work which explores the concept of ownership and human occupation of property.
2008 Iris Fisher Scholar - Boris Dornbusch
Boris Dornbusch, Involving all Members, 2008, sheet metal blinds, box of Panadol, Courtesy of the artist
His work explores social histories and questions definitions of the individual within the onslaught of popular culture. Dornbusch's work has recently drawn on an increasingly broad range of media, from readymade video footage sourced online to sculptures re-presenting theatrical props from nightclubs. His exhibition presents new work in the form of constellations of sculptures and video that reflect upon organisations of social interactivity and artificial constructions of sensory experience.
2007 Iris Fisher Scholar - Erica van Zon
Erica von Zon, 'Sixteen Reasons', performance in 'Mulholland Drive Film Set', 2007. Photo: Richard Orjis
Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts and Fisher Trustee Stephen Fisher were delighted to award the inaugural Iris Fisher Scholarship to Elam School of Art student Erica van Zon in 2007. Erica was selected from a wide pool of applicants by a panel comprised of Cam McCracken, Executive Director of Te Tuhi, Emma Bugden, Curatorial Director, and Dominic Fuchs, Director of Starkwhite Gallery.
The panel described Erica's work as "playful and quirky, with an assured use of space and innovative reclaiming of materials and methods of making traditionally seen as craft". Erica is currently completing a Masters of Fine Arts, developing a body of work drawing on imagery from the world of Hollywood and films to explore ideas of fakery or trickery.
