Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Sarjeant redevelopment: Centenary Chandelier will take pride of place

Whanganui Chronicle
12 Aug, 2019 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Crystal Chain Gang came up with a design for a glass chandelier which will be housed in the renovated Queenspark building. Video Bevan Conley

The Friends Centenary Chandelier will be installed in pride of place when the redeveloped Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua opens.

Sarjeant Gallery curator Greg Donson and Warren and Mahoney architect Cliff Leong recently met in the vacant 100-year-old art gallery to work out space options for the new permanent artwork.

The Friends of the Sarjeant have commissioned a glass chandelier to commemorate the Gallery's 100th year.

The chandelier is being created by Martinborough-based glass artists Jim Dennison and Leanne Williams of the Crystal Chain Gang, at New Zealand Glassworks in Whanganui.

Since 2014 when the Sarjeant Gallery transferred operations to its temporary site at Taupō Quay, the building at the top of Pukenamu Queens Park has been closed for earthquake strengthening and construction of a new wing – Pataka o Sir Archie John Te Atawhai Taiaroa.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua curator Greg Donson and Warren and Mahoney architect Cliff Leong discuss where best to install the Friends Chandelier in the redeveloped gallery.
Photo/ Supplied
Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua curator Greg Donson and Warren and Mahoney architect Cliff Leong discuss where best to install the Friends Chandelier in the redeveloped gallery. Photo/ Supplied

In discussing where to hang the chandelier, Donson and Mahoney considered the space over the stairs best for showcase lighting, while the rear of the original building would centre it with a line of sight from the main entrance doors.

Sitting at just over a metre in diameter and nearly a two metre drop from the top of the framework, all of the components that make up the chandelier have been modelled on the intricate plaster details that adorn the building's interior.

The chandelier will be unveiled in the Sarjeant Gallery's 100th anniversary exhibition, Turn of a Century: New perspectives on 100 years of collecting and exhibiting, opening at Taupo Quay on September 7 and running to February.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The exhibition includes work by invited artists responding to the heritage building at this unique time in its history.

The final placement decision will likely be made when the building is refurbished.

Meanwhile the chandelier will be exhibited then stored safely until it's permanently installed.

"This commission, from two contemporary artists working at the top of their game, is a great way to mark the occasion and also to flag our commitment to the best of contemporary practice going forward, as Henry Sarjeant envisaged," Donson said.

Discover more

The story behind Sarjeant's centenary chandelier

01 Aug 10:49 PM

Former local leading project team for Sarjeant redevelopment

29 Jul 05:00 PM

Best of 2019: Three buildings: $180,000, One rebuild: $1 million

02 Jan 10:00 PM

How Whanganui will celebrate the Sarjeant's 100th birthday

07 Aug 05:00 PM

"I was interested in the Crystal Chain Gang being part of the project as their practice is about how their chandeliers operate and engage in, and respond to spaces.

"There's a certain quiet theatricality to the Sarjeant's neoclassical spaces and we knew that Jim and Leanne would be in tune with that and respond well."

*Gaye Batty is the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopments project director

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Opinion

Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses

04 Jul 04:00 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

Gareth Carter: My favourite flowering plants for winter cheer

27 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

Gareth Carter: Plants to attract birds

20 Jun 05:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses

Gardening: Pruning deciduous fruit trees and roses

04 Jul 04:00 PM

July is ideal for winter pruning to maximise fruit production.

Premium
Gareth Carter: My favourite flowering plants for winter cheer

Gareth Carter: My favourite flowering plants for winter cheer

27 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Gareth Carter: Plants to attract birds

Gareth Carter: Plants to attract birds

20 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion: Winter planting tips for garlic, onions and more

Opinion: Winter planting tips for garlic, onions and more

13 Jun 05:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP