Resident
Artists

Anton Parsons’ practice embraces a broad range of media encompassing industrial materials, readymade objects, photography and installation. Concepts are realised with seemingly insignificant ephemera that often accrue new meanings independent of the artist’s original vision when redefined, reconstructed and re-presented.  

Parsons graduated from University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, Christchurch in 1990. His works are held in numerous public and private collections including, Chartwell Collection, Auckland, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, Christchurch City Council Art Gallery, Christchurch. Anton Parsons established his shared studio at Corban Estate Arts Centre in 2015. 

Pare Hauraki, Pare Waikato

Charlotte Graham is a prolific Maaori artist who has drawn upon her tribal heritage to explore critical issues that affect indigenous New Zealand society. Through a consistent concern for the social and political, her work has become a part of a wider conversation about the impact that environmental issues have had on indigenous people.  

As well as being a staunch advocate for environmental issues, Graham is an ambassador for art collectives such as Colours and The Kauri Project. 

Graham recently undertook a month long residency at Bosque Peheun in Southern Chile, to further explore indigenous ecosystems working alongside the local community, artists, scientists, educators and curators. Thus, adding to a strong body of work that proves the importantance of art to our society.

David McCracken’s sculptures elevate humble objects into memorable artefacts. He is interested in the role of performance in the production and reception of sculptured artworks. The completed sculpture is in itself a type of drama for McCracken in that it manifests various sensory inputs and personal responses. It is not merely an object, but is an artwork enriched with layers of interpretation acquired through the viewer’s gaze.

His sculptures have been included in outdoor exhibitions including Headland Sculpture on the Gulf, Shapeshifter and Sculpture in the Gardens. In 2013, he was recipient of the Parsons and Brinckerhoff Award for Excellence in Engineering at Headland Sculpture on the Gulf and winner of the Wallace Arts Trust NZ Sculpture Award. 

David McCracken is represented by Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland.

Originally from London, Giles Smith studied Fine Art Painting at St Martins School of art and became involved in decorative arts, spending time working for a high end gilding and restoration company. After moving to New Zealand in 1994, he began working in the Film and Television industry, and over 20 years has built a set of unique production skills which has seen him work on films including Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2 (2014), Pete’s Dragon (2015), Yogi Bear (2009) and Narnia: Prince Caspian (2007). 

His ability to work at a large and small scale allows his art practice to remain flexible, where he can employ the skills he has gathered over the years to explore new forms and subject matter of interest. 

Since graduating from Unitec in 2015 with a Bachelor in Art and Design, Helen has set up studio at the Corban Estate Arts Centre and continues to develop her interest in the surrealistic realms and human forms.

She is interested in indigenous and scientific perspectives, her process when making work takes an interest in the natural world, our relationship with our environment, the land, and animal life. Her bodies of works look at the internal and external world shifts, and focuses on the transformation between these realms through large to intimate illustrations that feature partial detailed observations of animal and human forms. Helens use of media is loose and unrestricting as the face of the canvas sits with a floating like manner creating that effective and thoughts of world shifts and transformation.

Imogen Taylor is an Auckland based artist who has exhibited her paintings widely through New Zealand as well as Australia and Europe. Her paintings are interested in balancing abstraction and representation, referencing past European art movements such as Cubism, and movements closer to home including Regionalism. By arguing there is neither good nor bad painting, Taylor suggests an additional set of guidelines around how we view paintings, a parallel to progressive gender and queer identity politics. Taylor regularly exhibits her work at Michael Lett gallery in Auckland.

As well as sustaining her painting studio at Corbans she collates zines, including ‘Femisphere’ zine, published collaboratively with renowned artist Judy Darragh. Femisphere is an on-going project that aims to encourage inclusivity and visibility of women’s(in a highly inclusive sense of the term) practices in the visual arts, in Aotearoa.

Ngāti Hine, Hokianga

Auckland-born emerging artist Jermaine Reihana studied Māori Visual Arts in Palmerston North, graduating with honours in 2012. In 2013 he was part of the “Te Atinga” 25 years of Contemporary Māori Art exhibition which has been noted as one of the most comprehensive surveys of Māori Contemporary art, leading to a publication that was released in 2014. 

Jermaine’s work hinges on customary Māori narrative and art conventions to relate with and navigate through the complexities of contemporary society. Jermaine paints native flora and fauna, rendered in a fine illustrative style while re-working traditional Māori narratives with a stylistic re-interpretation of kōwhaiwhai (painted scroll pattern), tukutuku (woven lattice panels), and whakairo (carving) design conventions.  With such adaptations he produces a personalised response to cultural practices, suggesting and interrogating issues relating the current social, political and environmental climate from a Māori perspective. 

In 2015 he held his first solo exhibition Te Matahi at Depot Artspace in Auckland and continues to exhibit nationally.

Born in the UK in 1968, Osmond studied and worked in London for over twenty years. He currently lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand. He is the recipient of a number of high profile awards, among them the second largest sculpture prize in the UK, the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award; the Credit Suisse First Boston Sculpture Prize; and the Penguin Books Sculpture Prize. He has created artworks for a variety of clients including The Royal London Hospital, The Economist and most recently for Massey University’s Auckland campus.

Osmond is represented by Davidson Contemporary based in New York. 

Abstract painter Margaret Benn draws upon her formative years growing up in London in a post-war climate.   The daughter of immigrant parents from Jamaica, Margaret draws upon the feelings of fear and isolation that afflicted her parents and also haunted her throughout her years and adolescence, hindering her ability to feel included and immersed within her environment.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Design and Visual Art from Unitec Institute of Technology in 2012, Margaret moved into the Corban Estate Arts Centre cluster studios shortly after graduating. She has continued to explore her practice here and is a proud West Auckland resident.

Martin Selman’s works are an exploration of the potent visual and inherent qualities of marble.  Aligned with antiquity, artistic genius, and tradition, marble is, exploited by Martin for its symbolic value and transported into the current age by focusing on the banality of everyday consumption. Mass-produced items like bottles and cans are, canonised for posterity and contemplation.  Carved out of a medium steeped in tradition and history, they are transformed into sublime objects that are simultaneously historic and a-historic; rendered seemingly timeless by virtue of their medium, they are immediately reflective of the nature of our society. In a recent and major shift in subject matter Martin has become focussed on the figurative sculpture tradition, representing the human form with realism. 

Interdisciplinary artist Numangatini Mackenzie works in graf, tatau and mixed media installation. His practice centres on the exploration of urban space and the processes of building connections to his Pacific heritage and people. His research engages with literature on Oceanic art, museum collections as well as collaborations with living practitioners of art forms ranging from tatau, painting and spoken word to voyaging/navigation and street art. Numa often responds to these experiences and sites of investigation through large public graf installations, performance and printmaking. He is actively involved in cultural heritage projects, performative acti.VA.tions, research and community development in New Zealand, where he is now based,  and the Cook Islands.

Numa was born in Canada where his hunger to understand his culture grew, which prompted him to move the Cook Islands in 2009. His move gave Numa the opportunity to grow family ties and his understanding of cultural arts like tapa, tatau and voyaging.

Sistar S’pacific, aka Rosanna Raymond, is an innovator of the contemporary Pasifika art scene as a long-standing member of the art collective the Pacific Sisters, and founding member of the SaVAge K’lub. Over the past twenty years, Raymond's activities have made her a notable producer of — and commentator on — contemporary Pacific Island culture, in Aotearoa New Zealand, the UK, and the USA.

She specialises in working within museums and higher education institutions as an artist, performer, curator, guest speaker, poet and workshop leader. Raymond is an Honorary Research Associate at the Department of Anthropology and Institute of Archaeology at University College London and has been awarded a Chester Dale Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC this year.

"Ko Ngatokimatawhaorua toku waka, Ko Hokianga Whakapou karakia te wahapu, ko Whiria te pa o Rahiri, ko Te Ramaroa te maunga e tu ana, toku wa kainga ki Motutoa, ki te putake o tena. Ko Te Hikutu, Ngati Wharara me Ngati Korokoro oku whanaunga. Ko Ruth Woodbury ahau.” Translation: My bloodlines came upon the first canoes (waka) which landed in our sacred harbour Hokianga. The fortified village home of my ancestor nestled closeby, dwarfed by the mountain Te Ramaroa that stands behind it, at the base of which my direct line was raised. My family has roots to the east, west, south and north of this original landing place. Born in 1982 in Takapuna, Auckland, NZ, with Maori, Chinese and NZ European heritage lines. Ruth's interest and passion carries across a wide range of artistic expression in educating, curating and practice of visual arts with foundations in maori traditional weaving. 

Sculptor Stephen Woodwards practice is primarily interested in the political. “I present landscape and landforms as images to critique human nature; our need to overlay everything with notions of identity, or productivity or settlement. The consequences are environmental and these consequences issue from nationalism, greed, ignorance and also sometimes from culture or love.” explains the artist.  Working with an eclectic range of media ranging from ceramics, bronze, stone and volcanic basalt, Woodward’s sculptures are subtly integrated into, rather than being starkly imposed onto, the landscape.

Born in Quebec, Canada. He began marble carving in Italy by working alongside artisans tasked to scale up sculptures for artists including César Baldaccini, Barry Flanagan, Helaine Blumenfeld and Michelangelo Pistoletto. He moved to New Zealand in 1984 and since then has produced numerous public stone sculpture commissions in China and New Zealand.

Ngati Pakau, Ngapuhi, Waitaha.

A multimedia installation artist and designer, Tanya Ruka’s research practice explores her connection to a deep interest in the natural environment. Ruka is exploring this innate relationship through 'Matauranga Māori' ancestral migrational, seasonal & navigational knowledge, cosmology & mythology. Exploring the connection between humanity and land, the physical and non physical multi-dimensional layers. This layered complexity is the space the work seeks to occupy, through the exploration of the in between, the liminal and 'empty' space. Utilising the language of abstraction, weaving & carving by mark making, layering, texture, repetition, mirroring, concealing and revealing the poesy or visual flow by editing + pairing back. The respect for whenua land, the point of origin for the natural materials used and the kaupapa or process method, are essential to access this place.

Tanya is a member of the Circuit Artist Film & Video Arts Agency. A Master of Art & Design from AUT. Her work is held in private collections nationally and internationally.

Ko Kohukohunui ko Maungaroa ko Pūhanga Tohorānga Maunga
Ko Wairoa ko Waikato ko Mangatawa nga Awa
Ko Ngātokimatawhaorua ko Tainui nga Waka
Ko Ngāi Tai ko Waikato ko Nga Puhi nga Iwi
Ko Ngāti Te Raukohekohe ko Ngāti Tamaoho ko Ngai Tuteauru nga Hapū
Ko Umupuia ko Whatapaka ko Pukerata nga Marae
 
Tessa Harris holds a Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts - Whakairo from Te Waananga o Aotearoa and has been weaving for over 12 years.  Tessa currently works with various mediums including stone, glass, wood and NZ natural fibres.  Her stonework has been under the guidance of New Zealand Artist Rossi McCabe.  Tessa’s stonework features hand finishing with sandstone and her designs, patterns and styles are based off traditional Mahi Kohatu (Maori stonework). Tessa been involved in various exhibitions and displays, her work is sold throughout Aotearoa. 

Award-winning artist Tom Voyce is currently undertaking a residency in the Corban Estate Arts Centre Barrel Store space until the end of January 2019. Throughout the residency, Voyce will have access to the unique Corban Estate landscape with an abundance of inspiration for his contemporary landscape paintings.

Tom Voyce is a 29-year-old artist from the United Kingdom. Training in Fine Art at Aberystwyth University School of Art in Wales, Tom gained his Bachelor’s degree in 2011, specialising in drawing and painting. He completed a Masters degree shortly afterwards, allowing him to refine his practice while working and teaching at HE level, and included a visit to China in 2014 where he taught life drawing.

In 2017, Tom participated in the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year project, where his powerful and distinctive landscapes thrilled the judges. Tom went on to win the competition and the prize of a £10,000 commission from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London to paint the view from the legendary playwright Noel Coward’s home in Jamaica. Since then, Tom has produced a series of works based on his visit to Jamaica, as well as furthering his own practice of still life, interiors and other semi-abstract landscapes reflecting favourite subject matter; places of transit.

Tom will be completing a number of art residencies while here in New Zealand. His journey will then take him to cities across Canada and the US as well as the islands of Fiji . Tom has most recently completed a residency at the Otago Polytechnic School of Fine Art and will head south again in February 2019.

Tom will be teaching two workshops at Corban Estate. The first will be the Adult Weekend Workshop A Sense of Place this coming Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 November, where he will be teaching students to explore landscape painting concepts and techniques through the artist’s own personal response to their surroundings.

In January 2019, Tom will be tutoring the Summer School 2019 intensive 5-day workshop Place Particulars: Discoveries in Abstract Landscapes. Participants will be immersed in the painting process, using Corban Estate as the subject matter to push the boundary between abstract and figurative scenes. Working in their choice of painting media; watercolour, acrylic or oils, participants will produce a series of paintings over the week, from initial drawings and colour notes to finished layered artworks.

For more information, see the links provided below:

Adult Weekend Workshop

Saturday 24 - Sunday 25 November, 10 am - 4 pm daily

2 days

$150

https://ceac.org.nz/workshops/adults/a-sense-of-place

Summer School

Monday 14 - Friday 18 January, 10 am - 4.30 pm daily

5 days

$400

https://ceac.org.nz/workshops/summer-school/place-particulars-discoveries-in-abstract-landscap

Open Studio

Wednesday 23 January, 6 pm

The Barrel Store

Free

Come and see what Tom has been up to during his Barrel Store residency in an open studio evening. Light refreshments will be provided.

More links:

https://www.cassart.co.uk/blog/tom_voyce_wins_sky_arts_landscape_artist_of_the_year_2017.htm

Throughout Tony Brown’s practice, the artist has used his Māori heritage alongside a keen interest in photography, particularly of Māori people at work and leisure in our society. Tony currently combines photo-realism with references to traditional Māori art forms including, whakairo (carving) and tā moko (traditional Maori tattoo) in his practice, which typically culminate as highly rendered drawings or paintings. 

Tony Brown (Te Aupouri) gained a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the University of Auckland, Manukau School of Visual Arts in 2005. Recent shows include: Swims On (2016), Upstairs Art Gallery, Auckland; Huahua Manu (2015), Corban Estate Arts Centre; Shadows of Legends (2014), Upstairs Art Gallery, Auckland; Mo Tenei Wa (2011) Upstairs Art Gallery, Auckland; and In Ya Face (2009) Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland.