A Festival of Dibble

Palmerston North is celebrating the ‘Festival of Dibble’, albeit unofficially, marking the arrival of Paul Dibble to teach at what was then the College of Education (Teacher’s College) now a part of Massey University and the establishment of the Dibble Foundry in the city over twenty years ago. On show at Te Manawa, the Museum of Art, History and Science is a major retrospect entitled Sources: Paul & Fran Dibble [until 31 July 2011]; Zimmerman Contemporary Gallery is featuring painter Fran Dibble as the ‘Artist of the Month for June’ and showing 5 sculptures as well by Paul Dibble and here at Taylor-Jensen Fine Arts we are exhibiting 15 works by Paul and ten paintings by wife Fran Dibble. You might imagine a banner stretching over Broadway or at the top of Rangitikei Street proclaiming the ‘Festival of Dibble’ as we unwrap Who’s Afraid on Sunday 3 July (see previous blog) and celebrate this new addition to public art in Palmerston North. Perhaps a banner should have been organised by the City or Destination Manawatu or the Arts Council but for now you must use your imagination. The sheer number of Dibble’s on display in the city by both husband and wife certainly merits celebration and public notification.

A Large Scaled Dibble

Please join us for the ‘unwrapping’ of the Palmerston North Public Sculpture Trust’s latest artwork to grace Palmerston North. Paul Dibble’s Who’s Afraid will be formally unveiled by representatives of the Trust and the City of Palmerston North at 3PM on Sunday July 3^rd in front of the Regent Theatre on Broadway, Palmerston North. ‘Who’s Afraid’ is a 3.3 metre tall sculpture featuring a dancer ‘facing off’ with a tuatara, New Zealand’s only living dinosaur! The eight foot long lizard is affectionately called ‘George’ after a tuatara of that name that Dibble saw at the Tuatara exhibit at the Southland Museum, Invercargill. The dancer has yet to be named but I have asked our local arts journalist to instigate a competition to name the dancer. I thought Matilda was a good choice – you know….waltzing Matilda, etc…. A customer at my gallery suggested Isadora, for Isadora Duncan a dancer of international reputation. Let us know what name you would chose.

Newest Mondrian in Palmy…

“Good things take time” as the saying on the Mainland cheese commercial goes! “Some things take more time” as you will learn here.

Thirteen years ago when Taylor-Jensen Fine Arts was ‘under construction’ we asked our landlord to install a security grill over an easily accessible window at our front entrance. He asked me to submit a pattern or two which would then be fabricated to fit the window opening. I drew up three ideas for the grate and of course they went for the least expensive option. The grill pattern is based on the lines seen in the most recognised work of Dutch/American artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). Over the years we have looked at making this a feature at our entrance but never acted on it. One reason was that our public art gallery had used it as a motif on the façade of its building. At one point I asked a sign company for a quote to create a backlit Mondrian panel in translucent Perspex. As we are not often open evenings except for the monthly reception for new changing art exhibitions and a few special events, it seemed a waste of money. Potential vandalism of the sign also crossed our mind. The sign company quote also put the thought of creating this affectation on the back burner!

But after thirteen years I decided it would be good to celebrate this anniversary in a quiet manner by re-creating the colourful Mondrian pattern if it could be done somewhat inexpensively. I looked at various solutions – A gicleé of a Mondrian on stretched canvas to fit over the window frame, or simply a painting on wood secured over the grill. But why waste the steel lines of the grill? Why not use wood between the steel? I discussed this idea with Andy Halewood, a lead tutor at the Ucol (Universal College of Learning, Palmerston North) Furniture Design and Making Course and an artist whose furniture we exhibit (and sell!). Andy saw the potential and starting saving scrap plywood from the waste bins at the furniture construction workshop. In the meantime, I painted the galvanised steel grid lines black to simulate the lines on a typical Mondrian geometrical composition. Andy tasked Fiona Stewart a student in his course to take on the project (Extra credit can be a motivating factor!). And voila! – A Mondrian patterned art work celebrating our 13 years in business and our close association with the furniture design programme at Ucol. Thanks, Andy! Thanks, Fiona!

The accompanying photographs shows the window grill sections being fitted by Fiona and Andy.

And while a sign inside our entrance reads “No Monet held on these premises”, the ‘simple black grid pattern interspersed with vivid sections of primary colour in a boldly displayed geometrical composition’ at our front door will serve to represent our enduring Western artistic heritage to which many artists owe a considerable debt of gratitude.

P.S.: Things take time, as aforementioned. After 13 years of being at the top of a set of stairs coming off the PNCC Public Library entrance corridor or walkway which had only one handrail to assist the public and after many years of suggesting to the city that they install a second railing as all the other adjoining stairs have, we were pleasantly surprised to be gifted with a beautiful handrail designed and installed by AEC, Ashhurst courtesy of the Palmerston North City Council. A big ‘Thank You’ to Paddy Clifford, PNCC Chief Executive and his team for this fine effort. We can’t wait until the bike racks are installed as well. This may keep bikers from locking their bicycles on the Paul Dibble sculpture ‘All Creatures Great’ which has infuriated me over the years. Thank you again Paddy.

Here Come the Judge!

As Managing Director of Taylor-Jensen Fine Arts I am often asked to judge art and art-related exhibitions. My activities over the past several weeks during August will serve as an example.

Beside assisting with the installation of ‘Facets of a Rectangle’ by the ‘SIX’ group – see our website ­– I have judged three events in the region. On Wednesday August 11th I joined nine other judges to select the winners of the Wai Arts Trust awards at Aratoi-Museum of Art and History, Masterton. The ten judges selected their favourites which were rated from 1 to 10 with #1 awarded 10 points and # 10, 1 point. The artwork receiving the highest number of points was declared the winner. One can see the judges’ choices at their website.

The last time I judged anything with 9 other judges was in Tokyo where we juried the first international ceramic exhibition in 1982. In Tokyo we selected the works we judged as best and brought them together for paring down to the final selection. It meant compromise, discussion and decision. It was an educational experience all around.

At the Wai Art Trust the judges chose 53 of the 119 works on display. Although we were allowed to discuss our choices with the other judges, few did. It has been suggested to me that this methodology ends up selecting mediocre work which has received a score total achieved by adding the mid-range points awarded by the judges. I shall have to look into this. The winner did win by a large margin though so there is some hope for this system. I would have preferred the judges to have to confer than the winners selected by simple addition!

On August 21^st, I had the privilege of being one of two judges who selected the prize-winners for the Rose City Quilter’s Celebration of Quilts, a huge exposition of the “needler’s arts” held every two years in Palmerston North. The task took the better part of six hours and was a really physical exercise – better than going to the gym for both the judges and the volunteers! Sitting or standing to view each quilt held up by a cadre of Rose City Quilters volunteers and kneeling or bending over to examine the workmanship and stitchery of those selected for review.

We looked at over 230 quilts – sometimes more than once due to categories such as size, type of quilting (machine or hand quilted), traditional or contemporary pattern. Then there was the quilt challenge based on a greeting card design with 20 quilts to examine and a further 22 quilts judged on behalf of the Orchid Society of New Zealand. Whew!! An incredible day! A big thank you to the show committee for allowing me this special opportunity. Hope I can do it again in two years.

The Bulls Rangitikei District Wear-A-Bull Arts Awards will be held at the Bulls Community Hall on Saturday evening August 28th. I will be joined by two other judges to select the winners of this local, home-grown version of the World of Wearable Arts. Having acted in this capacity in a previous year, I know how much fun the evening is for both the audience and the participants. For the judges though it is often a difficult decision as the originality, workmanship and modelling of an outfit are often at a very high standard. Intermingled with musical entertainment from local school groups and fed copious amounts of food and drink, this special evening is one of the highlights of an incred-a-bull year of community activity in the Bulls and Rangitikei District.

The Wear-A-Bull Arts evening is on this coming Saturday from 7PM. Come along and cheer on the designers.

An M&M It’s Not!

What can you say, Palmerston North gets more sophisticated every year especially with the placement of a new public sculpture. ‘United, Divided’ a kinetic sculpture by New Zealand sculptor Phil Price graces the forecourt of Palmy’s Convention Centre (Main Street near the Square) and moves rhythmically in the wind. Cleverly designed and fabricated the work has four moving parts which when the wind blows move smoothly and continuously. Funded jointly by the Palmerston North Public Sculpture Trust and the City Council, ‘United, Divided’ has proven a hit with the citizens of this burg. OK, so my panel beater says it looks like four fenders with a great candy apple blue finish. I don’t think he could have designed it or built it better and he would have included the name Ford in its title. Perhaps the Holden crowd could fund a mate to this one in red? Well placed at the top of George Street – the cultural centre of Palmerston North, Price’s work is the fourth public sculpture supported by the City and the PNPST.

New Art Master Appointed at FADAS

Get on board or get out of the way! A new breath of fresh air has swept into the Feilding Art Centre in the person of Beverly Waugh, newly appointed Art Centre Manager. Bev, a local Feilding singer, former ceramic artist and art teacher, who appreciates all kinds of art, is so full of enthusiasm it’s really infectious. With a visual arts background through uni and in her early working life as a potter and sculptor, Bev understands the need for quality exhibitions and resultant sales. As a singer she is a member of the Choral Society and The Camerata Singers and as a visual artist she does find the time to print small editions of greeting cards and the like.

Mrs. Waugh is excited about taking on the job of boosting the arts for the Feilding and Districts Art Society (FADAS). As a former president of that organisation who lobbied on behalf of Manawatu District Council support for the Centre, I am well aware of the potential for shortfall in funding and in numbers. But I am sure Bev will prevail if all of us who care about the arts in the Manawatu rally behind her. Come on give her a call 06 323 2323, Tues – Sun. Volunteer your time, your expertise and your ideas. It couldn’t hurt!

There Goes the Neighbourhood! Not!

We welcome Zimmerman Contemporary Art Gallery to Palmerston North and in particular to the George Street/Coleman Place Arts Precinct. Opened just a week ago, the Zimmerman Gallery is a small yet impressive space dedicated to showing contemporary art. Director/owner Bronwyn Zimmerman was a lawyer in her past life but has seen the light and now puts all her intuitive instincts to work in displaying a fine collection of art by talented New Zealand artists mostly from the Central Districts and Wellington regions. She is concentrating on showing original paintings and sculpture in this exciting venue just beyond the intersection of Palmy’s Main Street and the Square. We wish her every success. We know that the more quality art galleries and exhibition spaces there are the more likely the ‘mass’ will draw potential patrons from not only the Manawatu but beyond. Best Wishes and Good Luck to Brownwyn and her support team.