Vintage inspired art in Whanganui Fine Arts Gallery exhibition

Photographer Gail Imhoff gets in to the vintage vibe at the Looking Back exhibition. Photo/Bevan Conley

Whanganui Fine Arts Gallery's current exhibition is a celebration of the region's past inspired by Vintage Weekend.

Looking Back is a collaborative show featuring work by Gaynor Mulholland, Pauline Allomes, John Archbold, Gail Imhoff, Lindsay Marsh, Julie Laird, Marie Grice and Simone Jacquat.

The exhibition attracted about 450 visitors during Vintage Weekend and Fine Arts members say numbers have been fairly steady since.

Gail Imhoff's black and white photos of the Dublin St Bridge centenary in 2014 look like they might have been taken in 1914 with vintage vehicles and people in period costumes featured.

John Archbold's painting of a Model A Ford and Gaynor Mulholland's painting of passengers waiting to board the inaugural main trunk rail trip at Taumarunui capture the excitement of early road and rail transport in New Zealand.

Marie Grice, known for her paintings of outdoor rural life, has made a bold departure with her painting of a gold fob watch, and Lindsay Marsh's woodcut of a wooden wall crank telephone pay homage to common household objects of the past.

Julie Laird has celebrated women's suffrage with a sculpture of a female torso clad in vintage men's clothing.

Fine Arts collective members have pooled their resources to add vintage props to the exhibition with a treadle sewing machine, suitcases, a medical bag and some old teddy bears in a peddle car.

Looking Back is open for viewing at Whanganui Fine Arts Gallery, 17 Taupo Quay until Tuesday, February 20.