Community workshop: Rethinking Food, Colour, Water

Environmental artist Jeanette Schäring (left) amongst visitors at her exhibition Whose Water Are You at Gallery Bla Stället Angered in Gothenburg. Photo / Bruce Clark

Envirohub and Tauranga Art Gallery are hosting a series of community workshops and events with environmental artist Jeanette Schäring.

Her upcoming exhibition Whose Water Are You opens mid-April, and is part of Tauranga Art Gallery's Art Loves You programme.

This series of immersive digital and interactive art experiences kicks off this week, with three exhibitions and 14 individual projects.

An environmental transdisciplinary artist who blurs the boundaries between art, craft, science and philosophy, Jeanette utilises natural materials, colours from nature, water and plants to highlight social and environmental sensitivities. She collaborates through cultures, and the professional fields of Art and Science.

The first event with the artist is a workshop titled Rethinking Food, Colour, Water at The Incubator at the Historic Village on 17th Avenue on Saturday, March 3. It will be an introduction to, and explanation about, her exciting upcoming project for Tauranga Art Gallery.

People are invited to join in and learn how they and their families can become part of the art project, and share ideas about the importance of water.

Drawing on Jeanette's experience as a contemporary textile artist and researcher, participants will create a natural dye palette from plants and food scraps such as skins and cores.

Water qualities are one of the most important ingredients in creating these colours. The workshop is suitable for all ages.

Having exhibited around the world, Jeanette Schäring explores the role of water in our lives. For Whose Water Are You, she will gather water samples (stories around the collected water) collected by residents of the Bay of Plenty from various sources such as estuaries, streams, puddles, or the home.

She will then apply a natural biochemical process with plant materials and over time the water will transform give different colour, revealing the source and contents in the water, and the influence of the surrounding environment, human interaction, light and the warmth.

The collection and recording of participant's stories about water will also form an insightful part of the project.

Shown in hundreds of suspended glass beakers, the water samples will be on display at the Tauranga Art Gallery on the corner of Wharf and Willow Streets, downtown Tauranga, between April 14-July 15.

The project is generously support by Creative New Zealand and Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Look out for details of more events associated with this project later in the year, including a Water Ecology Panel Discussion and Natural Dye Workshop.

Then on March 22, World Water Day, you can join Jeanette for a meaningful showing of the moving documentary River Blue and a presentation on the issues associated with the textile industry and related pollution, the truth about dyes, and the alternative options you can chose in your own life. The screening will be held at the Historic Village Cinema, with a 6pm start.

Also, Jeanette's 13-year-old son Elwin Clark Schäring will present his photographic exhibition Madagascar — the Biodiverse Island That Time Forgot at The Incubator between March 10-31.

During their travels in 2017, Elwin captured a time capsule of the environment and animals of Madagascar on camera.

• Saturday March 3 from 1.30-3.30pm
• The Incubator, Historic Village, 17th Ave
• Materials and afternoon tea provided
• Bookings are essential. Visit artgallery.org.nz/events