The Anzac Bridge Felllows

One of the (many) special things about the Anzac Bridge Fellowship is feeling that you are carrying on a tradition of previous artists' or writers' work, so here are some links to previous Fellows from the last few years:

2015: Connah Podmore's Writing to History project invited members of the community to write a postcard to a war time ancestor (not necessarily a soldier - one boy wrote a letter to a donkey!) Her own postcard was written to Alfred Falkner,designer of the bridge, because of a feeling of connection to him as a fellow maker of memorials. The postcards were collected and featured in a video work and installation shown at Pukaha Mt Bruce on Anzac Day 2015.

2014: In the Harakeke Poppy Remembrance Project, Anna Borrie created a 10m long cloak made of white rata vine and featuring 800 harakeke (flax) poppies. People from the community helped to make the cloak, which was draped over the bridge at the Anzac Day service.  (Fabulous photos of the 2014 Anzac Day service here and here.)

The artist and descendents carry the cloak onto the Bridge

2013: Lucy Jerram Moore had already worked on a collaborative exhibition called War cry /Letters home. You can see her lovely water colour of the bridge here.

Volunteering for Anzac Day

Recently I read about the Student Volunteer Army’s idea to make Anzac Day a day for volunteering (it's called Serve for NZ: Anzac Day) and it made me think of the work of  the Friends of ANZAC Bridge and also NZ Pacific Studio.

When the main road was rerouted over the new bridge (and just as well, when you see the great trucks thundering past today) the old bridge fell into disrepair. Perhaps this had something to with the growth of anti-war sentiment through the 1960s and the Vietnam War, when Anzac Day services were fraught or largely ignored.

And it might have stayed like that, with the bridge slowly crumbling away. You can see how it looked in this photo taken by Glennis Austin in 2005.

But in 2006, the local community did something about it. They formed the Friends of ANZAC Bridge (FOAB), got funding, held working bees and restored the bridge, and they continue to look after it today, when it has become the focus of Anzac Day activities in the area and a much loved and valued structure.

In 2015, the FOAB won the Supreme Award in the Trustpower Tararua District Community Awards for their dedication to preserving the bridge  and this year representatives of the group travelled to Dunedin for the National Finals. 

"I understand the bridge is unique within New Zealand. We are lucky to have places to go in our country to serve and remember the men and women who died in wartime -- and we're even luckier to have folks like the Friends to help us hold on to those places."(Trustpower community relations representative Emily Beaton)

All this is a tribute to the power of community and the energy and dedication of volunteers. Something similar could be said for the work of NZ Pacific Studio, started by Kay Flavell with the dream of creating an artists’ residency. Since 2001, about 400 people have come here from around the country and around the world to work on their projects.

The house is full  of history (with the steepest staircase you've ever seen leading up to the loft) and it has become a “house joke” that anything and everything you would or could ever want is here somewhere. It’s crammed with books, tools, utensils, artists’ equipment, furniture and even a spinning wheel and loom. 

But it is a special feeling to walk through the front door and know that everyone here is immersed in their own artistic pursuits and often struggling with the same sorts of artistic problems. Someone made the comment to me that “everyone here is working on something new. Even if they are well established in their field, they have come here with a new project in mind.” Tracy Farr wrote a lovely post here ("time was on my side") about what her time at NZ Pacific Studio meant to her.  

Today there's a working bee here, again carried out by volunteers who are giving up a sunny weekend afternoon to devote some care and attention to the house and garden. So thank you all!!

View out my window

View out my window at NZ Pacific Studio : Laurence and Kristin trying to paint "translucent" light.

 

A walk around NZ Pacific Studio

The sun is shining, the flowers in the garden look very cottage-gardeny.

And as well as my room, I get to use this actual studio. The drawers are full of arty stuff that I'm impressed by, but wouldn't know how to use. 

It even has a little upstairs mezzanine with a comfy chair and books to read!

In residence at the residency!

This afternoon I arrived at NZ Pacific Studio. It’s a long time since I've driven up this part of the road between Masterton and Eketahuna (which seems to have a climate all of its own), and the first time that I've stopped to have a proper look at the Anzac memorial bridge. Big trucks go thundering past on the “new” bridge just next to it, but it remains a surprisingly peaceful spot, perhaps because of the river and surrounding hills. 

The house is warm and friendly, with quirky signs of its structural history showing through; I’ve met the other people staying and working here and I'm looking forward to doing some more work on the Anzac Bridge project!

Photo: NZ Pacific Studio

The Linking Bridges project

Where this started...

Call-Out for 2016 ANZAC Bridge Fellowship

New Zealand Pacific Studio Artists' Residency Centre

Closes: 25 Jan 2016

Posted on: 21 Dec 2015

Region: Wellington

New Zealand Pacific Studio Artists’ Residency Centre and the Friends of the ANZAC Memorial Bridge Kaiparoro invite applications for a two week ANZAC Bridge Fellowship. The purpose of this Fellowship is to maintain a rich cultural context for the annual commemorations centred at New Zealand Pacific Studio and the nearby ANZAC Memorial Bridge in northern Wairarapa.  The Fellowship is made possible with a community grant from Trust House Community Enterprise, Masterton, which comes with the mandate that the fellowship project engage the residents of the nearby communities on and around ANZAC Day (25 April) 2016; including a short presentation/performance at the FOAB ANZAC Day Service.

The year 2016 is of great significance as it marks 100 years since the Battle of the Somme. The Gallipoli experience of 1915 has overshadowed New Zealand’s enormous contribution on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918. Yet it was the Battle of the Somme that we as a country suffered our worst days in military history in terms of people wounded and killed. The Friends of ANZAC Bridge will be remembering the Battle of the Somme at their 2016 ANZAC Day Service.

Creative practitioners of any kind are invited to make project proposals as to how they would involve the nearby communities of Eketahuna, Pahiatua and Northern Masterton (including Kaiparoro/Mount Bruce, Mauriceville, Rongokokako and Nireaha) and how they could contribute to or enrich the annual ANZAC  Bridge Memorial Service.

For examples of work by previous ANZAC Fellows:

Anna Borrie, Multimedia artist, Fiordland, Harakeke Cloak Remembrance Project, 2014

Connah Podmore, Interdisciplinary artist, Wellington, Writing to History, 2015

Selection will be based on the nature and strength of an applicant’s proposed project and the degree to which all parties would benefit: the creative practitioner, NZPS, the Friends of the ANZAC Memorial Bridge, and the community.  Applicants could be writers, researchers, historians and storytellers, visual artists, curators, dancers or choreographers, digital artists, producers or film-makers. Cross-disciplinary practice is also welcomed. Applicants can be at any stage in their creative ‘careers.’

  Applications close midnight Monday 25 January, 2016.