Closing showcase: Friday17th. Walis Gallery. 6pm
Come in and find out how our residents have spent the last 6 weeks in our whare. Margaret, Kaeleb, Ella and Dylan will be wrapping up their residency by showcasing the mahi that they have been able to produce in this time. They may also share how well their workshops went, how they have enjoyed the space and where they may be heading to after this.
Nau mai, haere mai, Welcome to The Arts Village 2024/25 Open Studio Project! Previously known as Open Studio Summer Residency.
The Arts Village is a significant community art space in Rotorua with a long history of growing Rotorua through the arts. Our vision is for Rotorua to be a vibrant, creative community, where art makes life good.
Over the past 14 years, the Open Studios Project has been an important part of our mahi, supporting 58 artists in residence. At least four artists will be selected this year. We are looking for innovative artists with a cool art idea to take up a studio residency at The Arts Village over December 2024 and January 2025. The Residency has been delivered in various forms since 2011 and focuses on providing artists with studio space, materials, and a broad brief for projects that offer artistic enrichment for both the individual artist and our wider community.
Margaret Lewis – is a contemporary textile artist using traditional crafting techniques (knitting, crochet, embroidery, macrame) and re-contextualising them by her use of unexpected materials. Self-taught her practice could be described as ‘making a silk-purse out of a sow’s ear’, in that her works use easily found (and often discarded) items as her canvas.
Kaeleb Ngatai – explores Māori sovereignty and has given a new voice to contemporary approaches to uku. Kaeleb has facilitated and participated in numerous exhibitions and workshops throughout Aotearoa. In 2018/2019, he joined The Artful Dodgers in Melbourne, before going on to become a resident uku artist at The Arts Village in Rotorua. Ngatai has been the recipient of The Bushman’s Son Award and continues to push the boundaries of traditional pottery practices using Māori ideology.
Ella Fredricsen – is a visual artist currently completing a BA in history and classics. I work in acrylic and watercolour mediums with a focus on portraiture and historical painting. I have participated in the 200 show and various other exhibitions at the Arts Village, and for this residency will be working on a body of work based on ancient Greek myth and legend.
Dylan Ryder – has indulged himself in various cultures. Observing the audience in Pasifika, Heights Posterity and Heights Creative. Off the stage, he persists in the Rotorua Museum Youth group, 日本の文化に携わっていて、and continues in the annual Te Ringa Toi competition, aimed to have young Māori artists from around Aotearoa create and compete with the mind and imagination of Toi Māori. Pencil in hand, he has also worked as the school’s Matariki advertiser, featured in Aotearoa art exhibitions from Rotorua, Tauranga, Auckland and Thames, and managed as a personal commissioner to clients of ‘Brainwave Trust’, giving Dylan new perspectives beyond art and connections beyond Heights.
