Exhibitions
Events
On display
Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
Event
Past event
Meet at the front desk
Free
Only 18% of the biographies on English Wikipedia are of women – want to help improve that?
This event aims to balance the coverage of feminism, gender and the arts on Wikipedia, from editors of all genders and backgrounds. In particular, we hope to develop the knowledge base of women and gender-diverse artists from the Gallery's collection, the Canterbury area, and Aotearoa New Zealand more widely.
We will provide tutorials for the beginner Wikipedian, reference materials, refreshments, and free internet access. Bring your laptop, power cord, and ideas for entries that need updating or creation. We will also provide a list of suggested research areas for the complete beginner, so anyone can contribute. Click here if you have more questions!
Related
Collection
Rita Angus Gasworks
Rita Angus’s Gasworks was greeted with wide admiration when it was first shown at the Canterbury Society of Arts’ annual exhibition in March 1933. Here was an artist focusing on one of the most heavily industrialised sites in Christchurch. It was reproduced in The Press but more importantly in Art in New Zealand where it was seen by a wide audience. It directly influenced other artists such as Doris Lusk, Margaret Anderson and Anne Hamblett (later McCahon). The poet and printer Denis Glover, who established the Caxton Press in 1933, reminisced on Angus’s Gasworks in the 1970s; The first time I even heard of Rita was when I saw Gasworks. I was young and more ignorant than I am now, if that were possible. Most of us students were in a mood of fierce idealistic realism. The Woolston Gas Works was as stark and grey as Stalin’s uniform. … But the Gas Works…here was something! In one puff was blown away all the genteel piddle-painting English, to this day not sure if they are New Zealanders or First Four Colonels’ Daughters. [Angus] set out to impose order and clarity and immense discipline on what she saw. There were no emotional overtones. The looker could provide them for [themselves].
(March 2018)
Commentary
In Search of Rose Zeller
Enveloped in her dark brown coat and wearing an unconventional and distinctive striped shirt, Rose Zeller looks out from the canvas with an engaging and knowing smile. Painted around 1936 by her friend, fellow artist and teacher in craft and design, Daisy Osborn, it’s a rare view of an artist who, while scarcely remembered today, was an unconventional and respected figure during the interwar years.