"Civic Trust Newsletter 2019 - THUMBS UP! - Celebrating art in our environment
Aigantighe Art Gallery, Friends of the Aigantighe and WuHoo Timaru, initiated by Roselyn and Chris Fauth, launched a new programme to get artwork out into the community and the environments that inspire it.
In December 2018 the first five signs were installed at Caroline Bay and Patiti Point. They feature artworks from the Aigantighe Art Gallery Permanent Collection that relate to the location of the sign and its surroundings. The signs also include explanatory text and historical images from the South Canterbury Museum’s collection giving the artworks greater context. Examples at Caroline Bay are William Green’s The Unemployed, (a painting of the well-known donkeys that gave rides on Caroline Bay) and William Gibb’s painting of Timaru Harbour in 1888. Another Greene painting entitled The Roadmakers, ploughing a road near the sea, can be found at Patiti Point . There is also a painting by John L Higgs, entitled Timaru Coastline (depicting the scene looking north towards central Timaru and the harbour in 1884) and William Ferrier’s Breakwater, Timaru, Running a Southerly Gale 1888. The next round of signs are nearing completion and it is hoped to have the next three mounted by October.
The Friends of the Aigantighe Art Gallery have commissioned their first artwork to give a contemporary reflection on Timaru’s unique past for the WuHoo signs. The painting has been created by local artist Mike Armstrong. This is a great way to support our local artists, promote our public art collection and help it to be even more visible by displaying it in a public place on a WuHoo sign."