Adieu to Christchurch!

Sunday February 24 was the coolest day of our trip so far.  A high of only 15C and rain early afternoon.  First time we have used our umbrellas in almost a month of travel.  The sky cleared late in the day and the NZ sun warms everything up.

We decided to have a late Sunday brunch at Unknown Chapter, a café on the way from our apartment into town.  The place was buzzing at 1:00 p.m.  Breakfast/brunch is huge for New Zealanders.  We have also learned that in a lot of cafés, one orders off a menu at the counter, you pay and then are given a number on a stand to place at your table.  Food comes later (give yourself lots of time).

The buzz at Unknown Chapter

Outside of Unknown Chapter

Constant line up-- one can order off the menu for full meals, or there is takeout and smaller snacks as well

We had a classic-- poached eggs on sourdough (bread is good in NZ), delicious bacon and a sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes and
spicy tomato jam

We passed by the InterCity bus terminal where we will be leaving from early Monday morning.  There was a crowd getting on the afternoon bus to Dunedin.

Double decker bus that we often travel on-- very clean with free WIFI on board 

A single level bus going to another destination- we have also travelled on the single level buses

 It started to rain as we left the café.  We headed back to the Christchurch Art Gallery, where we revisited the Gordon Walters exhibit.  We had more time to spend on his earlier works and to read the captions more closely.  There was also a series of interviews with other artists about Walters.

South Canterbury Landscape 1947 - reflects Walters interest in artist Paul Klee

The Poet 1947- after visiting rock shelter sites

Untitled Abstract 1954

Walters travelled overseas between 1946 and 1953.  He lived in Sydney, London and Melbourne and spent time in France and the Netherlands often visiting galleries and museums to see leading examples of modern art, including paintings by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.  He returned to New Zealand and took a job at the Government Printing Office in Wellington.  At night he created hundreds of experimental paintings in paper in gouache.

Untitled 1955

In the mid 1950s, he was inspired by Māori rock art.

Untitled 1956

Untitled 1955

Parade 1977

Study for Waitara 1959

Alain in front of Untitled Black Spirals 1970.   Commentary:  "Like Walter's interlocking black and white koru motif, the spiral possesses a formal relational aesthetic and sense of infinity."

The Genealogy works below (there were eight works in the series) is now regarded as a highpoint of his career.  The title for this series recalls the oral tradition in Māori culture of stating one's genealogy in a chant that involves a repeated verbal structure with name changes.  In his Genealogy works, Walters is repeating the same forms in narrow bands.  Koru is a Māori word that has now become part of mainstream New Zealand English, describing the growing tip of a fern frond.

Genealogy III 1971

Genealogy II 1967

Painting No. 1 1965-- first work by Walters to enter a public art collection

Video talked about the 1991 claim brought before the Waitangi Tribunal against commercial usage of the Walters koru.  The ruling only came in 2011.  Expert testimony absolved Walters' legacy of ethical wrongdoing.  One of the experts, Michael Smythe said that Walters was riffing off, not ripping off Māori art.  He shows the koru immense respect.

We also returned to Julia Morison's Head [Space].  Such awesome and inspiring ceramics.

Interesting display and great heads

Very interesting characters

More heads

We then returned to the gift store, which is a work of art on its own.  No purchases, but fun to look at the fabulous jewellery and displays.

Awesome gift shop

We then stopped for a coffee/tea in the Gallery's café.  A lovely spot to sit and watch the sun beginning to break through at the end of the day.

Gallery café

 We walked back to the apartment on a different street and wandered into Latimer Square to see the front of the Transitional Cathedral, known as the "Cardboard Cathedral".  We also saw the interesting sculpture in the Square.

Spires- Neil Dawson 2014

Front of the Cardboard Cathedral

View of the hills around Christchurch

New apartment building in front of bare lot

We had a pasta and sausage dinner with green beans and salad and the last of our 2016 Elephant Hill Sauvignon Blanc.  We take the 7:45 a.m. InterCity bus to Dunedin, arriving around 1:40 p.m.

Christchurch was a very interesting place to visit.  We have never been to a city so devastated by an earthquake.  We were glad we were able to attend this years memorial service.  Eight years later, the place is healing, but it is still very much a work in progress and demolished buildings are slowly being replaced.   The oldest city in NZ will soon be its newest.