Aratoi’s current exhibitions

Rebecca Steedman, Time Beds, 2023, clay, courtesy of the artist.

Our Winter exhibitions focus on the past, present and future. Headlining the Main Gallery is Rebecca Steedman with her exhibition Time Beds, intricate otherworldly sculptures that have been inspired by the way local waterways have changed and adapted over time, sits next to Light and Space: Sculpture from the Collection showing the larger sculptures from the Aratoi collection, some which have not been seen for many years. The popular exhibitions, Carol Anne Bauer’s career retrospective Have the Most Fun You Can Before They Make You Stop and the touring exhibition from Nelson Provincial Museum Our Moon: Then, Now & Beyond, completes the Winter season line up. 

Events and Programmes: See our website for more details www.aratoi.org.nz

Current exhibitions

Rebecca Steedman: Time Beds 17 June – 17 September

Light and Space: Sculptures from the Collection 17 June 2023 – 26 November 2023 

Have the Most Fun You Can Before They Make You Stop: A Retrospective of Carol Anne Bauer 27 May – 9 July

Our Moon: Then, Now & Beyond 20 May – 16 July

Under the Stars

Imagine being out on the vast pacific ocean with nothing but horizon in every direction. You don’t have a smartphone. You don’t have a map. It’s night and there’s no moon up. Nothing but a few millimetres of wood between you and the infinite darkness below. Far more detail is visible in the sky above than on earth below. In fact, the sky is glittering with the light of thousands of stars with billions beyond blending into the glow of the milky way galaxy spanning the sky. 

This would have been a reality for so many Māori and Polynesian navigators as they crossed great expanses of ocean using their knowledge of stars passed down through oral tradition. Encapsulated in stories. You see, the stars are so dependable in their movement across the sky, that great ocean voyages could be made without GPS. Familiar stars and constellations must have been a source of great comfort. And likely, you knew your destination because your ancestors did the same trip before you. Some made the return journey. 

This month we celebrate Matariki, the Māori name for a star cluster that would have been a familiar sight on such journeys. It is also known by similar sounding names throughout the pacific, such as Makali’i in Hawai’i. It is a naked-eye visible collection of stars contrasted starkly against the comparatively dark sky around it.  An obvious target for human attention. It has been used throughout human history as an eyesight test with various passing grades of 7, 9 or even 12 individual stars. Telescopes reveal around one thousand fainter stars surrounding the brightest.  … Continue Reading

‘Peak rates’ help with fishhooks – local body review

Has local government been thrown a lifeline with the release of “The Future for Local Government” review _ which offers significant financial assistance as the bait but with a major downscaling of local voices at the new table?  

While commentators see the proposed funding solutions as valuable, the amalgamation proposals would leave few representatives to champion local issues. 

According to the review, new funding could include:

_ councils having a share of locally-raised GST;

_ Crown paying council rates on its schools, hospitals and the consevation estate;

_ ratepayer financing scheme with low-cost ratepayer loans for insulation, solar panels etc on new homes;

_ rates postponement/delay option;

_ one billion a year to help council infrastructure programmes;

_ new climate change adaptation fund.

As leader of a small, cash-strapped local council, Mayor Martin Connelly is unequivocal.

“I strongly endorse … the need for local government to to have access to additional funding sources, including directly from government,” he told The Martinborough Star. … Continue Reading