Artists celebrate spirit in big show

Abstract artists and exhibition co-curator Piripi Ball. Photo / Supplied

A large group art exhibition in Kawakawa celebrates spirit, or wairua, Anzac, the people and the land.

Wairua - mana tangata, mana whenua (the power of the people and the power of the land) comprises over 125 works from 50 local and Tai Tokerau artists.

Highlights include woven kelp from Kawakawa artist Caroline Lye, woven copper and harakeke from Kerikeri Artist Ann Winship and Hokianga based Jess Parone, feather stars from Alicia Courtney, the multi-sensory Shell Pathway installation from Karena Way, expert Whakairo from Te Kuiti Stewart, Life Masks from Theresa Reihana, and clay work from Dorothy Waetford, Davina Duke, and Julie Cromwell.

Wairua also showcases abstract artists Piripi Ball (co-curator of the exhibition), Hugh Major, Philip John England and David Knight.

The opening of the show at Kings Theatre Creative was timed to compliment local Anzac commemorations and it is on until May 22.

"Wairua' is deeply spiritual in nature and we thought that this April with Easter and the 100 years of Anzac commemorations, it may encourage and allow our visitors to reflect on both their own personal journeys and those of our nation's," gallery owner Lau'rell Pratt said.

"Piripi and I invited other artists to express what wairua meant for them and contribute work that connects beyond the now, remembering our ancestors, our faith, those who have served us, and those who we serve," Ms Pratt said.

"The show is a recognition of the other worldliness of places and that we are all connected, no one just arrives, we are all part of the spirit and connected to something bigger, whether people see that is our history, our tupuna (ancestors), our faith, or from a deeper Maori perspective as mana atua, or sacred spiritual power."

The space and height of the theatre building gives the show and visitors a chance to breathe, Ms Pratt said.

"We have had many visitors staying a long time in the silence just absorbing the work, the feeling, the wairua."

The gallery is open Thursday-Sunday,10.30am " 4.30pm. Friday til 6pm.