On the first day of Christmas…
ARTbop contributors have done some wonderful things in their personal arts and creative practices this year.
LiteraryEditor and ARTbop book reviewer Marcus Hobson has won $500. in a New Zealand-wide competition to write about their favourite bookshop.
ARTbop alternative contributor, filmer/producer and Altercation panelist Dhaivat Mehta has completed a series of promotional video interviews for local hip hop crew Morbidian Music as well as releasing his own album King of the Birds.
ARTbop Poetry Editor, Sam the Poet (aka Sam Eastwood and Sam Woodward) has just published another volume of his poems on Amazon and has won a bronze medal for an individual poem submitted to an international competition.
ARTbop alternative interviewer and ARTbop alternative Altercation Chair John Baxter has had a more than busy year as the Music Manager at The Incubator with the recent Chaos to Culture punk fest, a member of Liquid Squid and The Carradines, tireless fabricator of creative artefacts for the Incubator and The Garden & Arts Festival and ARTbop filmer ably assisted by Nicci Baxter (developing photographer and singer).
ARTbop contributor and ARTbop alternative interviewer Kingsley Smith aka DJKingz of The New Zealand Hard Rock Show has cemented his reputation as an event organiser and promoter. He’s just run the inaugural Rock Fest 2016 at Totara Street and has a New Year’s Eve party headlined by Hole in the Head coming up.
Baz Mantis, musician, performer, photographer and partner artist and creative Jackie Grey have had a very successful exhibition Collider Scope at The Incubator. Baz has shared his filming and photography expertise with ARTbop – you can see the results on ARTbop alternative.
ARTbop Rotorua Correspondent Miriam Ruberl has had successful exhibitions of her personal art work as well as hosting and running arts workshops and tutorials.
Contributors Jenny Argante and Diane Hume-
Green are in the thick of Tauranga Writers Inc preparations for their 2017 50th Anniversary activities.
The TPC aka Beth Bowden of The Summer Trust, Te Puna news and numerous cultural and social activities is on the downhill run to Carols at the Quarry. As ever Beth has contributed some wonderful articles to ARTbop in her column The Te Puna Correspondent.
Katikati ARTbop contributor, artist Birgitt Shannon, has been involved in a number of successful exhibitions. Her work is currently featured in the window of Creative Bay of Plenty – vibrant and perfectly formed small canvases for Christmas.
On the second day of Christmas ….
ARTbop remembers Millie Newitt who mid-year retired as the Curator of Creative Bay of Plenty to travel and see more of the world. Millie took ARTbop on walk-throughs of exhibitions of the previously named Creative Tauranga. We wish Millie, wherever she is today, health and happiness and thank her for her contribution to the ARTbopSHOW.
On the third day of Christmas…
ARTbop thanks all those people who stood to listen to the poets and the musicians who participated in the two small events organised by ARTbop for National Poetry Day 2016. ARTbop is hoping that we can organise something bigger for NPD 2017 emulating the amazing effort of Jenny Argante and Dhaivat Mehta in 2014 If you would like to be involved in a poetry focused event in mid-2017 or would enjoy being part of a team organising the event please contact ARTbop at info@artbop.co.nz
On the fourth day of Christmas…
ARTbop thanks Nicci Baxter who moved her furniture, provided food and drinks for the ARTbop filming team and pushed the camera record button. ARTbop also thanks The Incubator for letting the filming team record Marcus Hobson and Kristian Lomath as Altercation panelists in their learning centre The Artery and Creative Bay of Plenty’s current curator Parewhati Taikato for filming the initial section of Do no leave me hanging by a thread.
On the fifth day of Christmas…
ARTbop notes the opening of Downtown Tauranga galleries MacandMor, Art by Rosie and The Art Lounge and the discovery of Cottleston Gallery, Greerton. And Gallery on Mulgan in Katikati. . Cultural condiments for the life of the towns.
On the sixth day of Christmas..
ARTbop remembers the performances and events presented by Baycourt Community & Arts Centre; bringing diversity of experience to the community.
It’s here we saw the exceptional work The White Guitar.
On the seventh day of Christmas..
Tauranga Art Gallery Director and Baycourt Director
We salute the Tauranga Art Gallery and the exciting and eclectic exhibitions shown during 2016. We love the way the exhibitions cover a spectrum of the interesting to the challenging.
On the eighth day of Christmas
We celebrate the creativity of the hip hop community and Morbidian Music
On the ninth day of Christmas
We share with you our love of Tauranga libraries. The new Greerton Library where every afternoon children come in talk to Cat, sharing their day before they hit the keyboard. We smile each time we see the unique carving above the issues desk. We thank Harley Couper and all the staff in the Tauranga City Library who have been so helpful and supportive of ARTbop.
On the tenth day of Christmas
We acknowledge the creativity of Councillor Catherine Stewart who joined ARTbop in Arcade Arts on National Poetry Day 2016 to read her original poetry.
On the eleventh day of Christmas
ARTbop congratulates The Incubator for directing the collaborative production of Grim Tales a creative fundraising venture for Tauranga Women’s Refuge. Take a look at the review by Marcus Hobson – a work to be proud of – you’ll find purchase details at the end of the review.
On the twelfth day of Christmas
ARTbop acknowledges the wonderful literary production Arts Revealed:
the work of Eastern Bay of Plenty artists Andrea Cooper and Heather Hourigan.
Take a look at the review by Lee Switzer in Words. The book is available for sale in Tauranga at Creative Bay of Plenty
On the thirteen day of Christmas
ARTbop salutes all the fabulous Bay of Plenty cafes where ARTbop has met and talked. If you are travelling through the Bay of Plenty over the summer months you needn’t worry you’ll find nothing to eat. Here’s Dry Dock Café decked out for the 2015 Arts Festival Alice in Wonderland theme. Keep an eye out for what they do to support Paradox the street art project starting in March 2017.
On the fourteen day of Christmas
ARTbop expresses sadness at the temporary closure of the fabulous Rotorua Museum. Iconic can really be used to describe the cultural
experience of the former bathhouse. You can still visit the manicured Government Gardens and the Blue Baths and enjoy all the other aspects of Rotorua including the recently completed sculpture in the Sculpture Trail. Check out the Rotorua Museum website to make sure you know what’s open and what’s on.
to be continued, so make sure you come back and take another look….. AND HERE WE GO!!
On the fifteen day of Christmas
ARTbop tells you that Whakatane is another jewel of the coast of the Bay of Plenty. Make sure you allocate enough time in Whakatane to visit the Exhibition Centre and Mataatua – the House that Came Home. Sit in the carpark by the sea and just enjoy.
On the sixteen day of Christmas…
ARTbop has to mention Moochi the house of fashion and style which originated in Tauranga. Stand outside their Devonport Road, Tauranga store and breathe – a consumate expression of local creativity.
On the seventeenth day of Christmas
Remember Gate Pa – Pukehinahina and Te Ranga – significant sites for early Tauranga.
On the eighteenth day of Christmas
Miranda Farm Gallery
ARTbop says travel to Auckland via the Miranda back roads and visit the rurally set Miranda Farm Gallery on the Miranda Organic Orchard.
On the nineteenth day of Christmas
Make sure you visit the Paeroa Art Centre in the old Council Chambers in the middle of the thriving little Hauraki Plains town.
On the twentieth day of Christmas
Remember the Puketoki Reserve on Leyland Road, Whakamarama where you can park and walk through remnant native bush and it’s only twelve minutes from the Bethlehem Town Centre.
On the twenty-first day of Christmas
ARTbop remembers the importance of primary schools in the development of art and creativity. Here are some images from the Whakamarama School Show Day.
On the twenty-second day of Christmas
ARTbop salutes the exhibitions of Creative Bay of Plenty (formerly Creative Tauranga) and thanks Jennifer Pearson for her input as the Acting General Manager
On the twenty-third day of Christmas
ARTbop acknowledges the contribution of Mauao Performing Art Centre and Totara Street
On the twenty-fourth day of Christmas
We salute the authors Debbie McCauley, Loretta Crawford Rebecca Larsen, Gillian Cooke and all our fabulous authors- providing books for young people on the pathway of life
First time author Rebecca Larson’s upcoming booklaunch
On Christmas Day Rosemary Balu the Editor of ARTbop says:
Christmas is supposed to be one of the major Christian festivals of the year: it’s supposed to be about Christ and Christ is about Christians. This year Hanukkah the Festival of Light falls on the same day as Christmas Day: we can celebrate that too. Diwali and Ramadan happen and the Sikh Temple parade goes down the mainstreet of Tauranga.
We’re privileged to live in a country where ARTbop can express creative and political views across the spectrum of ideas. New Zealand is far from perfect but: We live in relative peace and freedom. We are relatively free from want. We are relatively free from violence.
Dhaivat Mehta and I, with the help of Parewhati Taikato are creating a You Tube Channel – Do not leave me hanging by a thread – it will feature original spoken word and original poetry.
Share your words and poetry and donate to Medecin sans frontieres – Doctors Without Borders a non governmental organisation which operates internationally to provide medical care without fear or favour in places where we may be too frightened to walk.
Mere kirihimete from me and the ARTbop team and a healthy and safe 2017 filled with creativity.
Rosemary Balu. Rosemary Balu is the founding and current editor of ARTbop. Rosemary has arts and law degrees from the University of Auckland. She has been a working lawyer and has participated in a wide variety of community activities where information gathering, submission writing, community advocacy and education have been involved. Interested in all forms of the arts since childhood Rosemary is focused on further developing and expanding multi-media ARTbop as the magazine for all the creative arts in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.
