Giving one another a hand, from left, Exit artists Holly Cowan, Anabel Konigstorfer, Sharon Wrigley, Raewyn Paterson, Eve Kireka and Karen Burns.
Degree graduates from EIT’s ideaschool are staying connected through a collective evolved to support and promote their art practices.The EXIT collective will hold its second exhibition at the Hastings Community Arts Centre on 15-27 April, giving 22 artists an opportunity to showcase their latest work.
One of the exhibition’s organisers, Raewyn Paterson says seeds for the community of artists were planted at EIT, where they were “watered and fed with knowledge and skill”. Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design graduates from the last four years remain linked, not just by time and place, but also through regular Facebook contact.
The EXIST (correct) exhibition, however, is about celebrating the individual identities of the artists as they branch out in different creative directions. The contemporary art works will span different media – sculpture, painting, drawing, printing and found objects – and many will be offered for sale.
The first exhibition was held last year after the Hastings Community Arts Centre alerted EXIT to the availability of wall space. The collective mobilised, and in just two weeks it pulled together 15 members keen to display their work.
EXIT hopes to organise regular exhibitions. All the exhibiting artists will also contribute to a collaborative work to help raise money for next year’s exhibition.
Karen Burns, who will be exhibiting her installations and sculptures, says each of the participating artists will have at least a bay for displaying work at the Hastings Community Arts Centre.
“The beauty is in having space where we can do this. The venue is big enough to hold all these people.”
Karen says Raewyn, ideaschool’s Maori mentor, is adept at identifying others’ strengths and has delegated tasks to suit – “she has a good sense of holding the thing together”.
Others exhibitors will be Kathleen Arthurs, Sharon Wrigley, Eve Kireka, Emanuel Dunn, Raewyn Dunn, Anabel Konigstorfer, Holly Cowan, Janet Jeanes, Ashton Northcott, Fiona Fox, Lucie Chalmers, Makiko Sakamoto, Erica Stephens, Jo Cotter, Rosie Carter, Paul Roberts, Martina Magee, Kathy Boyle and Darryl Grant and Vonda Christensen.
“I anticipate people will come in and out of the collective as the years go on,” Karen says. “It’s little steps, big progress.”
The EXIST exhibition will be officially opened at 5.30pm on Friday, 19 April.