Hawke's Bay's Tuturu art project wins supreme colour award

A Hawke's Bay project has won the top prize at the national 2017 Resene Total Colour Awards.

The project awarded the ultimate prize - the 2017 Nightingale Award - is MTG Hawke's Bay's Tūturu.

Tūturu (translated as "to be true") was a collaborative project between MTG Hawke's Bay and arts collective Iwi Toi Kahungunu, led by contemporary Māori artist and author Sandy Adsett. The exhibition was installed in a long narrow gallery with tukutuku panels and artworks alternating along each wall.

James Price of MTG Hawke's Bay said "We took a thoroughfare gallery and re-designed it to feel like a wharenui (meeting house). Everyone who comes through the gallery feels welcomed into the space. Some have said they would be quite happy to sleep on a mattress under the artworks, as they would in their own wharenui."

To address the challenge to tikanga Māori of having an entrance and exit at both ends, it was decided that one end of the gallery would be referred to as Te Pō (The Darkness) and the other end as Te Ao Mārama (The World of Light).

The use of colour was to create movement in the gallery, taking visitors on a journey from the darkness to the light. Resene colours used in the project include: Resene Black Marlin, Resene Deep Teal, Resene Vanquish, Resene Sonic Boom, Resene Blackberry and Resene Racing Green.

"Everyone loves the richness and warmth of the colours against the dark-toned background. It has been a privilege to work with Iwi Toi Kahungunu, showcasing their established and emerging artists in a setting that is both culturally and creatively apt," said Mr Price.

Iwi Toi Kahungunu artist Dena Aroha Bach said "As Māori artists we wanted to determine how the space, and not just the individual artworks, engaged the viewer. We can now celebrate the vision we held for this exhibition and the results of a really successful collaboration."

Karen Warman of Resene said: "For both of the overall winners this year and also for many of the category winners colour has been the element that has brought the projects into the heart of their communities, made it relevant to them and given them ownership."

The runner-up for the Nightingale Award and Commercial Exterior Winner was the new Harewood Underpass in Christchurch, by Jasmax Auckland (Mike Thomas and Adrian Taylor). A house in Whangarei which was painted with garlands of flowers by the owner won the 2017 Creative in Colour Award.