Local Artist Supporting Manawatu Rural Support Service

Natasha from Ashhurst - Pohangina

Local painter Graham Christensen is supporting the important and very necessary work of the Manawatu Rural Support Service (MRSS) in his latest exhibition ‘A Rural Perspective’ on at the Feilding Art Centre until the 30th of March.

The entire proceeds from the sale of ‘Let them Out’ will be donated to MRSS to assist them in continuing their essential work within our local rural communities.

The Manawatu Rural Support Service is a not-for-profit organisation who specialises in supporting the stability and wellbeing of all rural individuals and their families who live within our rural Northern Manawatu and Pohangina Valley communities. They do this by providing a free, confidential mobile support service that can visit on the farm (the Rural Community Workers travel in all-wheel-drives to assist their access to remote areas and always carry a pair of gumboots!), within the home or to schools and community groups.

They assist at any time of need including sickness, bereavement, unemployment and financial hardship. They work with their clients to resolve loneliness, isolation and other personal difficulties and provide support programmes and workshops for specific needs in the community.

MRSS also assist Civil Defence at times of emergency and recently their services were greatly appreciated by the community of Pohangina Valley following the devastation to the area by Cyclone Gabrielle.

About the Artist
Graham Christensen has lived much of his life on and around farms within the Manawatu/Rangitikei region. His father, grandfather and great grandfather were all farmers and from a young age Graham worked on shearing gangs and hay trucks before studying agriculture and going on to spend a lifetime within the sector.

Now retired, Graham lives on a farm near Ashhurst and paints from a large light-filled studio – fittingly, a converted room at the back of the barn.

In this exhibition Graham takes his lived experience and captures moments in time that many of us will know and love from our own memories of rural New Zealand.

Graham regularly exhibits throughout the Manawatu/Rangitikei region and is frequently commissioned to paint pieces of sentimental value to celebrate anniversaries, special birthdays and retirement. His work is hung in homes, businesses and private collections throughout New Zealand and internationally.

More of Graham's work can be seen on his website: www.grahamchristensen.co.nz...
and facebook page: www.facebook.com...