Ex-Whanganui artist Dan Mills exhibits at Lysaght Watt Gallery in Hāwera

'Expression in Yellow' is one of five large Dan Mills paintings on display throughout March. Photo / Supplied

Hāwera's Lysaght Watt Gallery has launched two new exhibitions, including one featuring large paintings by former Whanganui artist Dan Mills.

Mills, whose public mural work is well-known in Whanganui and Hāwera, is exhibiting five paintings.

"My paintings are reactions to circumstance and surrounding," he said.

"They're emotional and intuitive rather than intellectual or pre-conceived.

"I work on many pieces at a time. Usually each piece starts as a chaotic and accidental series of splashes and marks, then become steadily more refined. Some of my canvases start out as drop-sheets, others occupy a space next to another work and absorb paint from the piece before it; many paintings leapfrog through my studio at a time."

Mills, who now lives in Eltham, is exhibiting a suite of vibrant, large-scale oil and aerosol paintings on canvas, exploring dynamic colour fields and compositions with a hint of surrealism.

The other exhibition is Redecorating Taranaki, a project focusing on ideas around creating new community taonga.

Jewellers Jennifer Laracy (Pungarehu) and Sam Kelly (New Plymouth) asked locals for their ideas, and In 2019 they held a series of community workshops, including many at South Taranaki LibraryPlus branches, inviting people to talk about and design a medal for someone they think deserved to be honoured.

Taking inspiration from stories and objects in the Puke Ariki museum's storeroom, Laracy and Kelly created 10 new awards that represented what people valued in Taranaki today.

The Diversity Award, studded with Swarovski Crystal, celebrates the art of welcome and the vibrancy others bring, while the Taranaki Whānau Trophy is in recognition of the role models and the ancestors who have come before.

Other values represented by the new awards include creativity, friendship, and sustainability.

The exhibitions, which opened on Tuesday night, run until March 31.

Lysaght Watt Gallery is located at 4-6 Union St, Hāwera (beside the Hāwera Town Square), and is open Monday to Friday 10am–4pm, and Saturday 10am-1pm.