Public protests against French nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific Ocean led to legislation in 1987 declaring New Zealand nuclear free.
Blast! Pat Hanly – the Painter and his Protests is an exhibition touring the country and has been showing at the Millennium Art Gallery in Blenheim since Friday.
It contains large, colourful paintings by Hanly , black-and-white photographs by Gil Hanly and Claudia Pond Eyley, and a newly published children's book by Trish Gribben recounting that time in New Zealand's history.
With things to appeal to viewers of different ages, the exhibition was a good one to have in the gallery at this time of the year, says Millennium director Cressida Bishop.
Those old enough to remember the 1980s will see the photographs and remember the years when people turned out in their thousands to make politicians take notice of their concerns.
One of the black-and-white photographs shows protesters holding a large banner, declaring: "If the people lead, the leaders will follow." Another asks: "What are you going to be when you blow up?" "It's an opportunity for young people to learn about that time," Bishop says.
All visitors with time to spare can watch a long documentary on a DVD, playing on continuous rotate in a corner of the room where Hanly's large, colourful pictures hang.
Hanly was born in 1932 and helped revitalise New Zealand art in the second half of the 20th century. Subjects for his works ranged from the domestic and personal to social and political issues.
An exhibition press release identifies passion and protest, light, love and life as the themes for his anti-nuclear works.
"Pat Hanly was a small man with a big-hearted, wide-seeing view of the world. He was bold and brave.
"All through his life he painted and spoke up about political and social things that disturbed him, especially nuclear testing when France was exploding bombs at Moruroa, in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean," the report says.
"With this book and exhibition, we hope to engage an audience of all ages and tell a very New Zealand story of the power of art to move hearts and minds."
Blast! Pat Hanley – the Painter and his Protests will continue to show at the Millennium Art Gallery during January.
2011年12月12日星期一
2011年10月11日星期二
Horse painting auctioned in race to repay fraud victims
A 300-year-old oil painting of a Newmarket horse-racing scene – once owned by US fraudster Bernie Madoff – is set to fetch up to £64,000 at an auction in America.
The picture, Brocklesby Betty, with Jockey up at Newmarket, before her celebrated match with Ashridge Ball, 7 October, 1718, was painted by John Wootton, regarded as the the finest horse painter of his time.
It is thought he received £40 for the painting. In 1929, it fetched 100 guineas (£105) when it was sold at Christie’s by the sixth Lord Sherborne.
More recently it was acquired by Madoff, the American stockbroker who admitted using his wealth management business to defraud thousands of investors of billions of dollars. He was jailed for 150 years in 2009, the maximum allowed.
Madoff’s assets – including his large art collection – were seized, to be sold in an attempt to reimburse his creditors. So far, federal officials have raised $25 million – £16 million – in this way.
The painting is going under the hammer tomorrow at Christie’s Rockefeller Plaza salerooms in New York.
Wootton, who died in 1764, produced several Newmarket racing scenes, including one owned by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, entitled A Race On The Round Course, Newmarket.
Other Newmarket paintings by him adorn the stately homes of Longleat and Castle Howard.
The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists describes him as “the first Englishman to paint horse portraits, considered to be the horse painter to the aristocracy for half a century.”
His works, often life-size, featured most of the famous racehorses of his time.
Brocklesby Betty was a chestnut filly foaled in 1711. She was bred at Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire, and was a celebrated racing mare.
In 1718, she beat the Duke of Bridgewater’s Ashridge Ball in a match for 900 guineas.
At that time, Ashridge Ball was seen as the best horse in Britain.
The picture, Brocklesby Betty, with Jockey up at Newmarket, before her celebrated match with Ashridge Ball, 7 October, 1718, was painted by John Wootton, regarded as the the finest horse painter of his time.
It is thought he received £40 for the painting. In 1929, it fetched 100 guineas (£105) when it was sold at Christie’s by the sixth Lord Sherborne.
More recently it was acquired by Madoff, the American stockbroker who admitted using his wealth management business to defraud thousands of investors of billions of dollars. He was jailed for 150 years in 2009, the maximum allowed.
Madoff’s assets – including his large art collection – were seized, to be sold in an attempt to reimburse his creditors. So far, federal officials have raised $25 million – £16 million – in this way.
The painting is going under the hammer tomorrow at Christie’s Rockefeller Plaza salerooms in New York.
Wootton, who died in 1764, produced several Newmarket racing scenes, including one owned by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, entitled A Race On The Round Course, Newmarket.
Other Newmarket paintings by him adorn the stately homes of Longleat and Castle Howard.
The Dictionary of British Equestrian Artists describes him as “the first Englishman to paint horse portraits, considered to be the horse painter to the aristocracy for half a century.”
His works, often life-size, featured most of the famous racehorses of his time.
Brocklesby Betty was a chestnut filly foaled in 1711. She was bred at Brocklesby Park, Lincolnshire, and was a celebrated racing mare.
In 1718, she beat the Duke of Bridgewater’s Ashridge Ball in a match for 900 guineas.
At that time, Ashridge Ball was seen as the best horse in Britain.
2011年10月10日星期一
Lynchburg woman was child model for Rockwell painting
One of Norman Rockwell’s models for one of his most famous paintings has been living in the Lynchburg area for nearly 20 years.
Rockwell’s iconic illustration, “The Problem We All Live With,” depicts Ruby Bridges, a brave 6-year-old in New Orleans who broke new ground for school desegregation in the U.S. on Nov. 14, 1960. But the little girl in the painting is not Ruby Bridges. She is a likeness of Rockwell model Anita Gunn Tinsley, now a 56-year-old widow residing in Lynchburg’s Fort Hill neighborhood.
Most people do not know of her link to the painting that received worldwide acclaim after it appeared as the centerfold of Look magazine on Jan. 14, 1964.
Tinsley herself rarely talks about it.
Years ago, when her youngest daughter told her elementary school classmates in Amherst County that her mother was a Rockwell model, “they laughed at her,” she recalled.
She had to send her daughter back to school with proof to stop the scoffing.
“That was typical,” she said. “I really don’t bother telling people about it anymore.”
Recent research on Rockwell’s “other people” confirms that it is not unusual for black Rockwell models to encounter disbelief about their role. While the artist was well known for recruiting as models townspeople from the New England communities where he lived, it is not well known that some of those people were black.
Stephanie Plunkett, chief curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., confirmed that Tinsley was indeed one of the models for the painting.
Tinsley, who grew up in Massachusetts, never has seen the actual painting of “The Problem We All Live With.”
She said she did not know of its significance until she attended a Rockwell models reunion in 2007 at the Norman Rockwell Museum. There, 44 years after her modeling session, she learned of the immense importance of the picture, and of the little girl in it.
Before returning home to Virginia, Tinsley went to the museum bookstore and bought a reproduction of the painting, which now hangs in her bedroom.
“I’m not one to show myself,” she said. “But to know I’m seen by millions of people, seeing myself, it’s a strange feeling.”
Tinsley, a native of Great Barrington, Mass., recently shared the details of her encounter with Rockwell, her first in-depth interview on the subject.
She remembers how Norman Rockwell literally walked into her life. “In the fall of 1963, I was coming home from school, crying because I wanted to take violin lessons. I loved watching our music teacher play and I wanted to learn. But my parents said we couldn’t afford the $25 for the lessons.”
As Anita sniffled along the street, a tall white man approached her, asking what was wrong. When the 8-year-old explained that she wanted to take violin lessons but there was no money for them, the man suggested that, if her mother approved, he would pay for her lessons if Anita would model for him.
“I didn’t understand anything about modeling. All I heard was $25! I had no idea who he was. And I didn’t tell my mother.”
Several days later, Elaine Gunn, Anita’s mother, remained home from her teaching job to care for one of Anita’s brothers, who was sick. When Mrs. Gunn answered a knock at her front door, there stood Norman Rockwell.
Gunn immediately recognized the famous illustrator, although she had never met him. He introduced himself, explaining that he had come from Stockbridge, eight miles away, to talk with her daughter, Anita.
Mrs. Gunn, stunned at the presence of Rockwell on her doorstep, stammered that Anita was not yet home from school.
“May I wait for her?” Rockwell asked.
When Anita tromped through the backdoor, she found her mother sitting at the dining room table, chatting with the man who had spoken to her on the street.
As Anita entered the room, Norman Rockwell rose and approached her. Stooping down and clasping her hands he asked, “How would you like to earn money for those violin lessons?” Then, according to Mrs. Gunn, Rockwell engaged the 8-year-old in a discussion about his latest project on the subject of integration.
Only when Anita, in her blue, Peter Pan-collared school dress, understood what “modeling” meant and what she was agreeing to did the artist turn back to Mrs. Gunn: “For the modeling session, can you have two dresses made just like the one she has on, only in white?”
Rockwell requested two dresses because he used two models for the painting: Anita and her cousin, Linda Gunn. Both girls had been recommended to him by David Gunn Sr., a pipe-smoking buddy of Rockwell’s, and grandfather to the two cousins. It was because of Gunn senior’s referral that Rockwell had recognized and approached Anita on the street.
For the photo shoot, Rockwell invited Anita’s entire family to his Stockbridge studio. When the group arrived, Rockwell pulled out bottles of Coca-Cola from the case he kept under the stairs. The artist popped opened sodas and handed one to each person. “It was wonderful,” Tinsley said with a laugh. “We didn’t have to share. We each had our own bottle.”
Anita was required to stand absolutely still, with her feet positioned on wooden blocks, for long minutes at a time. When Rockwell guided her poses, he bent down and spoke to the little girl directly. “He was very kind,” Tinsley recalled. At the end of the 45-minute session, she received a check for $25, signed by Norman Rockwell.
Anita did take violin lessons, but only for one year. “The strings hurt my fingers. And I didn’t want to get calluses on them.”
After graduating high school in Massachusetts, Tinsley attended a local community college for two years. Then, after working two years in a state housing and redevelopment agency, she went to live with an aunt in Delaware, where she attended Delaware State College.
Love, marriage and the birth of her oldest daughter, Tiana, ended that college try. But in 1992, while working for Sun Oil, Anita earned a B.A. in business administration from Widener College in Chester, Pa. That same year, she became divorced from her first husband, took an early retirement from Sun Oil and moved to Amherst to join Kevin Tinsley, the man would become her second husband and father to her youngest daughter, Kenita. Kevin Tinsley died in July 2007.
“The Problem We All Live With” was back in the national spotlight this past summer, when the painting was hung outside the entrance to the Oval Office, where the President can see it from his desk.
At President Barack Obama’s request, the Norman Rockwell Museum loaned the painting to the White House to mark the 50th anniversary year of those historic events in New Orleans in 1960.
When informed that her likeness now hung in the White House, Anita Gunn Tinsley’s first reaction was, “Wow!” Then, after a moment of silence, she said, “Maybe I’ll try to take a trip to Washington to see it.”
Rockwell’s iconic illustration, “The Problem We All Live With,” depicts Ruby Bridges, a brave 6-year-old in New Orleans who broke new ground for school desegregation in the U.S. on Nov. 14, 1960. But the little girl in the painting is not Ruby Bridges. She is a likeness of Rockwell model Anita Gunn Tinsley, now a 56-year-old widow residing in Lynchburg’s Fort Hill neighborhood.
Most people do not know of her link to the painting that received worldwide acclaim after it appeared as the centerfold of Look magazine on Jan. 14, 1964.
Tinsley herself rarely talks about it.
Years ago, when her youngest daughter told her elementary school classmates in Amherst County that her mother was a Rockwell model, “they laughed at her,” she recalled.
She had to send her daughter back to school with proof to stop the scoffing.
“That was typical,” she said. “I really don’t bother telling people about it anymore.”
Recent research on Rockwell’s “other people” confirms that it is not unusual for black Rockwell models to encounter disbelief about their role. While the artist was well known for recruiting as models townspeople from the New England communities where he lived, it is not well known that some of those people were black.
Stephanie Plunkett, chief curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., confirmed that Tinsley was indeed one of the models for the painting.
Tinsley, who grew up in Massachusetts, never has seen the actual painting of “The Problem We All Live With.”
She said she did not know of its significance until she attended a Rockwell models reunion in 2007 at the Norman Rockwell Museum. There, 44 years after her modeling session, she learned of the immense importance of the picture, and of the little girl in it.
Before returning home to Virginia, Tinsley went to the museum bookstore and bought a reproduction of the painting, which now hangs in her bedroom.
“I’m not one to show myself,” she said. “But to know I’m seen by millions of people, seeing myself, it’s a strange feeling.”
Tinsley, a native of Great Barrington, Mass., recently shared the details of her encounter with Rockwell, her first in-depth interview on the subject.
She remembers how Norman Rockwell literally walked into her life. “In the fall of 1963, I was coming home from school, crying because I wanted to take violin lessons. I loved watching our music teacher play and I wanted to learn. But my parents said we couldn’t afford the $25 for the lessons.”
As Anita sniffled along the street, a tall white man approached her, asking what was wrong. When the 8-year-old explained that she wanted to take violin lessons but there was no money for them, the man suggested that, if her mother approved, he would pay for her lessons if Anita would model for him.
“I didn’t understand anything about modeling. All I heard was $25! I had no idea who he was. And I didn’t tell my mother.”
Several days later, Elaine Gunn, Anita’s mother, remained home from her teaching job to care for one of Anita’s brothers, who was sick. When Mrs. Gunn answered a knock at her front door, there stood Norman Rockwell.
Gunn immediately recognized the famous illustrator, although she had never met him. He introduced himself, explaining that he had come from Stockbridge, eight miles away, to talk with her daughter, Anita.
Mrs. Gunn, stunned at the presence of Rockwell on her doorstep, stammered that Anita was not yet home from school.
“May I wait for her?” Rockwell asked.
When Anita tromped through the backdoor, she found her mother sitting at the dining room table, chatting with the man who had spoken to her on the street.
As Anita entered the room, Norman Rockwell rose and approached her. Stooping down and clasping her hands he asked, “How would you like to earn money for those violin lessons?” Then, according to Mrs. Gunn, Rockwell engaged the 8-year-old in a discussion about his latest project on the subject of integration.
Only when Anita, in her blue, Peter Pan-collared school dress, understood what “modeling” meant and what she was agreeing to did the artist turn back to Mrs. Gunn: “For the modeling session, can you have two dresses made just like the one she has on, only in white?”
Rockwell requested two dresses because he used two models for the painting: Anita and her cousin, Linda Gunn. Both girls had been recommended to him by David Gunn Sr., a pipe-smoking buddy of Rockwell’s, and grandfather to the two cousins. It was because of Gunn senior’s referral that Rockwell had recognized and approached Anita on the street.
For the photo shoot, Rockwell invited Anita’s entire family to his Stockbridge studio. When the group arrived, Rockwell pulled out bottles of Coca-Cola from the case he kept under the stairs. The artist popped opened sodas and handed one to each person. “It was wonderful,” Tinsley said with a laugh. “We didn’t have to share. We each had our own bottle.”
Anita was required to stand absolutely still, with her feet positioned on wooden blocks, for long minutes at a time. When Rockwell guided her poses, he bent down and spoke to the little girl directly. “He was very kind,” Tinsley recalled. At the end of the 45-minute session, she received a check for $25, signed by Norman Rockwell.
Anita did take violin lessons, but only for one year. “The strings hurt my fingers. And I didn’t want to get calluses on them.”
After graduating high school in Massachusetts, Tinsley attended a local community college for two years. Then, after working two years in a state housing and redevelopment agency, she went to live with an aunt in Delaware, where she attended Delaware State College.
Love, marriage and the birth of her oldest daughter, Tiana, ended that college try. But in 1992, while working for Sun Oil, Anita earned a B.A. in business administration from Widener College in Chester, Pa. That same year, she became divorced from her first husband, took an early retirement from Sun Oil and moved to Amherst to join Kevin Tinsley, the man would become her second husband and father to her youngest daughter, Kenita. Kevin Tinsley died in July 2007.
“The Problem We All Live With” was back in the national spotlight this past summer, when the painting was hung outside the entrance to the Oval Office, where the President can see it from his desk.
At President Barack Obama’s request, the Norman Rockwell Museum loaned the painting to the White House to mark the 50th anniversary year of those historic events in New Orleans in 1960.
When informed that her likeness now hung in the White House, Anita Gunn Tinsley’s first reaction was, “Wow!” Then, after a moment of silence, she said, “Maybe I’ll try to take a trip to Washington to see it.”
2011年9月12日星期一
9/11 tribute oil painting on permanent display at Fall River Public Library
With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 past, there will always be a reminder of that emotional day at the Main Fall River Public Library.
A new oil painting by artist Tiago Finato was commissioned by Library Administrator Paula Costa Cullen and now hangs in the library’s main lobby. Unveiled on Sunday, “Human Emotion at a Moment in Time” took Finato more than a year from concept to creation.
“It is an interpretational canvas,” Finato said. “There is nothing direct. Notice, there (are) no officials such as police or firemen. There is no need for recognizable uniforms because they have the same emotions.”
Finato created the 6-by-7-foot art piece on linen canvas.
The painting uses many different techniques and details to highlight the tragic nature of 9/11. It starts with a patch of blue sky in the upper left corner as a reminder of that day started, before it was taken over by smoke and chaos.
The focus is on a man who has passed at the center of the painting. The people around him are diverse in their ages and ethnicities, but are bonded by the sorrowful events.
A red-robed angel is there to bring the souls to heaven.
The little girl in the painting represents the innocence of those born since the attacks. Finato used gold-colored paint around the child to signify the wealth represented by the World Trade Center.
Finato used an impressionistic style to create the “Human Emotion” painting, with bold brush strokes.
“The painting needed to show a bit more of the rough brush stokres than the classical, traditional European smooth strokes that I usually use,” Finato said. “This allows for more energy and emotion to be displayed in the painting.”
Finato, the president of the Greater Fall River Art Association, is predominantly a portrait artist and has painted the likeness of Mayor Will Flanagan. That painting hangs in Government Center.
Finato, an award-winning artist, was voted First Place People’s Choice Award Favorite Artist three times during the Bristol Independent Galleries Art Stroll. This year, Finato earned the same first place award on two occasions.
Finato’s portrait of the infamous Lizzie Borden won first place in a National Open Juried Exhibit at the Bristol Art Gallery.
Finato is represented by the Bristol Art Gallery and the Royal Gallery, both in Rhode Island. As an event winner at the Bristol Art Gallery, Finato is also featured in its “Gallery Corner."
“Human Emotion at a Moment in Time” was sponsored by BankFive, Bogle & DeAscentis PC, Borden & Remington Corp., Collins Construction Co., First Bristol Corp., Insurit Agency, Bob Karam, Michael Biszko and Alan Biszko.
“When I was contacted ... about this project, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to get together with local business leaders and present an amazing gift to the community,” said Bill Eccles, president & CEO of BankFive. “There was no hesitation from any one of the donors when I approached them about the idea of a meaningful painting memorializing 9/11. This painting will be like no other painting at the library, as the sad events of 9/11 affected our whole country.”
A native of Brazil, Finato came to Fall River in 1999 to further his education. He resides in the city and keeps an artist studio on the third floor of the Greater Fall River Art Association, 80 Belmont St. He offers classes to new and advanced painters. Visit www.greaterfallriverartassoc.org for information.
“Human Emotion at a Moment in Time” will be on permanent display at the library, 104 N. Main St., during regular business hours.
A new oil painting by artist Tiago Finato was commissioned by Library Administrator Paula Costa Cullen and now hangs in the library’s main lobby. Unveiled on Sunday, “Human Emotion at a Moment in Time” took Finato more than a year from concept to creation.
“It is an interpretational canvas,” Finato said. “There is nothing direct. Notice, there (are) no officials such as police or firemen. There is no need for recognizable uniforms because they have the same emotions.”
Finato created the 6-by-7-foot art piece on linen canvas.
The painting uses many different techniques and details to highlight the tragic nature of 9/11. It starts with a patch of blue sky in the upper left corner as a reminder of that day started, before it was taken over by smoke and chaos.
The focus is on a man who has passed at the center of the painting. The people around him are diverse in their ages and ethnicities, but are bonded by the sorrowful events.
A red-robed angel is there to bring the souls to heaven.
The little girl in the painting represents the innocence of those born since the attacks. Finato used gold-colored paint around the child to signify the wealth represented by the World Trade Center.
Finato used an impressionistic style to create the “Human Emotion” painting, with bold brush strokes.
“The painting needed to show a bit more of the rough brush stokres than the classical, traditional European smooth strokes that I usually use,” Finato said. “This allows for more energy and emotion to be displayed in the painting.”
Finato, the president of the Greater Fall River Art Association, is predominantly a portrait artist and has painted the likeness of Mayor Will Flanagan. That painting hangs in Government Center.
Finato, an award-winning artist, was voted First Place People’s Choice Award Favorite Artist three times during the Bristol Independent Galleries Art Stroll. This year, Finato earned the same first place award on two occasions.
Finato’s portrait of the infamous Lizzie Borden won first place in a National Open Juried Exhibit at the Bristol Art Gallery.
Finato is represented by the Bristol Art Gallery and the Royal Gallery, both in Rhode Island. As an event winner at the Bristol Art Gallery, Finato is also featured in its “Gallery Corner."
“Human Emotion at a Moment in Time” was sponsored by BankFive, Bogle & DeAscentis PC, Borden & Remington Corp., Collins Construction Co., First Bristol Corp., Insurit Agency, Bob Karam, Michael Biszko and Alan Biszko.
“When I was contacted ... about this project, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to get together with local business leaders and present an amazing gift to the community,” said Bill Eccles, president & CEO of BankFive. “There was no hesitation from any one of the donors when I approached them about the idea of a meaningful painting memorializing 9/11. This painting will be like no other painting at the library, as the sad events of 9/11 affected our whole country.”
A native of Brazil, Finato came to Fall River in 1999 to further his education. He resides in the city and keeps an artist studio on the third floor of the Greater Fall River Art Association, 80 Belmont St. He offers classes to new and advanced painters. Visit www.greaterfallriverartassoc.org for information.
“Human Emotion at a Moment in Time” will be on permanent display at the library, 104 N. Main St., during regular business hours.
2011年4月6日星期三
A company with solar flair
Albert Einstein said you cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it. Martin Fornage, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Enphase Energy, thought far outside the proverbial box and translated geek smarts into a solar revolution.
The engaging entrepreneur, who moved from Paris to Petaluma in 1992, explains how solar power works: "A solar panel puts out DC (direct current) energy like a car battery. It's a continuous stream of current when the sun is shining: always 'on.' But the electrical grid runs on AC (alternating current). It only works when you throw a switch, or plug something in (for example, a toaster).
Inverters convert DC power to AC, in order to push energy from solar panels onto the grid. While inverters have existed for more than a century — and solar-specific inverters for half that long — they've been neither efficient nor cost-effective.
Enter the hardware engineer. Fornage began working in the technology arena when "computer" meant a huge mainframe in a cold room, and VDTs (video display terminals) on each user's desk. Anyone under 35 may only know of such antiquated technology from visiting a data museum.
When the PC revolution happened, the guts of the computer migrated to the desktop, so that what the end user sat in front of contained the complete system. This became Fornage's template for creating a breakthrough solar inverter. He and partner Raghu Belur launched Enphase Energy in 2006.
The engaging entrepreneur, who moved from Paris to Petaluma in 1992, explains how solar power works: "A solar panel puts out DC (direct current) energy like a car battery. It's a continuous stream of current when the sun is shining: always 'on.' But the electrical grid runs on AC (alternating current). It only works when you throw a switch, or plug something in (for example, a toaster).
Inverters convert DC power to AC, in order to push energy from solar panels onto the grid. While inverters have existed for more than a century — and solar-specific inverters for half that long — they've been neither efficient nor cost-effective.
Enter the hardware engineer. Fornage began working in the technology arena when "computer" meant a huge mainframe in a cold room, and VDTs (video display terminals) on each user's desk. Anyone under 35 may only know of such antiquated technology from visiting a data museum.
When the PC revolution happened, the guts of the computer migrated to the desktop, so that what the end user sat in front of contained the complete system. This became Fornage's template for creating a breakthrough solar inverter. He and partner Raghu Belur launched Enphase Energy in 2006.
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