What an AWESOME city I live in!

We picked a perfect day for a walk through the city!

I live in an awesome spot in the world.  

I wonder how many of the Kiwi friends I’ve made realise just how fortunate we are.  

Auckland Art Gallery and the very visible "Flower Chandelier" which is one of the sculptures on our walk

I participated in an Art Walk in the City on Friday. 

It’s Art Week in Auckland and a variety of walks and talks had been organised to promote the very vibrant and varied forms of art in this country I now call home.

These 3 columns at the entrance to the Auckland Art Gallery represent the Māori gods:
Ranginui (sky father) and Papatuanuku (earth mother) and their offspring Tane Mahuta (god of the forest).

Auckland is a stunning city. 

 I still struggle to understand why so many people insist it’s the least beautiful of all of New Zealand’s major cities.  I think it’s magnificent with a heart and soul all of it’s very own. 

It’s MY city.

I've become part of the sculpture called "Long Modified Bench"!

As I’d never participated in any of these walks before and wasn’t sure what to expect, I only booked tickets for the one walk and asked Julia to accompany me.  

.... and so has Julia!

What a revelation ... and how foolish of me to have only booked one!

Part of the "Te Waka Toi o Tāmaki" stone sculpture which graces the
North wall at the entrance to the gallery. Sculpture by Fred Graham.

Our walk was along Auckland's Golden Mile which is home to many of the sculptures in the city's public art collection.  I don’t know much about the different artists but what better way to get acquainted with them and their work than to get up close and personal .... with the added benefit of the walks being led by knowledgeable guides from the Auckland Art Gallery.

Jeppe Hein's "Long Modified Bench".  An interactive sculture that invites us to
sit down, walk along it, climb up it ... to be part of it in every sense of the word.

All they needed was a flag and we’d have resembled the clickety-clack of the Asian tour groups!

Another view of the "Long Modified Bench"

Auckland Art Gallery itself is an AMAZING building, recipient of 16 international awards.  It’s a building I’ve been wanting to visit for a while and not necessarily for what’s INSIDE it. I’m intrigued by it’s form, the marriage of old architecture with new, it’s technological sophistication and the use of materials, particular timber, that are sacred to the Maoris.  

New Zealand Kauri wood has been used for the magnificent ceilings.

It’s a building that’s been given a new life but not been overwhelmed by it.

 I love it.

The old and the new.

Enough about the Auckland Art Gallery though, 

even though 4 of the works included in the walk are exhibitions in and around the Gallery.

One of the flowers making up the "Flower Chandelier".  It's an installation by a Korean artist
Choi Jeong Hwa.  His colourful flowers have fans in their bases which suck in air and inflate and deflate
the flowers.  It's a sculpture full of movement and fun!

So many of the sculptures we were introduced to were living sculptures in a way.  Designed and created to be embraced by the general public in their everyday life.  

One of the 9 granite blocks that make up the sculpture "Byword"

A better view of the whole
"Flower Chandelier"

I wonder how many of the students sitting on the granite blocks down Lorne Street were aware they were sitting on one of the city’s commissioned sculptures.  ‘Byword’ is made up of 9 granite blocks each with a different four letter word on it.  The words change, one letter at a time, from ‘WORD’ to ‘DEED’ along the nine blocks. At night the lettered blocks float on light that spills from beneath them.

Another of them ... the rest were being sat on by students.

Is it any co-incidence that the first block, in the learning quarter of the city, has ‘WORD’ on it and the last block, in the commercial quarter of the city, has “DEED” on it?

Another sculpture in St. Patrick's Square ... the Font by Mary-Louise Brown strategically placed in direct
alignment with the font in the Cathedral.

The artist who created “Byword” is fascinated by language and it’s ambiguities.  

MY kind of artist!

The "Step Touch Stone" in St. Patrick's Square created by Steve Woodward

So many of the sculptures had meaning way beyond what was visible.  

My limited knowledge doesn’t do them justice but suffice to say, the walk was entertaining and enlightening. 

"Coral" a blue neon sculpture by Peter Roche that adorns the Vero Centre
 ... needs to be seen at night time to be truly appreciated

So many walk past so much every day and fail to see it.

My eyes were DEFINITELY opened!

"Double L" ... by kinetic sculptor George Rickey.
His perfectly balanced L-shaped vanes move effortlessly with any breeze.