Exhibition opens up a view Through Female Eyes
An exhibition of Waikanae artist’s Gillian Cronin’s bold colourful acrylic paintings celebrating the lives of ordinary women in the world’s developing countries, “Through Female Eyes”, opens at the Taupō Museum this Saturday 30 October.
Gillian has been painting for over 30 years and her preferred medium is acrylic on board or canvas.
The celebration of these women’s lives is a strong theme running through all her paintings, as Gillian loves telling stories, but she always balances this narrative in her own inner sense of harmony, colour, design, and spirituality.
Gillian said that often throughout the history of art, women have been the objects of the artist’s gaze, the artist generally being male, and the artist's model or muse being female.
“I want to turn the tables and paint a woman's eye view of the world. In particular, having travelled extensively I want my story in paint to be celebrating the lives of ordinary women in developing countries.”
Around twenty years ago, she visited Ethiopia. It was her first trip to Africa, and left a profound impression on her, both as a woman and as an artist, she said.
“Poverty in Africa exists on a completely different scale to the third-world living conditions I had previously encountered in Asia and South America.”
In 2017, she travelled around India and in 2019 she said she was lucky enough to visit Mexico and Guatemala. During these travels she gathered a rich tapestry of experiences and an overload of inspiration for subsequent paintings. She responded to the warm vibrant colours of India and Mexico as well as the people and the culture.
Taupō Museum exhibitions officer Kerence Stephen said Through Female Eyes will provide visitors with a feast for the eyes.
“We are excited to be hosting these works – Gillian’s balance and harmony between the colours and forms in her art is breath-taking,” she said.
The exhibition runs until 29 November. Taupō Museum is open seven days from 10am to 4.30pm and entry is free to Taupō District residents with proof of address.
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You can help grow the Waikato Community Rugby Fund
Waikato Rugby celebrated 100 years of service to the community in 2021, but due to the pandemic the long-planned celebrations were not held until late 2022.
A highlight was a black-tie event at GloBox Arena at Claudelands where over 300 people enjoyed a wonderful night of reminiscence, remembrance, reconnection and reflection on what our national game means to the Waikato.
Many people put a lot of work into making the evening a massive success by all sorts of measures. One was fundraising $21,000 for the good of the game through auctions and donations, which has recently been transferred to the Waikato Community Rugby Fund at Momentum Waikato.
The Fund grows in perpetuity, with distributed returns only used for the benefit of the amateur community rugby, forever.
Donations to the Waikato Community Rugby Fund are always most welcome, to find out more and donate click the button below.
Were you at the V8s parade?
The excitement was palpable on the streets of Taupō as thousands turned out to welcome the V8 Supercars roadshow to town.
In a first for Supercars, and for Taupō, all 24 Supercars drivers and their cars drove 8.5km from Taupō International Motorsport Park to Te Ātea on Taupō’s lakefront for a meet and greet with fans on the eve of the inaugural ITM Taupō Super400.
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