Ancient books fuel novel idea in art show

Renata Szarvas and Matt Dutton with some of the artworks in the exhibition On Paper. Photo/Stuart Munro

A chance find at the Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre became the starting point for a unique exhibition at Renata's Art and Framing.

On Paper opened recently and runs until December 20. It features art by Renata Szarvas - the owner of Renata's Art and Framing - Matt Dutton, and Aaron Te Rangiao.

Ms Szarvas and Mr Dutton were recycling at the recovery centre when they discovered some very old books that had been thrown out.

"Some of them are from the 1860s, but they were in a very bad condition.

"They had rotted or were food for rats," Ms Szarvas said.

"Most of them we could only save the covers."

Mr Dutton took his inspiration from the engineering drawings in the books to create his palette knife acrylic on canvas paintings.

Mr Te Rangiao used blank pages from the books to draw on, while Ms Szarvas used other pages in her mixed media assemblages.

"We can't enjoy these books anymore, but we can still honour them," Ms Szarvas said.

The books that were able to be salvaged are displayed in a corner of the exhibition. There's also a collection of old family photos that Ms Szarvas and Mr Dutton also found dumped at the recovery centre.

Largely unidentified, the only name on the photo is "MacKay".

"We hope that someone will come to the exhibition who knows something about these photos," Ms Szarvas said.

On Paper is a first for both Ms Szarvas and Mr Te Rangiao.

Mr Te Rangiao is a sculptor, and this is the first time he has exhibited drawings. This is the first exhibition for Ms Szarvas.

"The business has been in this building for a year, so it seemed like the right time to have my first exhibition," she said.