A Brand-new Attraction

 

 

 

Here are Carys and Spencer outside the newest building in town: the Len Lye Centre, which was opened to the public on Saturday.

 

Clad in highly polished reflective stainless steel, the structure's walls are based on Polynesian koru patterns; Len Lye was interested in Polynesian culture and spent some time in Samoa on his way to Europe.

 

The stainless steel is set at an angle so as to reflect light into the otherwise dark areas of the narrow street. It also reflects the façade of the historic White Hart Hotel immediately opposite.

 

The street area will be developed further over the next few years into a specially decorated area to chime in with the new building.

 

The Govett-Brewster Gallery next door has been renovated and integrated with the new building at the same time, and the gallery's café and restaurant has been given a makeover at the same time.

 

Our family has a connection there, as Margaret's mother managed the Gallery's café for a while in the seventies, providing morning tea for artists and their friends like Don Driver and Michael Smither. Margaret occasionally worked there during holidays at home.

 

 

The Govett-Brewster was named for its original benefactor, Monica Brewster, nee Govett. Her grandfather was Sir Harry Atkinson, the original builder of Hurworth Cottage (1856), now owned by the Historic Places Trust, where we volunteer from time to time.

 

As part of the entertainment for the opening, Mirror People were wandering the space outside, being photographed as here with Carys and other passers-by.

 

Inside there were crowds of "rubber-neckers" inspecting their new treasure. We saw the 65-seat cinema, with its impressive new red/pink leather seats, set at a sharply raked angle and giving an excellent view of the stage.

 

Next door was an education centre, where people of all ages were constructing a variety of toys and decorations out of cardboard, paper, and transparent coloured and clear plastic. Grannie (Margaret) and the children made a windmill and cellophane glasses together.

 

Further up the ramp (there are no steps) was a gallery with Lye's "Four Fountains" sculpture on display. On the way we caught a glimpse of some sketches by another artist.

 

There were parts of the new set-up we didn't see  but we saw enough to know this will be a magnificent addition to our civic facilities, besides being a tourist attraction. All of Lye's archived works will be available there for exhibition in turns. We are very fortunate to have had generous donors and sponsors, and supportive ministers to provide grants, for no Council funds have been spent on the building..

 

Of course the best-loved work by this artist, as far as New Plymouth is concerned, is the Wind Wand, which was erected on the foreshore in the heart of the city at the turn of the millennium. We have a view of it from our front door when the wind is in the right direction, and everyone uses it as a landmark for locating themselves about the city centre area.

 

If you get a chance, come and have a look yourself!

Sketching Today

Some challenging exercises

Today's meeting of our U3A Sketching Group was held at the home of one of our members who has a brilliant collection of shells, including some huge tropical ones. We arranged a couple of them on a glass-topped table and then found we had two problems to think about: the light and shade on the shells, and the reflecting and transparent characteristics of the glass table top.

 

Here is my effort:

 

 

 

When I had struggled for a while I tried another tack: my first effort with charcoal, some trees in a nearby park:

 

 

We have had a beautiful week of weather and early one fine, still morning I spotted the sunlight on some trees outside our kitchen window, so I sat down and tried to capture the differences:

 

 

I also tried another watercolour sketch of a Lowry painting:

 

 

In the same way I earlier tried to copy a photo from a travel magazine, on the banks of the River Nile:

 

 

An Introduction to Ethics

A Steep Curve

Twenty years ago I became a member of the Regional Ethics Committee for Taranaki. Our job was to approve proposals for health research, both local and international, and to advise local health professionals on ethical problems.

I began a fast learning process, helped by the infant Internet facility of email discussion groups, so that I could correspond easily with other ethics committee members around the world. And the authorities here provided opportunities for committee members to attend training workshops from time to time.

With these aids, and access to some good books, I managed to get my head around the issues and principles well enough to see out my six years of that work, and found it one of the most interesting and challenging tasks I have had to undertake.

 

Ethics v. Human Rights

 

Eventually I realised that ethics as a system is closely related to Human Rights, which was an area I had worked in for the Health Board, when I spent some of my time as co-ordinator of the Board's Equal Employment Opportunities Programme.

Among the ideas I met in the course of learning and thinking about ethics is one that seems to me to be the groundwork for a clear introduction to the subject. It is a passage from a book by the modern American philosopher Richard Rorty.

In my version, which is slightly paraphrased, it reads: "Ethics is the process of finding mutually acceptable ways of protecting the weak from the depradations of the powerful."

So one starts from the assumption that if powerful people do what they can and wish to do, there will be "collateral damage" to the interests of the less powerful.

We all need to change

When those powerful people are also ethical, they will want to make sure that they discuss what they want to do with all those who will be affected, and make sure that the damage is minimised to the satisfaction of both parties.

The power exercised by the party with the upper hand may be physical strength, social or family status, numbers, gender, age, wealth, culture, personality, education or whatever. But whatever it is it gives an advantage to one party over the other.

 

Almost every case of unethical (or rather "less than ethical") behaviour involves a form of bullying, in lots of cases unconscious on the part of the bullies.

 

I say "less than ethical" because really this issue is not a case of black and white. It concerns various shades of grey. There is a spectrum from ethical at one end to unethical at the other. The best one can hope to do is to move the proposed action from "fairly unethical" to "much less unethical".

 

So it really depends on jointly assessing the risks and benefits and trying to even them out, probably with a neutral person acting as mediator or chair of the discussions, a bit like a Restorative Justice Conference.

 

Systems are in place

In many areas our society has set up systems to do this sort of thing, and some of them work well. But so often they seem to be going through the motions, and the powerful party does what it wants anyway, without really engaging in the necessary hard work of "finding mutually acceptable ways".

 

Everyone can probably think of situations which call for this type of resolution: neighbourhood disputes over noise, or boundaries; family clashes over care of property or children or elderly family members; neighbourhood parking or traffic problems; school dress codes or other rules -- we see and hear them in the media every week.

 

More important are the major social issues which need formal structures for their resolution, and often parliament or a local authority is the appropriate forum: voluntary assisted suicide; alcohol and drug control; building and housing regulations; social welfare;  and so on.

Improvements depend on the willingness of people in our cultures to engage with the hard thinking and attitude-modifying processes that a genuine ethical growth requires. Each one of us has to be prepared to learn and to change!

 

New Plymouth's writers

An evening with David and Elizabeth

 

Last Friday evening we went to a most enjoyable event sponsored by the local Labour Party: an evening to listen to Elizabeth Smither and David Hill discussing their work and occupations.

 

Elizabeth is best known for her books of poetry, and she has also published several books of short stories and two novels. New Plymouth people also know her well as a librarian at the city's Puke Ariki Library, where she worked until recently.

 

David is best known for his young adult fiction, although he also writes adult fiction and poetry, has written several plays, and writes regularly for such publications as the NZ Listener and the NZ Herald. He also reviews books regularly for Radio New Zealand.

 

The evening was quite informal with these two asking each other questions about their work, their working methods, their experience of getting work published, and writing in general. They also each read some of their work, Elizabeth a selection of poems, and David reading us a piece about his father and a poem for children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In response to a question about imagination, Elizabeth replied that imagination is like a muscle, you have to use it for it to develop. Imagination, she said, is not something that some people have more than others; everyone has imagination, but they need to practise its use.

 

They explained that writers normally make 10% of the selling price of a book, and if the book is published overseas, half of their royalty goes to the New Zealand publisher. They also get a fee for books held in public libraries. When asked about self-publishing, they commented that they could not do without the expertise and facilities of the publishing houses; especially the distribution systems would be difficult to replicate with self-publishing.

Our Sketching Group; U3A New Plymouth

 

Last Friday morning our U3A Sketching Group met for its fortnightly meeting at the home and studio of John and Brenda Fawkner.

 

Here is Brenda in a corner of the studio, with examples of their work on the walls behind her.

 

On the left you can see a monitor with a photo of me! John took it to form a subject for any of us who wanted to practise portraits.

 

John and Brenda had attended a workshop on portrait drawing during the week and were able to share some of what they had learned with the rest of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the other side of the room, Glenys and Tui were working away at the same time, and in another corner was John  at his work.

What a hive of concentrated activity!

Here is John's sketch of the portrait:

 

And below are Brenda's version, on the left, and Tui's on the right. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the same time I was also practising the portrait-drawing skills, and here is my effort.

 

 

 
 

 

 John and Brenda had a couple of still lifes ready for us.

 

On the left is my attempt at one of them, and on the right, Glenys's effort at the other.

 

 

 

 

The Fawkners live on an elevated site on the western side of the city, and this gave a glorious view of the landscape, so two of us had a shot at capturing the details.

Above is Erin's version of the rugged coastline at low tide, with the reefs jutting out into the surf.

 

On the left is Ailsa's sketch. The power station is being demolished, but the chimney will stay.

 

 Altogether a good morning's work and progress!

 

 

 

 

Another Poem

On our wedding anniversary in May of 2007 I wrote this poem to celebrate our thirtieth year.

 

ANNIVERSARY

 

May is the most hopeful of the months

With last blush of summer roses

And mist gathering on the sides of ridges,

Dew heavier every morning on the grass

The last pale strawberries appear on the vines

And the tuis have come down from their summer feeding.

 

February looks back to that piece of paper

And the flagstaff on the lawn we walked together

When we were young

Hope there only when people can sit under the tall

Old trees together and talk the years by.

 

March echoes the shouts of the landing boats

John and William and Henry, yes and Joshua too,

Coming all that way on those three little ships

To find green country with the stately mountain backdrop

In the fine, calm, sunny autumn days.

 

And there is no great hope in an Autumn Easter

Where death gets the largest slice of the action,

No-one walks on water these days

Or turns water to wine

Miracles our grandparents knew we take for granted.

Anzac Day returns year after year in April

But we do not learn the lessons our ancestors died to teach us

The hope we felt in youth has faded and

Peace wilts again and again.

 

We have lived down thirty Mays!

Each one a milestone on the journey

A catch of a song

A glimpse of coloured leaves against a blue sky

The last warmth before the winter.

 

What can we see from looking back?

We were not first in Boston, New Plymouth or Auckland

Though we ran them a close second in all three.

The real winners are still in the future:

Generations will tread the soil of a new world

Some may reach before the rest and

Plant our seed in a different earth

Or retrace the steps of all their forefathers

To the Tamar, or the Severn or somewhere along the Thames.

 

Fighting upstream, against the tide,

With halyards screaming in the contrary wind

To a landfall far from these warm waters

And havens from storms we never knew.

 

They will arrive, as we did,

Wide-eyed with wonder

In a new century, side by side,

Holding on to hope and a friendly hand

While the dream turns gold in their faces.

 

May was rose-coloured for us thirty years ago

Each silver lining clear along each cloud

Thirty chapters are closed and the new page

Already bears the opening lines of Chapter 31.

 

We were young then and strong

Now the weaknesses catch us out

Every day a new stumbling

Every day a new failure.

The youngsters we carried then

In back pack or on hip now hold us up

They direct our eyes the way

They want us to go.

 

But we will not relinquish our own dream

Altogether; we will still strike out

Towards the sunrise – slower now

And with less baggage than we had

But still resolute, singing still,

Knowing the goal

And undeterred by the state of the road

Or the weariness in our muscles.

 

May is the most hopeful of the months

With the first chill in the air

Reds, yellows and browns on the exotic trees

And the faces of the people in the street set towards next summer.

 

A memorable Day

The Celebration of Sir Maui Pomare at Manukorihi, Waitara

Last Saturday we attended the Owae Marae celebrations of Sir Maui Pomare Day in support of Labour Party Leader Andrew Little.

Our approach to the Wharenui at Owae along with

members of the Cook Islands delegation

 

It is some years since I have visited Owae, and I was overwhelmed by the numbers of people, the many old colleagues and acquaintances who were there, and the high quality of the speeches, the discussion, the singing, the dancing and the provision of food and entertainment. It was magnificent.

 

As well as four politicians, and several local authority members, there were a large group of Cook Islands visitors present, and they added to the variety with their brand of singing and korero, and of dancing.

 



Rev Albie Martin leads this part of the commemoration.

He and I worked closely together on the Maatua Whaangai

programme in the 1980s.

Along with Andrew Little, there were Te Ururoa Flavell, Minister of Maori Affairs, Adrian Rurawhe, MP for Te Tai Hauauru, and Jonathan Young, MP for New Plymouth. Leading the local body representatives was the New Plymouth District Mayor, Andrew Judd, along with former MP Harry Duynhoven and others.

The day commemorates the contribution of Sir Maui Pomare. He was a North Taranaki boy who was the first Maori to train as a doctor in western medicine. He became a public health officer and made recommendations to government about the needs of Maori and the Cook Islands population.

He went into politics and was elected as MP. He was appointed Minister of Health in 1912 and remained in that position until 1928. You can read more of his life here:

 

 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3p30/pomare-maui-wiremu-piti-naera

 

Chatting with Makiri Matthews.

Makiri was a Social Welfare volunteer

in the 1980s, and still works with the

Youth Court on support services for

first-time offenders.

After the welcome speeches and songs of the powhiri, and further speeches about the significance of Sir Maui, including several beautiful presentations by the Cook Island group, one of his descendants, Miria Pomare, spoke about her ancestor.

 

A highlight of the references to Sir Maui was his insistence that if Maori (and Cook Island) men volunteered for war service in World War I, they could expect equality of treatment as New Zealand citizens on their return.

 

Of course, as we all know, they were treated very much as second class after the war, being denied pensions, rehab help and so on. We were exhorted to continue the struggle for equality, and for full treaty rights in the present day.

 

This is a theme close to the heart of the New Plymouth District Mayor, Andrew Judd, who also spoke at this stage, and was roundly applauded for his stand in favour of Maori representation at the Council table,  in spite of the opposition he had encountered from a section of Pakeha opinion.

 

Other visiting speakers were the Minister of Maori Affairs, and Andrew Little.

 

Later in the morning we heard from groups with contributions to make, like Taranaki Futures, which is encouraging young people to take up apprentice-style training for needed occupations in Taranaki. And two scholarships for nursing training were presented to the winners as well.



 

After all the formalities, the hangi was lifted and we all trooped in to the wharekai, entertained continuously by a Te Ati Awa singing party, and later by the Cook Island group. There must have been around 200 sitting down for lunch, and the conversation was loud and animated inspite of the musical entertainment!

 

 What an interesting and informative day!

Andrew Little with four of the Cook Islands delegation