JOAN: The launch of a new book by our eminent author, Joan Rosier-Jones in the Council Chamber last Thursday, was an elegant affair. Mayor Hamish wore full regalia to honour Joan. The Council Table had even been removed to give room for the numerous and interesting attendees.
The stained glass windows high around the circular Chamber looked stunning in the light of the falling dusk and literary folk were acknowledged in their subject matter. This was certainly apt, as Joan's book is named Literary Whanganui. A Reader's Guide. The idea of actually considering such subject matter is praiseworthy. Uncovering the many distinguished past and present writers that our extraordinary city has nurtured and caused to blossom is quite brilliant. The book is marvellously informative for all of us who live here now, those who have done so in the past as well as those who will be here in the future. Literary Whanganui, however, stands there in its own right as a fascinating biography of these chosen authors and their work.
It is ingeniously planned. Instead of offering a simple alphabetical index, Joan divides the city into areas — rather as the Arts Weekends' guide does — and places each writer into the part of the city they belong to. Alongside each area are page numbers sourcing the authors mentioned there. This works so well. The book can be read straight through, absorbed by districts or delved into any time for a moment or two. Authors' works are listed at the back. The library and Paige's bookshop should see a swirl of customers in its wake. Due to the design by Albert Sword and this being another publication by our local Tangerine — Appeeling Books, this is a winner and a delight.
Joan is one of our city's taonga and I congratulate her on this work. Ever humble, she invited authors featured in the book and present at the occasion to join her and Hamish beside the lectern. I couldn't get them all into my photo! [But I could — Ed] I may add that being an appreciated writer himself, it was fitting to see the Mayor in charge of the proceedings. Yet it was good to see him there as our First Citizen to support this aspect of the Arts in Whanganui not often celebrated, and pay his respect to the quantity and quality of its literary citizens.
MIKE: As I looked out of the window at Space last Saturday, an expansive white cloud was suffused with a delicate tinge of pink from the setting sun. In the background, a blue sky, gently greying. Serene and beautiful, it prompted me to comment that it actually resembled one of Amy's paintings. Amy Blackburn, whose Breathing in Eternity was opening at the gallery, said that she took it as a compliment. Her exhibition showcases six abstract paintings, acrylic on canvas, all representative of the style for which the artist is immediately recognisable. Splashes of restful pastel shades — red, blue, green, yellow — dominate each canvas, one colour often standing out from the rest. Trees, waterfalls, birds, flowers — all those suggested themselves to me.
The artist's statement tells us that Amy is examining "the meaning of essence," in the course of which she asserts her belief in freewill as an individual, accepting also the proposition of a higher being.
