Fundraising Friday at The Physics Room

Fancy a limited edition tote bag for your library books?

Then head down to the Physics Room tomorrow night for their Cash 'n' Carry release party. Your $30 donation/entry fee into the event, will help support the operation of the Physics Room and their upcoming exhibitions.

Plus, you'll walk away the proud owner of a locally designed and printed tote bag! Artwork featured on the bags was selected in a design competition. Chosen works are by artists: Fiona Connro, Jacqueline Fraser, Rob Hood, Sean Kerr and design competition winner Geoff Newton.

Friday 19th March 6pm

Physics Room, Second Floor 209, Tuam Street

Jewellery Gallery Showcasing Local Works

The National is a Jewellery Gallery that showcases and sells both collectible and accessibly priced jewellery by emerging and established artists from around New Zealand, as well as a few international jewelers. It is one of the best places in town to find a truly special wearable piece that will stand out from the crowd.

Located on the fashionable block of High Street, between Lichfield and Tuam, The National rotates about ten exhibitions per year of solo or group works. The current exhibition (March 1-27), is by Kay Van Dyk, an Ashburton gal now living in Nelson, who's necklaces make comment on the environmental impact of the farming industry on the Ashburton River and local area. Made of copper, silver, enamel, and found objects, her pieces bear enamel tags making reference to local sayings like "Ashvegas", places, or to birds, fish, and signs of pollution. Other artists works currently on display at The National include those created by Christchurch based jewelery artists Elfi Spiewack, Rob Upritchard, and Jennifer Braithwaite - whose floral leather necktie pieces are visible in the gallery's front window (see the image below).

What makes The National a noteworthy local spot, is the mission and passion with which gallery owner Caroline Billing operates the space. Caroline is dedicated to providing a stage for jewellery artists, and is passionate about educating people about the value of these artists' craft. "It's not an easy decision to make a living as a jewellery artist. I think if people are aware of the amount of time, work, and talent that goes into creating a brooch or necklace by hand, they will appreciate it as a one-off piece of art." Caroline is lucky enough to work closely with these artists in order to communicate the story, meaning, and technique behind each artists' pieces to gallery browsers and customers.

To learn more about the artists currently or previously featured go to The National's website.
Make sure to pop though The National before March 27 to browse the current exhibition.

The National
158 High Street, City Centre, Christchurch
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri 10.30 – 5pm, Sat 10.30 – 4pm

Chinese Lanterns Set to Light Up the Night Sky

The sixth annual Chinese Lantern Festival will be held this Saturday and Sunday nights (March 6 & 7) in Victoria Square. This event marks the end of the two week Chinese Lunar New Year festivities and showcases of hundreds of intricately designed lanterns, specially commissioned from China. There will also be Chinese food stalls, crafts, and live entertainment by visiting Chinese performers.

Here are a few images of the Chinese Lantern Festival from previous years, submitted by Local Vanguard flickr group members Joseph M and Kristin Hartnoll . Click here to see many more on flickr.

Chinese Lantern Festival
Saturday and Sunday, March 6 & 7
Victoria Square, Christchurch
The Chinese Lantern Festival is organized by Asia:NZ.

Handmade Nation on the Big Screen - Thurs. 4th March

Handmade Nation is a film that documents the growing craft movement. This region will have a one-night only showing of the film on the big screen on Thursday 4th March at 7:30pm at the Hollywood Cinema in Sumner. This viewing is organized by local crafter Miss Millie in association with local crafting organization Felt.

Handmade Nation explores today's craft world as a synthesis of historical technique, punk culture, and the DIY ethos, and its influences in traditional handiwork, modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art. Handmade Nation is the feature film debut of director, author, artist and curator Faythe Levine, who traveled to 15 cities and covered more than 19,000 miles of the United States to interview artists, crafters, makers, curators and community members. Click here to find out more about Handmade Nation and to watch the film trailer.

Tickets are $20 per seat and your ticket price includes a glass of wine and nibbles on arrival. Click here to purchase tickets.

Handmade Nation
The Hollywood Cinema, Sumner
Doors open at 7pm. Film starts at 7:30pm.

Iconic Video Shop and Film Paradise

A true icon of Christchurch, Alice in Videoland carries a standout collection of arthouse, foreign, cult, classic, documentary and hard-to-find titles on VHS and DVD. Even in an age in which downloading music and movies is popular, shops like Alice in Videoland are just valuable as ever (if not more so). Every title in Alice in Videoland's library is hand-picked by Alice's movie mavens after rigorous research of film archives, consultation of movie critics, and from valuable recommendations from Alice's customers. Alice in Videoland strives to carry artistically important films and bypasses much of the "cinematic mediocrity and questionable mainstream releases" in order "to focus on the good, the great, the rare and the unusual". Quite simply Alice in Videoland has titles that you can't find in a typical video shop or online, making it a popular spot for true movie buffs and where you will most certainly find a film worth watching.

It's treat to pop in and view the selection at Alice in Videoland, but if you're more into having home delivery of movies, Alice offers courier delivery of DVD's as well. Alice in Videoland is located at the historic corner of High Street and Tuam (in fact the corner plot just in front of Alice's is the site of Chirstchurch's first public well). Opening hours are listed below, and further information and a listing of films can be found on Alice in Videoland's website.

Alice in Videoland
High Street and Tuam, City Centre, Christchurch
Opening Hours: 9:00am-10:30pm Sun-Thurs; 9:00am-11:00pm Fri, Sat

Local Poster Design Competition

Franz Tormers, a local shop and artspace, located on Bedford Row, has put out a call for submissions to local graphic artists, graphic designes, artists, and other creative individuals to take part in a poster design competition called "Too Big to Upload". The winning poster will be showcased online as well as at an open night on the 25th of March at Franz Tormers Artspace.

The deadline for poster design submissions is the 16th of March. Click here to download the entry form and to learn more details about design submissions. For additional information about Franz Tormers visit our previous post on Franz Tormers Store and Artspace.

The Eastern Album Release at Wunderbar, 26 & 27 Feb.

The Eastern is celebrating the release of their new album with two shows at Wunderbar this Friday and Saturday (26-27 Feb). A Blues/Bluegrass/Country band based in Lyttelton, The Eastern has played in venues around the world, but enjoy most playing in their home country rather above chasing the dream of fame abroad.

We first heard The Eastern play at the Arts Centre, as part of the Buskers Festival, and can attest to their talent of performing foot-stomping music that get the crowd really going. For a bit of insight into The Eastern's style and flavor, we use their own words - The Eastern"believes in kicks and sadness, heartbreak and hope, 12 bar blues and 12 round rock’n’roll, fistfights and dust, road songs and trains, justice and freedom, holding it up and putting it down, that long lonesome sound, the river rise, the gospel plow, scratches and skips, static and hum, bleeding fingers and beating hearts, pages and type, ink and lead, rain on tin, iron and wood, 33 and a third, 45, 78, boots on the floor, dirt in the cracks, guts, harmony melody and soul, thinking and walking, the road and the lines between, closed signs and flickering lights, nightfall and sunrise, Kerouac, Guthrie, the end of the golden weather and the night of the riots, sheds, collections and dreams, Strummer/Jones, Morrissey/Marr, the Hanks Chinaski and Williams, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Devlin, Memphis and myth, the south from gore to the Cargill and back…". Local Vanguard loves this description and couldn't have said it better ourselves.

For a taste of The Eastern's music, and to find out when even more of their shows are on, go to the The Eastern's MySpace Page.

French Film Festival Starts Tomorrow

The French Film Festival starts tomorrow in Christchurch and will run until Sunday 28th February at Rialto Cinemas (corner of Moorhouse Ave and Durham St). A variety of French films will be shown throughout the week - three showings per day Tuesday-Friday, and an additional two showing times on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are only $12.50 for an adult and less for students and seniors. For a description of the films, to view trailers, and to see a timetable of showings click here.

The French Film Festival is organized by the French Cultural Trust.

Chch Mapkin (2006)

A friend recently told me about the Christchurch Mapkin - an art piece created in 2006 by Emil Goh, a Malaysian born Australian artist, based out of Seoul Korea. Christchurch Mapkin was one of the selected artworks for Scape 2006, the former biennial event of over 20 international and national artists exploring the definition and parameters of art in public space with temporary works.

In the creation of the Christchurch Mapkin, Emil spoke the local shop owners, artists, architects, and a variety of other locals to learn about the way they accessed and personalized their city environment. The Christchurch Mapkin was the third in a series. The first was in Emil's hometown of Sydney and then the second, his new home of Seoul Korea. These mapkins were a way of charting human activity in order to discover the city that lies beneath official city maps.

While reading up on the Christchurch Mapkin, I was saddened to discover that Emil Goh passed away just a couple of months ago (September 2009). To learn about more of Emil Goh's life, talent, and works click here and here.

Pecha Kucha Night - Thursday Feb 4

A Pecha Kucha night is an evening event where presenters show a slideshow of 20 images, each of which is shown for 20 seconds — giving a total presentation time of 6 minutes 40 seconds. Each event usually has 8 - 14 presenters. Presenters (and much of the audience) are usually from the design, architecture, photography, art and creative fields.

The Pecha Kucha presentation format was originally devised by two architects in Tokyo, Japan in 2003. Since then, the event format has been replicated in more than 200 cities around the world. New Zealand's Pecha Kucha Nights (PKN) are now held in 6 cities: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson, Hamilton and Dunedin.

Christchurch's upcoming PKN wil be held this Thursday at Dux de Lux and is a special edition event, produced in collaboration with Ten-Pacific Arts Festival. Click here for more information about PKN events and for a list of speakers and photographs from the last PKN held in Christchurch in September.

Dux de Lux, Corner Hereford and Montreal Streets
Doors open 7pm, starts at 7.30pm, entry by koha, come early - space is limited

News Bite 02.02.10

• A donation of $10 million was recently gifted to the Canterbury Museum. The gift comes upon the death of a Blenheim businessman, who was known to be intensely private and unassuming with his wealth. This bequest comes within a month of the recent $1.8 million donation to the Christchurch Art Gallery by another local arts supporter, who passed away in January.
• New Zealand and India have begun negotiations for a free trade agreement, which is expected to put New Zealand in a prime situation to benefit from India's growing economy.
• Canterbury has growing input in the $32 million New Zealand Pavilion currently being constructed for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai (May-Oct). The pavilion was designed by Christchurch architecture firm Warren & Mahoney, and is expected to draw in 40,000 people a day. Last year's Kiwi stand was hand picked by local media as a "must visit" for the event's 70 million attendees. The NZ commissioner-general for the expo notes the economic significance of an event like this in consideration of the country's growing trade with China. Last's year NZ exports to China were up to $3.3 billion from $1.9 billion in 2008.
  
• Football may no longer take second seat to Rugby in Canterbury. 19,258 Cantabrians turned out to support the Wellington Pheonix football team, in their defeat over Adelaide United at AMI Stadium on Saturday night. This is over 8,000 more supporters than the crowd that showed up for the rugby final at the same stadium a couple months ago.

Upcoming Final Buskers Show With Highlights of Festival

With every buskers performance we've attended, Local Vanguard is reminded that the Buskers Festival is real treat for the city of Christchurch and visitors. To have this many talented performers and laughs taking place in one city for a little over a week is pretty awesome. So we've been trying to squeeze in as many acts as possible in these last few days.

With this in mind, we thought we'd highlight the upcoming performance on Sunday evening at The Bedford. It will be the very last show for this year's festival and an opportunity to see some of the "best bits" of performances from the past ten days.

Doors open at 8:30pm and the show starts at 10pm.
The Bedford (corner of Madras and Bedford Row)

Images from Last Night's Buskers Fest. in Victoria Square

These are photos of the Buskers Festival Night Sky Aerial Show and the Fire Show in Victoria Square last night. If you haven't caught any of the Buskers Festival yet, shows run through Sunday January 31st. Click here for schedules and locations for upcoming shows.

Upcoming World Busker's Festival - Not To Be Missed

The World Buskers Festival starts next week (Jan. 21-31). The festival is eleven days of 450 live shows of street, circus, and comedy style performances. Now in its 17th year, the event offers an international line-up of talent that includes 44 of the world’s best acts from the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Japan, Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand.

Many of the shows are free to the public and performed throughout the day in central city public spaces such as Cathedral and Victoria Squares, at the Arts Centre, as well as in locations in New Brighton and Sumner. Late night performances (8:30-10:30pm) ask for a nominal donation of $5-$10 and will be held at The Beford, on the corner of Bedford Row and Madras Street.

For a schedule of events and to learn about participating performers and their acts go to the World Buskers website.
Image Source: World Buskers 2010 website

The Vault, Neil Pardington at the Christchurch Art Gallery

If you haven't already caught it, be sure to check out the Neil Pardington exhibit, "The Vault", on display at the Christchurch Art Gallery through March 14. This is only 3 of the 40 photographs in the exhibit. Each image captures a behind the scenes view into the storage spaces of museums and galleries throughout New Zealand, spaces that are normally closed to the public. Pardington is a New Zealand based photographer who has exhibited nationally and internationally, and worked as a film-maker, artist and designer.

The Vault: Neil Pardington, through 14 March 2010
Christchurch Arts Gallery, Worcester Boulevard, Christchurch

Actor Takes a Stand for Local Arts and Historic Theatre

Christchurch actor and director Mark Hadlow has a grand vision to transform the dilapidated Odeon Theatre into a vibrant $60 million arts complex. Hadlow took to the Odeon Theatre stage last night to recite Shakespeare and outline plans to restore the venue and build a two-storey arts complex on the car-park site next door. The plan thus far has no funding, however, Hadlow hopes the proposal will unite the city's arts organisations. He is quoted in today's Press, "I am tired of our complacency. Talking and talking and talking and never doing anything. We are very good at that,". Hadlow recognizes that it is an enormous project, and that it needs complete buy-in across the board, including from the public.

Local Vanguard says "good on him" - it's great to see people with a positive vision and passion for strengthening the cultural community and offerings. Tell us your thoughts.

Photo source: The Press, www.stuff.co.nz

Art Exhibit - Pete Wheeler "All Bet's Are Off"

I was able to catch Pete Wheeler's exhibit All Bet's Are Off for the last day of showing at The Jonathon Smart Gallery on High Street. Pete Wheeler’s traditional works are characterized by a grungy street aesthetic, expressionist style, and frequently controversial imagery. Returning to Christchurch after a year’s residence in Berlin, Wheeler's new paintings resemble weathered billboards and delve into a different subject area – the wild, everyday animal savagery of the natural environment.

Jonathon Smart Gallery, 160 High Street, 1st Floor

Art Exhibit - C.L.U.E. intervention @ The Physics Room

Stop by the Physics Room to check out artists robbinschilds + A.L. Steiner's exhibit, C.L.U.E. (Color Location Ultimate Experience) intervention. Responding to the architecture of the gallery as site, this live presentation of their collaborative project consists of a series of improvisational movement scores cycling through nine colours. The exhibit will be on at The Physics Room until December 19.

The Physics Room
Old Central Post Office Building, Second Floor, 209 Tuam Street, Christchurch