Source: Massey University
Musician Warren Maxwell.
Marianne sheath dress by Kate Sylvester.
Untitled print by Donna Cross.
Series 3 by Guy Ngan.
The College of Creative Arts is launching a new fund to support creatives with a silent auction, featuring items generously donated by some of New Zealand’s leading artists and alumni including Sir Richard Taylor, Kate Sylvester and Warren Maxwell.
The new Residencies Fund, part of the Massey University Foundation, will exist to support artists to develop their practices, teach and collaborate with students and faculty, and share their knowledge, expertise and experiences with the University community and the public.
The artists are all recognised in the College’s Hall of Fame and have donated 27 exclusive artworks that will be available for anyone to bid on through a silent auction, from February 21 to March 3. The College of Creative Arts’ Hall of Fame celebrates alumni who have made an outstanding contribution to New Zealand’s economy, reputation and national identity through art and design.
College of Creative Arts’ Senior adviser strategic partnerships Sue Elliott says she is thrilled to present the collection. “The generously donated auction items are a showcase of the best of the best in art, music and design, with all funds raised going to create a new fund to support creatives.
“The Residencies Fund will support our existing artist residencies: Matairangi Mahi Toi for Māori and Pacific artists, hosted by the Governor General within the grounds of Government House; and Te Whare Hera for international artists, partnering with Wellington City Council and housed on the seaward end of the breath-taking Clyde Quay Wharf. The fund will also support the soon to be established international design residency; and a music and creative media production residency,” she says.
The auction
Works ranging from photography, original artworks, limited-edition prints, live music and more are available in the online auction. One of the pieces is a limited edition sculpture of Gollum, worth $2800, donated by Weta Workshop’s Sir Richard Taylor, who studied at the Wellington School of Design.
Fans of Kate Sylvester’s coveted fashion label can bid on Kate’s favourite dress from her Love Letters collection. Ms Sylvester studied at Wellington Polytechnic and has gone onto become one of New Zealand’s most commercially successful and respected fashion designers. She says of the dress, “The delicate embroidery is a tribute to my mother whose garden was full of wild forget-me-nots. I adore the simplicity of the sheath shape with the femininity of the flowers.”
Lucky bidders will get the chance to win a private, one-hour solo performance by one of New Zealand’s finest contemporary singers/composers, Warren Maxwell, who studied jazz at the Massey University School of Music and formed the award-winning band Trinity Roots.
Other donations include pieces from contemporary artists Judy Darragh and Fane Flaws, and Julia Morrison has donated a framed original artwork with a value of $3000.
A series of five prints showing the staged process of mezzotint engraving are framed alongside the signed completed print (valued at $3500) by lauded Wellington artist John Drawbridge, was donated by Tanya Ashken Drawbridge and family, , as well as a woodblock print by sculptor and artist Guy Ngan, donated by Jean and Liz Ngan.
The auction will close on the evening of March 3, coinciding with a celebratory event to induct new members into the Hall of Fame, now in its 40th year. Visit the auction here.
