title A fine exhibition from Nelson artists publication The Nelson Mail description Review by Peter Gibbs date 27:09:2006 "Anna Leary's Twenty-Four Hours, Tasman Bay is an evocative work of 24 petals, each capturing the atmospheric light and colour over each hour in a complete day." Fine - an exhibition of art from the Nelson Region, Shed 11, Wellington. Curated by Lara Strongman. While Wellington celebrates one Nelson creation - the Montana World of WearableArt Awards - other artists from the region are putting on an impressive display not far away. Fine, an exhibition curated by Lara Strongman, showcases the work of 22 artists. Anne Rush exhibits Peace 2006, a wall-mounted installation of 39 lillies, each about half a metre from top to bottom. Using hand-made harakeke pape, Rush explores texture and form using just white and the play of light and shade on the surface. Tim Wraight creates artefacts for the future using totara from the past - one piece recovered from the estuary near Tasman, the other from a building site during renovations. His two sculptures retain their log-like form, but are covered in Wraight's recognisable carved patterns - a synthesis of Pacific Island marks overlaid by a jolly European whimsy of flowers, death's-heads and hearts. Christine Boswijk's three large, shallow bowl forms are mounted on vertical logs of wood, bringing them to just below chin level, which makes it easy to gaze down into their interiors, which grow more tortured in each successive form. The white clay, scooped and scraped into tortured, furrowed surfaces, has had glass of different types pressed into the surface before firing. The impression in the three works is of a progression of activity in swirling white mud, rising under increasing influence of violent forces. Other large bodies of work include eight brush and ink works by Jane Evans, ceramic handbags, shoes and boots by Katie Gold and 40 kete from four members of Te Ahi Rito group from Golden Bay. Other work on show includes paintings, installations, works in metal and glass and jewellery. Isacc Ibbotson has combined rata and beech with gold and silver in necklaces and bracelets which are models of primitive sophistication. Anna Leary's Twenty-Four Hours, Tasman Bay is an evocative work of 24 petals, each capturing the atmospheric light and colour over each hour in a complete day. It's an impressive show, in which all of Nelson's artists can take some pride. Artwork of this quality doesn;t arise in a vacuum and the exhibition is a synthesis of work that has been developing for some time from a group of artists whose ages span nearly four decades. My only reservation is that we have to cross Cook Straight to be so impressed by a body of our own artwork - it would be great to see such a collection right here.