A Palette of Poetry (Community Gallery)
The Community Gallery's exhibition ''A Palette of Poetry'' is the result of an interesting idea: artists responding visually to poems.
The poems are the work of Ruth Arnison, the organiser of ''Poetry in the waiting room'', which distributes cards of poetry to hospices, prisons, and medical waiting rooms.
Proceeds from the current exhibition will provide more of these cards.
Over 30 artists have produced an intriguing and often excellent array of works, each interpreting one of Arnison's poems.
There is much that is appealing here, and one joy from looking around the display is seeing those occasions when two different artists have taken the same poem as a leaping off point and gone in completely different directions.
Works range from mixed media ''floral bouquets'' and wall hangings to brooches and fine oil paintings.
There are many excellent works in the exhibition, with Anne Bannock's warm collages, Jenny Longstaff's humorous ''squirts'' and Pauline Bellamy's strong watercolours notable.
Jenny Mehrten's impressive gold leaf and paint works, and Annie Lambourne's extraordinary cat sculpture are also definitely highlights.
Among all the fine art, however, it has to be remembered that Arnison's poems are at least as much the stars of the show as the works they inspired.
Contemporary Fiordland, Dawn Glynn (Koru Gallery)
Dawn Glynn's exhibition at Koru Gallery represents her attempts to interpret the rugged natural landscapes of the Milford Track.
The display consists primarily of semi-abstract pastel works, and is completed by a smaller number of photographs and one acrylic painting.
The location of the exhibition is appropriate. Glynn's pastels mix abstract curves and organic forms in a way deliberately aimed at echoing Maori koru designs, whilst simultaneously creating her own symbolic language.
The natural forms are echoed in the dimensions of the works, with oval and circular frames predominating, and the major palette consists of deep natural browns and blues.
In many of the works, the curved patterns alone dominate, though the most successful works are those which pair these forms with hints of a more linear structure, as in Lake Te Anau.
Perhaps tellingly, while the pastel works dwell on natural forms, the three photographs show how nature has left its mark on man-made structures.
These three attractive pieces show an eye for detail and linear pattern.
The lone acrylic, The Surprise Basket, is one of the standout pieces in the show. Its gentle negative-image lakeside scene in shades of golden brown is both attractive and haunting.
Post-Implosion, Jessica Crothall (Mint Gallery)
Jessica Crothall has continued her exploration of Christchurch's response to, and recovery from, its devastating earthquakes with her structural abstract paintings at Mint.
As with her exhibition at the same venue last year on the same theme, Crothall has used strong, grid-like lines to depict the city and its geomorphology.
Deeply scored crimson, black, and Prussian blue strokes form psychological roadmaps of the city, whilst simultaneously echoing the tangled girders of destroyed buildings.
In works such as Fourth Dimension, there is a distinct solidity and depth to the structure, ironically, given the title, producing a strong impression of three dimensions.
As in her previous exhibition, the artist has also produced a series of softer watercolour designs on a similar theme, which sit in shelves in the centre of the gallery.
These Wired works are muted, yet no less evocative in their message.
A major departure from previous work is Up Down Up with its central photorealistic images of a falling skyscraper placed against a loosely painted plain background.
These works nod gently to Warhol, while simultaneously professing a hope Christchurch will resurrect itself in much the way that the religious personage for whom the city was indirectly named did 2000 years ago.
