Arts Focus at CAN, Napier

Creative Arts Napier (CAN) general manager, Lisa Feyen.

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CAN general manager Lisa Feyen.

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Ruby England from West Auckland visited her grandmother in the school holidays and popped into CAN-Topia to make a shoebox scene.

by Lisa Feyen

And breathe… it's the holidays. Sand between the toes and sun-kissed skin, swims at the river and ice blocks melting faster than you can lap them up. We made it! Happy New Year to you all.

Come along to CAN in the next couple of weeks and take a creative break. We have a family friendly drop-in activity for you all to enjoy for just a small koha. As we head into 2021, this is your chance to create your most imaginative utopia – it could be anything from your own reimagined back yard, your perfect dream bedroom to a space station on Mars. Grab one of the shoe boxes we have collected and create your miniature scene inside using fabric, glitter, recycled cardboard, beads, wire… in fact anything from the stocks of goodies we will have waiting for you. There are prizes for the best "CAN-topia" creation, and runners-up too. CAN-topia is open daily until Friday, January 22, when judging will take place.

We also have a call out for our talented local young artists to enter their work in a very special exhibition, CAN-Do Deco taking place during the 2021 Napier Art Deco Festival. Kids, create an Art Deco inspired artwork and see it on display at CAN from Thursday, February 18 to Thursday, March 11. Artwork can be anything from painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, photography, wearable art or all of the above with mixed media.

Entry forms can be found on the CAN website or from the CAN front desk. There are three age categories and six Best in Show prizes to be won. Age groups are 5-8 years, 9-12 years and 13-16 years. It's just $10 to enter, so fill in the form and return it to CAN by Monday, February 8 to be part of the first ever CAN-Do Deco. There will also be an official opening celebration on Friday, February 19 at 4pm. The six Best in Show awards will be presented at this event, with fun entertainment and refreshments provided. All entrants are encouraged to attend the opening, dressed in their best Art Deco finery, and will receive a complimentary ticket.

Opening soon at CAN is a stunning new summer exhibition by Yaniv Janson. Yaniv is a young artist whose goal is to encourage others to take action toward environmental sustainability. His work centres on his great passion for environmental and social issues and this is reflected in his art works. His upcoming exhibition at CAN will extend the sustainability research he started a decade ago and which led to a series of installations about social and environmental themes. He likes to represent the way we live and struggle in the care of our planet. His journey started through naturalistic art, culminating in abstract and geometric representations.

"I paint about environmental and social issues. My audience tells me they connect emotionally to my work. My paintings ask them to visualise sustainability and climatic challenges. I am interested in combining art and science to understand the impact of the smallest individual actions."

Yaniv's interest is in exploring new ways to raise awareness about societal issues and this has led his artistic journey. Scientists and artists can collaborate to spread the message of climate action working on different, yet complementary, rational and emotional types of awareness to tackle the challenges we face. During his research, he became alarmed at the gap between knowledge and action.

"This is why I published my last book Touch the World, which invites action through colouring".

Yaniv was born overseas and came to New Zealand when he was 7. After attending the Learning Connexion in Wellington, his first two paintings of 2008 were finalists in both the National Contemporary Art Award and the Wallace Art Award. At the age of 16, he was their youngest finalist.

Yaniv continued painting and exhibiting in New Zealand and in several countries. Fast forward 10 years, his Paris-based agent brought Yaniv's work to New York, with the support of Creative New Zealand and at the invitation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

This installation explored United Nations Sustainable Development Goals such as climate change, water quality, oceanic ecological systems, poverty and sustainable cities. In 2019 Yaniv was awarded the Artistic Achievement Award at the New Zealand Parliament (https://artsaccess.org.nz/Yaniv-Janson).

Back in New Zealand, educators were interested in partnering for a project with a small rural school near Raglan [tinyurl.com/touch-the-world]. The Te Uku Primary school project used Yaniv's work to combine raising awareness of environmental and social sustainability and elicit actions among students. He then decided to expand the audience to all age groups and different types of social and environmental actions through his colouring book. Yaniv is a vibrant young person out to make an impact on his peers and communities alike.

He has shown his work in more than 35 solo exhibitions and installations, in New Zealand and internationally, including in Canada, Montenegro, Paris, and at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City. Living with both epilepsy and autism, Yaniv does not let either dictate who he is. Instead he uses this to encourage and inspire others living with disabilities to know that they have the ability to achieve anything they set their mind to. For more information visit www.yanivjanson.com and www.facebook.com/artist.yaniv.janson

Join Yaniv to celebrate the opening of his exhibition on Friday, January 22, 5-7pm. Light refreshments will be served and all are very welcome to attend.

If you feel like indulging your art-loving soul with a weekend of pure pleasure, sign up to join Helen Dynes for her Painting Retreat class on Saturday and Sunday, January 30 and 31. You will spend a relaxed weekend at CAN creating a colourful painting in acrylic and ink on canvas, from a starting point of your choice. Choose from a provided selection of beautiful objects and natural forms, or bring an image from home. To book, contact Helen: 021 556 6006 or email helen.mary.dynes@gmail.com. More information on this workshop can be found on the CAN website www.thecan.co.nz, and take a look at the term 1 evening classes too, in painting, drawing, screen printing and sewing. We look forward to seeing you all soon.

■ Lisa Feyen is the general manager for Creative Arts Napier (CAN), 16 Byron St. CAN is open seven days a week from Monday to Saturday, 10am-4pm and Sunday, 10am-2pm. Free entry. Info: 835-9448, thecan.co.nz or Facebook.