The old Civic Centre on Main Street, Huntly is getting a new lease on life as its lease has been secured for a brand new community art gallery.
Being moved forward by the Raahui Pookeka Community Centres Trust, the upcoming Raahui Pookeka Art Gallery will be a space for artists local to the area to showcase their work.
The Trust’s Art Director, Sasha McGaughren says the gallery has been in its planning stage for years now, and is just about ready to come to life.
“Creative Huntly [the creative branch of the Community Centres Trust] has run a number of pop-up exhibitions over the years, showcasing dozens of local artists and giving people opportunities to display and sell their work,” McGaughran said.
“These exhibitions really demonstrated both the amount of artistic talent in our community and the interest in having a permanent gallery.”
The gallery will be operated by Creative Huntly with support from the Waikato District Council, opening for two days a week to begin with. Amazing works have already begun to pop up from artists who want their work on the walls, McGaughran said.
“Huntly has an incredibly creative community, but we haven’t had a dedicated space to consistently showcase and sell local art. We want to give our artists a platform, encourage emerging creatives and create a space our community can be proud of.
“It’s also about creating somewhere interesting for visitors to Huntly to stop, explore and discover some of the creativity our town has to offer.
“The gallery isn’t just for artists or people who consider themselves ‘art people’ either, we want everyone to feel comfortable walking through the doors, having a look around and enjoying the work.”
McGaughran said she hopes the gallery will have a wide range of art, with paintings, photography, pottery, toi Māori, textiles and more. Artists applying will complete an expression of Interest. Applications will then be reviewed for quality and integrity.
“We want the process to be simple and approachable. You don’t need to be a professional artist or have exhibited before. We want to encourage people who may never have considered putting their work into a gallery to give it a go,” McGaughran said.
“For me, this isn’t about bringing art to Huntly; art has always been here. We’re just creating a dedicated place for it to be seen.”
Artists are still being sought to strut their stuff at the Raahui Pookeka Art Gallery. Once the walls are covered in local art, the gallery will hold its official opening on November 20.
The Raahui Pookeka Art Gallery will hold its official opening on November 20, 6pm. From then, it will be open every Friday and Saturday. Artists wishing to apply for exhibition can contact Creative Huntly.
by Sarah Morcom
