Volcanic Artist in Residence Melanie Yazzie invites community members to join her for an informal artist talk and creative forum at Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi - the Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre - on Thursday. This free session will start at 5.30pm and will offer insights into Melanie’s arts-practice, including her works in progress since arriving in the Eastern Bay, and talk about her experiences with the people and places of Whakatāne.
Melanie is a Native American of the Navajo Nation, in north-eastern Arizona, USA and is professor of Art Practices and Head of Printmaking at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She has been travelling to Aotearoa since 1995, loves New Zealand’s culture and hopes to keep making connections while she’s here.
Melanie’s works are held in many collections, including the Denver Art Museum, Anchorage Museum of History & Art, the Art Museum of Missoula, the Institute of American Indian Arts, the Kennedy Museum of Art, and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. She has exhibited nationally and internationally in countries such as New Zealand, France, Russia, Canada, Estonia, Northern Ireland, Korea, China, the United Kingdom, and Australia. She is known for organising over 100 print exchange projects that connect communities across the world. She makes prints, sculptures and paintings.
Whakatane Museum’s Volcanic Artist Residency is based at the historic Whakatane Harbour Master House and introduces participants to Whakaari/White Island and other locations and communities in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Residencies for the pilot programme started in August 2018, and will continue into early-2019. Participants include a diverse range of creative people from New Zealand and other countries, including practicing artists in various disciplines, cultural managers and curators.
Whakatāne Museum and Arts is grateful to the following partners for making the Volcanic Artist Residency programme possible: White Island Tours/Te Runanga o Ngāti Awa, Antipodes Water Company, Nicholson Autos, Arts Whakatāne, Whakatāne District Council, The Bach West End, Troy Baker Photography, Diverse Graphics and our very supportive local arts community.
Printmaking and Creativity – Artist talk
5.30 pm, Thursday 22 November
Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi - Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre
Free, no bookings required