Summer Newsletter from Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Kia ora koutou, e hoa mā!

We hope you had a well-deserved, restful holiday and are enjoying the start of the school year. Ours continue to be uncertain times, but something we can count on is the power of art to entertain, engage, divert – and maybe even soothe and reassure – us.

We are pleased to announce that the Gallery’s Education Programmes are open under the Red setting and look forward to welcoming you and your class(es). Scroll down for more information.

To further ensure accessibility to our Education Programmes for all the tamariki across Tāmaki Makaurau, we are delighted to announce that all costs to ākonga for ECE, Primary and Secondary School and Tertiary Programmes have been removed. (Please note that there may be a cost for ticketed shows). Also, feel free to inquire about the Gallery helping your school/kura with transport costs, should these present a barrier to your visit.

We look forward to hosting you and your ākonga to explore the exhibitions and discover, share and respond to artworks, their contexts and the ideas they generate. We have much stimulating art on show over the summer and into autumn and are now accepting education group bookings for Terms 1, 2, 3 & 4. Please see our website for updated COVID-19 information and booking details.

We have also welcomed three new members to our Schools and Learning team: Isabel, Aya and Mosese!

In line with the COVID-19 Protection Framework and further to our commitment to supporting the health and wellbeing of our community, we require all our visitors over 12 years and 3 months to present their COVID-19 Vaccination Pass before entry. We also require visitors to the Gallery to wear facemasks throughout their visit and to scan in using the NZ COVID Tracer app. We will require the same from our visiting school/kura groups.

When you make your booking, you will be asked to confirm that ākonga aged 12 and over will be able to present their Vaccination Pass (or a valid vaccination exemption) before entry to the Gallery and wear a facemask throughout their visit. To ensure that unvaccinated ākonga are not excluded from the teaching and learning, however, we will provide on-line resources to support each programme and, in some cases, our educator(s) may be able to visit your school/kura instead of you coming to us. Please discuss your school/kura’s situation with us throughout the booking process, so that we can work with you to deliver the most suitable mode of teaching and learning for your ākonga.

Mary Quant Fashion Revolutionary
(10 December 2021 — 13 March 2022)

This show celebrates the British fashion icon who harnessed the youthful spirit of the sixties and embraced new mass production techniques to create a new look for modern women. The Schools and Learning team has put together a special trail for young children to immerse themselves in the world of Mary Quant. There will be a prize waiting for you all at the end of the trail! This exhibition will also appeal to secondary school ākonga of social studies, media studies, English, history, and textile and design technologies.

Max Oettli: Visible Evidence, Photographs
1965-1975
(7 August 2021 — 31 May 2023)

This exhibition opens us up to Aotearoa during a decade of massive urban and social change. Avoiding traditional picture making, Max Oettli preferred the realism of expressive black and white photography and took photographs at all hours of the night and day throughout the 1960s and 70s. Many of the places Oettli photographed will be familiar to ākonga in Tāmaki Makaurau which supports learning in social studies, history and English as well as the arts. There will also be a self-guiding resource available for this show – please enquire when making your booking.

Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda
(12 March 2022 – 4 September 2022)

This exhibition uses the power of many voices to amplify and advocate for issues of Pacific feminism. Artworks explore dimensions of a Pacific feminist agenda – from activism to climate change, diverse and fluid gender identities and experiences, to the persistence of matriarchal structures across the Pacific. The exhibition includes commissioned works by internationally renowned Pacific artists, as well as significant, and in some instances rarely seen, works from institutional and artist collections in Aotearoa and Australia. An accompanying publication features a rich collection of essays and poems that will appeal especially to ākonga of art, social studies, history, languages and English.

Heavenly Beings: Icons of Orthodox Christian World
(15 April 2022 – 4 September 2022)

Experience the rich visual history of Orthodox Christianity. The icons are dated from the early fourteenth to the late eighteenth centuries, reflecting the traditions of Russia, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Cypress, Coptic Egypt and Jerusalem. Immerse yourselves in over 80 masterpieces made with egg tempera and gold. This exhibition is perfect for our Foundation Programmes and will also appeal to ākonga of art, art history, history, religious education and English. There is also a self-guiding resource available for this show – please enquire when making your booking.

Guide Kaiārahi
(10 July 2021 — Tue 31 December 2024)

Made from hundreds of shimmering crystals, Reuben Paterson’s (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi) ten-metre-high waka rises vertically from the Gallery’s forecourt pool. The inspiration for the crystalline sculpture originated in the well-known legend of a phantom waka that appeared at Lake Tarawera ten days before the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886. Hovering above the Gallery’s forecourt pool like a compass needle in vertical orientation, the magnificent waka suggests navigation to worlds beyond our own. Visiting groups will stop for a brief kōrero about Guide Kaiārahi with one of our educators before entering the Gallery.

Primary Education (NZC L1-4)
We offer a range of programmes for Primary--aged tamariki to explore, engage with and respond to the Gallery’s exhibitions. Ngā ākonga’s intuitive responses to multi-media artworks – including video, sculpture, photography and painting – are starting points for deepening understanding and appreciation of creative processes, works and ideas, facilitated by our skilled educators. Each of our programmes includes time to make art in our Studio | Taupuni Mahi. Visit our website to book your visit for the following programme(s):

Gallery Explorers

Story Telling
Portraiture and Identity.

Secondary Education (NZC L4-8)
We offer a range of programmes for ākonga across all subjects in Years 9-13. Our skilled educators facilitate and support student-led responses to, and conversations about, artworks to deepen appreciation and understanding of art and its contexts. Exploring the connections between the style, media, processes, contexts, meanings and personal responses, ākonga will develop and practise critical and creative thinking while enjoying new experiences and insights. Visit our website to book your visit for the following programme(s):

Making Sense of Art
Verse and Vision – Creative writing programme
For and Against: Debating Ideas and Concepts around Art
Mix and Match, and Bespoke programmes

Self-guided visits
Bespoke Gallery Tours.

Image credits: Mary Quant and Vidal Sassoon 1964 © Ronald Dumont/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Image | Marcus Stone, Her First Love Letter, 1889, oil on canvas. Auckland Art Gallery, gift of Moss Davis, 1930 | Max Oettli, Self (01), 1973, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Max Oettli, through the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation, 2018 | Marti Friedlander, United Women's Convention, Hamilton 1979 | | Reuben Paterson, Guide Kaiārahi, Edmiston Trust Collection, commissioned by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2021, image Courtesy of Hamish Melville.