Rock art on at Chateau

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 599, 15 August 1995, Page 6 (Supplement)

Rock art on at Chateau

£ £ Kids Just Wanna Rock" is the unusual name of an art exhibition to open at the Grand Chateau at the end of this month. Sponsored by Morton Estate Winery, the exhibition includes new works by Richard Lewer, Andrew Beggs and selected young artists from Ruapehu College. Richard Lewer has been exhibiting extensively in Auckland and Hamilton since completing his BFA at Elam Art School in 1989. He has had a number of solo shows at the Warwick Brown Gallery, Oepedus Rex Gallery and Auckland Society Of Arts, as well as the WSA in Hamilton.

Other accomplishments include winning the Ohakune Art Award (August 1994). In 1991 Richard won the senior prize for fine arts at the University of Auckland and the Bledisloe Medal for landscape. 1992 saw him receive the Elam art scholarship from the University of Auckland. Richard has been living and working in the Ruapehu district since July 1994, exhibiting his works in Auckland and Hamilton. "Kids Just Wanna Rock" is a response to the environment. I am currently living in a show where chaos verses

oraer. inere is no logic when the kids Wanna rock," he explained. "The paintings go beyond surface reality. A reality where chaos versus the logic. The figures emerge on the canvas in a marble metaphorical manner and are set a vaguely familiar surrealist landscape. They are all antibiographical, stemming from my beliefs, desires and surroundings." Andrew Beggs was born in Wellington, moving to Ohakune in the early 1980's. Andrew is exhibiting

works in wood as part of the winter exhibition. He began wood turning at secondary school, taking it up seriously in 1987. He has exhibited works most recently in San Diego, at the time of the America's Cup. Galleries that have shown his work include International Gallery, G-street Gallery, ( San Diego) Del Mano Gallery (Los Angeles) Avenue Gallery Coronado (South San Diego), Creative Design (New York), Minds Eye (Phoenix, Arizona), North West Gallery (Seattle). All works in the show are for sale with

some of the money raised going to the Ruapehu Ski Foundation, which was setup in 1976 by Ernie Stieglbaur from the Chateau and Des Peters from Taumarunui to help young Ruapehu ski racers in their training and racing in New Zealand. It aims to make sure that any young talent is not disadvantaged by money and has access to racing against the best in New Zealand.