ARTbop contributor and photographer Lee Switzer reviews Arts revealed a comprehensive work by Heather Hourigan and Andrea Cooper on the creatives of the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Many artists of past eons have had in-depth biographies written about them. Only by reading the 400 pages+ tomes does the reader finally know the basis of the artist psyche. But if the inquiry is to discover what makes an artist ‘tick’, it is not necessary to plod through the childhood, parental influences – good, bad, fury or finesses family background.
To know the artist and the work produced, the why and how, one only needs to know the right questions to ask. Arts Revealed EBOP authors, Heather Hourigan and Andrea Cooper, are artist themselves, they ask clear and succinct, pertinent questions and converse with 28 artists. The wide variety of artistic applications include weaving, sculpture, painting, music and dancing.
Photos of each artist and work is covered in 4 to 6 pages with images and a word montage. Conversations with each individual artist elicits the driving force that compels, that feeds a need that in some way fulfills a desire to make, to invent, to express an inner self. Each skill from elementary beginnings to final completion. be it a basket, a canvas, a concerto, sculpture or footfalls – are all covered with insight and inspiration.
This well written and pictorially precise precis smoothly covers individual motivations and methods of applying interior thought processes to the exterior environment.
Several of the artists have had works shown in the Tauranga Art Gallery, and the current traveling exhibition The Real Opotiki. The Real Opotiki, was well received in Auckland, and recently completed a stint in Tauranga. It is now on the way to Parliament. Another artist in Arts Revealed EBOP, Helen Lees, installed a collection of her work at The Hub, one of the many must visit sites of the November 2016 Garden and Art Festival.
Take a short running leap into the psychic makeup of various art genres, join thoughts and actions, ruminate about creativity and productivity. Arts Revealed will provide just the right amount of background and foreground to a large number of artists in the Easter Bay of Plenty.
Arts Revealed: Eastern Bay of Plenty: Conversations with artists, writers, musicians and performers, by Heather Hourigan and Andrea Cooper. c2016. Whakatane Printers.
ISBN978-0-473-35592-0 166p
Arts Revealed: Eastern Bay of Plenty: Conversations with artists, writers, musicians and performers by Heather Hourigan and Andrea Cooper is available for purchase from Creative Bay of Plenty, Willow Street Tauranga
And take a look at what else is available at Creative Bay of Plenty. The Incubator and your local creative communities – all sorts of amazing stuff which would make worthwhile and amazing gifts.
More photos by Lee Switzer at http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/en/tauranga_city_libraries_history/topics/show/2538-article-index-lee-switzer
