Leading artists in joint show

Anna Coddington will play in Wanaka and Dunedin as part of her Little Islands tour early next year off the back of the release of her second solo album <i>Cat & Bird</i>. Joined by regular collaborators Ned Ngatae on guitar, Mike Hall (Nightchoir, ex-Pluto) and Riki Gooch (Eru Dangerspiel, ex-Trinity Roots) on drums, Coddington will play in Dunedin on February 2 and at the River House, Wanaka, on February 3. Photo supplied.

Leading contemporary artists Gretchen Albrecht and Elizabeth Thomson will talk about their influences and careers at Dorothy Brown's Cinema before presenting their latest works at the Nadene Milne Gallery next week.

The show "Not Far From Home" will be the first time the two senior artists have exhibited together.

Albrecht will exhibit her signature "shaped-canvas" paintings of colour and geometry, plus works from her more recent series of rectangular paintings, which feature oval-shaped vortexes of colour and slender horizontal geometric figures.

Thomson's new works will include virtual "planets" rendered in mixed media with tiny glass spheres on the surface.

Auckland abstract expressionist painter Albrecht was born in 1942 and graduated from the Elam School of Fine Arts in 1963. Her first solo exhibition, in 1965, was opened by Colin McCahon, and she had developed one of the most widely recognised personal styles in New Zealand painting, Ms Milne said.

Born in 1955, Wellington sculptor-painter Thomson was recognised by a major 20-year survey exhibition of her work assembled by Gregory O'Brien for the City Gallery in Wellington in 2006, which then went on tour.

The artists' floor talk - "Shaping Content" - will be held at the Arrowtown cinema on Thursday, December 15, at 7.30pm. Booking is recommended and $8 will be charged to cover cinema costs.

"It's a unique opportunity to hear these celebrated artists speak so candidly," Ms Milne said.

"They are well-read, well-travelled and very interesting women."

The event moves next door to the Nadene Milne Gallery for the opening of the exhibition at 8.30pm. The show runs until Christmas.

Show by rising artists
Work by rising Queenstown contemporary artists Emma Butler and Rachael Errington will grace Artbay Gallery from Friday, December 15.

"A Walk in the Woods" was expected to feature at least 10 pieces from Butler's "Ruby" series and a new collection, while Errington was expected to show 16 pieces in a variation of her tree series at the gallery, which is in the Mountaineer building.

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