Woolshed art helps regional park

ARTFUL WORKERS: Steve and Penny Palmer unload plinths for displaying art work in the lead up to the exhibition.

The Art in the Woolshed exhibition runs until March 14 at the Tawharanui Regional Park and features works by leading and emerging New Zealand artists.

The exhibition is the big fundraiser of the year for the Tawharanui Open Sanctuary and sees TOSSI members hard at work converting the woolshed into a white-walled lit gallery for the display of high-calibre artwork.

Outside larger sculptures have a backdrop of lagoon, pohutukawa and parkland.

For the rest of the year the woolshed is a working part of the farm on the 588-hectare regional park.

The completion of the predator-proof fence in 2004 marked the beginning of the Tawharanui Open Sanctuary within the regional park, becoming New Zealand’s first integrated open sanctuary, where farming, public recreation and conservation of native species combine.

Predator free, the sanctuary now boasts large populations of many rare and endangered species.

Artisits involved include Gretchen Albrecht, Virginia King, Peter Lange, Richard McWhannell, James Ross, Richard Smallfield and Jeff Thomson.

The Environmental Art Project has artists put forward proposals reflecting some aspect of the environment.

All exhibition artworks are for sale, with The Art Shop next to the main exhibition selling smaller works.

The exhibition is from 10am to 5pm.

Entry is free.

For information call Jan Halliday (09) 422-2356, Helen Crosby (09) 422-9936, email janhalliday@yahoo.com, or visit www.tossi.org.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News