From the MTG: Talented museum team weaves own magic to award

The award-winning exhibition, Turuturu: Fingers, Feathers & Fibre.

I continue to be inspired and impressed by the many talents of the wonderful MTG Hawke's Bay staff, with the team receiving yet another design award for Turuturu: Fingers, Feathers & Fibre.

Having already won the Installation category at the 2020 Resene Total Colour Awards, Turuturu has now also won bronze in the Spatial Design Colour category at the highly coveted and competitive Best Design Awards.

This exhibition, which focused on the taonga of weaving and displayed kete and korawai from the collection, finished around mid-year so, sadly, is no longer available to be viewed at the museum.

It was replaced by On Art and Activism, which looks at the Hawke's Bay Museums Trust's collection through the lens of artworks that aim to effect social and political change.

Another finalist in the Best Design Awards, Rongonui – Taonga mai ngā tāngata, ngā wāhi, me ngā takahanga: Treasured taonga from people, places and events, has also come to a close.

This highly popular exhibition shared some of the mana-filled taonga in the collection and featured several interviews with kaumatua and others, who brought the stories of the taonga to life.

The team is now preparing the gallery for the installation of the next exhibition, A Bloody Business: the history of five Hawke's Bay freezing works.

This exhibition is one I have wanted to happen since I moved to Hawke's Bay – as coming here, I could both see and feel the scars left on the landscape and people by the closures of Whakatū and Tomoana Freezing Works.

The team is again working its magic and I hope the community will feel the museum has done justice to this important and special story. A Bloody Business will be open to the public on Saturday, December 12.

In the New Year, On Art and Activism will also come to a close and an exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Women's Institute in New Zealand will be installed.

I was unaware before I came here that the New Zealand Women's Institute started right here, in Rissington, so acknowledging and celebrating that is an important milestone.

We're delighted to be working in partnership with Kay Morris-Matthews and the Eastern Institute of Technology on both this exhibition and an accompanying book written by Morris-Matthews on the founder of the Women's Institute, Bessie Spencer.

In the meantime, temporary exhibitions Billy Apple® A Brand Looking for a Product Exhibition and the Children's Holocaust Memorial remain on display over the Christmas holiday period.

Alongside Silver: Heirlooms from the Collection, the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake, and Waka Kōrero Māori (also a finalist in the Best Design Awards), there is a rich range of exhibitions to experience with your family, friends and visitors from around the country.

Thanks to the talented team working at MTG Hawke's Bay, we certainly punch above our weight in terms of the quality of our displays.

Your Hawke's Bay regional museum is free to enter and enjoy, so we hope you will add a visit to MTG as one of your must-do activities over the summer break.

Laura Vodanovich is MTG director

WHAT'S ON

• •Christmas comedy, Elf, stars Buddy (Will Ferrell), who is adopted and raised by Santa's elves. Enjoy this free family film at MTG Century Theatre - at 10am on Sunday, December 6 - before checking out the Santa parade.