Snap up your own Grehan

PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST: Joan Grehan in her studio.

Mike: We were privileged recently to be given an explicatory tour of Out of the Treasure Chest, the exhibition running at the Milbank Gallery. Bill Milbank was deeply involved in the publication Joan Grehan - The Life of a Wanganui Artist which accompanied the 2013 retrospective of her work, at the Sarjeant. Although born in this city, Joan spent a large part of her life in Europe, Africa, Australia and the Middle East, locations which had a big influence on the art she produced, varying styles arising from the different phases of her life.
Five years in Uganda saw her concentrate on individual faces or crowd scenes of local inhabitants, many in post-cubist style. In Lebanon, her next home, she produced a cubist painting of a cat, a creature which often featured in later works as symbolism for "the supernatural and seduction". She lived for 10 years in Rome, studying ceramics and drawing the magnificent architecture of the Eternal City. Thence to a farm-house in France, where symbolism and feminism became the major focus of her output. It is interesting to read how she struggled to establish her identity as a female artist, at a time when many others were regarded merely as dabbling amateurs.
Joan held many exhibitions of her works, especially in France and Britain, receiving a large number of awards. On several occasions she exhibited here, where she finally returned to live in 1996. She is an artist of whom we should be extremely proud, a natural successor, of the next generation, to Edith Collier.
After Joan's sudden death in 2007, her family collaborated with the Sarjeant in gathering together and examining the body of work left behind. A large metal travel trunk, labelled M Grehan (Michel, her second husband, was French) sits on the floor in the Milbank Gallery. It contained a vast amount of drawings that now line the gallery's walls, arranged by subject. Italy features buildings, Africa ebony faces, France rural scenes, South Island beauty spots, Wanganui views linked with water, among many others. All are being offered for sale at reasonable prices. A "Grehan" signature adds $50 to the cost. Cheap at the price.
I must acknowledge my debt to Bill Milbank and Sarah McClintock for this information.
Joan: You certainly needed your wits about you when listening to Dame Anne Salmond's fine speech to a crowded Opera House audience. Entitled Give Me The Water of Life, this was the Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Lecture as part of a conference held here, A Place To Live ... for the life worth having.
New Zealand Person of the Year in 2013, Dame Anne brought to us scholarly wisdom and history of the waterways of our country with particular reference to the Whanganui River. She linked the Maori view of the spirituality of our awa and ourselves with the recent political view of no one owning the water yet the Government's ability to privatise its uses. She explained the developing opinions of man's view of nature and ourselves, and together with Gerard Albert who gave a passionate introduction to her speech , offered us such pride in the settlement made here in Whanganui this year between Maori and Pakeha. The river itself is now a legal entity, with all the rights that entails. We who live beside and who are thus linked to our awa can now put away the rancour of differing past views of what land and water meant to us and begin to work together with the awa, and hopefully, all our magnificent natural assets, to make a simpler, less greedy and united life for ourselves and moko. This is a groundbreaking venture open to the whole world to follow. Into her years of study and acquired knowledge Dame Anne weaves her local whakapapa, mana, and aroha for the things that truly matter.
Joan: The next evening, an equally large crowd listened to the mayors of representative small towns like our own support the motion that Small is Beautiful. All excellent speakers, witty, humorous and challenging, they confirmed my strong feeling and that of most of their audience that our communities are worthwhile, preferable, vital and offering a quality of life not truly recognised by government and Aucklanders in particular. Kim Hill was slick in her chairwomanship and the handling of questions from the floor. I liked the idea of sending new immigrants and their skills to a required time of living in rural areas. I liked the aim of making sure that good young people were ready for the jobs available - and they are - in small towns and, if they travel first to widen their life experience, they will see reasons to come back to settle. The main message? We must show our pride in our amazing Whanganui.
Joan: Jenda! This amazing woman entertained us at UCOL with her one woman show. Interviewed by a pre-recorded video by intimate friend, James Graves, she answered questions without reference to notes about her previous performances - some of which we saw on video - and her life and her future. Funny, moving and dynamic. Alright! So Jenda is the talented James' alter-ego.This was the culmination of his time at our School of the Arts this year. Mike and I loved his work! Jenda is "loaning" James to Repertory Theatre this week to perform in Mark Rayner's directing of The Rivals! The same human being proving what a talented actor he is.
¦Ideas and comments to mjstreet@xtra.co.nz