Aigantighe Exhibition ' A great Success'

Featured artist: The Friends of the Aigantighe held an opening last Friday for exhibitions by artists Jo Torr and John Kelman. At the evening was artist Jo Torr (left) Timaru mayor Janie Annear (center) and the Friends of the Aigantighe president Roselyn Cloake.

Courier Newspaper Thursday July 16th 2010. The Friends of the Aigantighe held an opening recently for exhibitions by artists Jo Torr and John Kelman. President Roselyn Cloake said the July 2 event was "a great success." "We hope that the creations of the artists will inspire many over the coming months."

Torrs exhibition will run until August 1. She is the exhibition loans officer at Te Papa and her creations examine mutual cultural interchange between Pacific and European people. Kelman's exhibition runs until August 8. A south Canterbury Artist, John Kelman is a gifted master of the aquarelle water colour pencil. He makes his own paint brushes and experiments continuously with new styles.

- Anyone wanting to receive Friends of the Aigantighe newsletters and invitations to openings is welcome to join the membership.

Arty has a ball of a time!

GLAMOROUS POSE: Emily Watson and Sebastian Elsen smiling for the cameras as they journey to Craighead Diocesan School ball.

28/06/10 - Arty escorts to the Craighead Ball 2010. We loved dropping off Craighead school student Emily Watson and her guest Sebastian Elsen to the ball in Timaru. Belles and their equally dashing partners arrived at the school in all kinds of transport including vintage cars, buses, limousines and of course Arty our art car.

The Friends Have a new Facebook fan page

09/04/10 - Now you can follow the friends on Facebook. It is free and easy to sign up to our Facebook page as a fan. Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, post links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet. We are using a Facebook Fan Page to help build our on-line network find new Friends to support our community of art lovers and Aigantighe supporters.
Join us on Facebook by becoming a fan!

New membership brochure for the Friends

20/03/10 -The new Friends of the Aigantighe Brochure. One of our top priorities has been a new membership brochure which will be available from March 2010. We aim to encourage people to support the gallery by joining the Friends membership. The brochure was designed by Roselyn Cloake and includes photography by Geoff Cloake. The printing was generously discounted by GEON print in Timaru: View the FRIENDS AIGANTIGHE Brochure.pdf
Please Email us on: friends@aigantighe.org.nz if you would like a bundle at your workplace or organisation to help us find new Friends!

Friends Gain Registered Charity Status

As we enter our 34th year as an Incorporated Society we can now celebrate our Registered Charity status (CC42952)! This helps us to apply for funding and offer tax deductions on all donations received. This has definitely been worthwhile setting up to offer tax deductible donations.

Congratulations Cheryl Gordon

Cheryl Gordon wins the Friends Award presented by Diane Turner.
The Polychrome art exhibition, which opened at the Aigantighe Art Gallery on Thursday the 5th of November 2009, featured the latest works of art from students at the Timaru Aoraki Polytechnic. Amongst the recipients of awards was Cheryl Gordon who received the Friends of Aigantighe Award. The award, presented by Diane Turner, recognized Cheryl for her potential as an artist. - photo by Helen Bonica

Australian artist takes care of Aigantighe car After living rough on the streets for four months, Arty the Art Car has celebrated his fifth birthday in a nice new home. The car, which belongs to the Friends of the Aigantighe... Read article here

Arty Celebrate its 6th Birthday in September!

From a white Honda to a bright and crafty Art car, Arty continues to promote the Friends and the Gallery. The car continues to be the pride and joy and certainly has a major impact on the kids when they visit the gallery in the holidays or when Arty is out and about. Arty has and continues to bring a lot of fun and colour at public festivals, exhibition openings and outreach events. Arty the Art Car can be seen outside the Aigantighe Art Gallery every School Holidays.

He is used regularly for outreach trips to South Canterbury schools and is loved by all the school children. Kids automatically relate Arty the Art Car back to the Art Gallery. Happy Birthday Arty!

Friends Artarama Award Announced

Artarama is a festival of South Canterbury student art. A wonderland of art by students aged 5 to 18 with around $2,000 worth of prizes up for grabs. This year the Friends sponsored a $50 prize and a free Friends membership.The opening was on Saturday, 8th August.

Artarama! Saturday, 8th - 23rd Aug 09. www.timaru.govt.nz/artgallery

Above President Roselyn Cloake presents the Artarama Excellence Award to Hannah Hamilton - Craighead Diocesan.

Have You Seen Our Cool Fridge?

Geoff Cloake our photographer has been recording the openings that the friends support. With photos accumulating in the albums fast, we came up with a cool plan to display the these. Visitors to the gallery can chill out while looking through the events and antics on the Friends Fridge! The white ware installation has been given a new lease of life and is a quirky way for us to display membership brochures and entice the public to join our valuable organisation. Geoff has captured the buzz and atmosphere at opening nights and hopefully when you see our fridge if you are not already a member you may like to join!

New Sound System
The voice of art will be heard above clamoring crowds, thanks to a new public address system the Friends of the Aigantighe have bought for the gallery. The Friends bought the 500-watt system as a 50th birthday present for the gallery, in 2007. As well as saving the speakers from shouting, the systems mixing board can actually save their voices. There are plans to start building a library of recorded speeches of the many guests that come to speak at the gallery. The recording of the openings adds another layer to what the gallery has to offer the community.

Does any one here like to win?
Do you have a spare $2 floating around in the bottom of your pocket? If you do then you are in for a treat as we have tempting raffles for you to go into the draw on opening nights. The prize is always a surprise and the odds are always high for winning as the winners can only enter and are drawn on the same night. So come and see us on opening nights so you do not miss out!

What Ever The Weather
Ever wondered what the temperature is outside or the wind direction? Our committee member Geoff Cloake has designed a whimsical way to follow the weather... thanks to his efforts the Gallery now celebrates its very own weather house! The weather house is hooked up to a local weather station in Timaru. So we can bring live weather reports direct to your computer screen. It features the Aigantighe building, can you spy some familiar faces, or see the detrimental effects of too much Co2 emissions?
See the weather house here

Gallery Turns 50 Years old!
On Behalf of the Friends’ We would like to congratulate the people of South Canterbury on the 50th Anniversary of their public art gallery. Here is to many more!

Centennial milestone for Grant Family Home
The Friends had an absolute ball at the latest 100th celebrations! In 2008 we celebrated the centennial milestone of the Grant Family home.

The opening was a real success and resulted in many happy faces and new memberships. At present our membership is around 300 people – enriching the gallery significantly.

Aigantighe is Scottish Gaelic for ‘at home’. Who would have thought 100 years ago that the home for the Grant family would later become a home for art. The foundations that were laid a century ago allowed the public art museum to be founded in 1956. Since then the doors have been opened to the wider family of South Canterbury and beyond. With community support and passion Aigantighe now cares for the 3rd largest art collection in the South Island of New Zealand. The high caliber and variety of exhibitions are of an international standard. Together with the art collection the team of staff and volunteers makes the Aigantighe a destination.

Art and a building equals a gallery.
but it is the Artists, the staff, the members, the volunteers and the visitors who bring the Arts Spirit to life.
At the end of the day it is about Atmosphere, discussion and inspiration. And I’m sure you will all agree,
that there is plenty to be found at the Aigantighe!
- Roselyn Cloake President of the Friends of the Aigantighe Art Gallery

On behalf of the Friends committee. To you the people of South Canterbury. Thank you for the support. Congratulations on the 100th Birthday of the Aigantighe House