Storm Davenport guest at Clay Expressions exhibition

“Clay Expressions” exhibition is now open at Kapiti Gallery, featuring work by our Pottery Group members, including guest artist Storm Davenport. Storm, a painter and sculptor, has spent fourteen years exhibiting throughout the Wellington region and greater North Island with work being held by many collectors both nationally and internationally.

Showing work her in galleries, art shows, fundraisers, community events and awards, she has won awards in both painting and ceramics.

Specializing in ceramic sculpture, she works from her home studio in Paraparaumu Beach where she has a gallery open to the public by appointment. Her work is inspired by ancient lost civilizations, and traditional firing techniques used to create refined but rustic artworks that tell a story.

From small wall-hung works to seven foot tall outdoor sculptures her works include:

  • The Warrior series: life sized warrior heads, breast plates and weaponry
  • Oceanic Life series:  with whales, sharks, stingrays, jellyfish and kina
  • Animal series: white Rhino, bulls, war horses, buffalo, bear, warthog, mammoth, bees

Large outdoor totem series:

  • Black Arts
  • Life’s Backbone

Paintings:

Current series exploring themes of human contact and connection

Collaborative lighting artwork series with artist Peter Robson

FUNDRAISING

Some examples of fundraising work are:

  • 5 years of gifted artworks to The Wellington Supper Club Auction for Ronald Ma Donald House with sales of over $10,000 gifted.
  • Ronald MacDonald Retreat Fundraising event 2015 gifted a painting which sold for
  • Wellington hospice Art from the Heart exhibition 2020
  • Kapiti  Vaulting art show fundraiser The Vault, set up plus donation of commission 2019
  • Wellington Free Ambulance Art Show Fundraiser Artrove 2017 & 2018

CURRENTLY SHOWING AT:

  • Red Peach Gallery, Ahuriri, Napier
  • Artmospere Gallery, Waipawa
  • Artel Gallery, Otaki
  • Kāpiti Gallery, Raumati Beach

Images below include Storm’s current work and items exhibited at Kāpiti Gallery 2017 – 2019.

Oil painters’ monthly challenges

Our group is having a monthly challenge to paint or draw subjects we don’t usually paint.


For February it was a self portrait. We had produced some lovely ones and had a lot of fun showing them to each other. The March subject was a bird and some found that hard but all the same did some great paintings and drawings.

See more of our artworks on our Oil Painting page.

  • Margaret Morris

Fabulous Fibre: basket weaving, wool craft and fibre artwork

“Fabulous Fibre” exhibition and sale of work, with guest artist Mary Moon, will showcase the work of our spinners, weavers, knitters, fibre artists and felters. Most of the work on display will be for sale.

Mary has been an artist all her life, trained in oils and watercolour, and also has a lifelong interest in crafts. Now retired, Mary is currently focusing on Raranga (flax weaving). She did a year long course with Te Wananga o Aotearoa, learning all aspects of Māori weaving and its cultural context.

All her weaving is completed according to tikanga, from the harvesting of the harakeke to the final whiri (plait). Mary says, “I love that the items are from locally sourced materials, hand processed and biodegradable. At the end of their useful lives they return to Papatūānuku.”

Mary will be at the Gallery each Sunday of the exhibition, demonstrating the art of Raranga.

As well as spun, woven, knitted, felted and hand-crafted fibre artwork, Vivien Adams‘ prize-winning machine knitting will be on display.

Kapiti Gallery: Thursday 3rd to Sunday 27th June 2021.

Hours: 10 am to 3 pm, Thursday to Sunday. 

Home
Groups
Join up!

We have a Woolcraft Winner!

Congratulations from Kāpiti Arts and Crafts Society to Vivien Adams, trophy winner in this year’s NZ Machine Knitter’s Society (NZMKS) competition.

Vivien won the Novice Cup in the 2021 competition which is part of the NZMKS festival, held this year in Stratford. The Machine Knitter’s Society includes members from Australia as well as New Zealand.

To win the cup, entrants have to enter four items: Baby, Adult, Non-garment, and competitor’s own choice. Entries are judged on presentation, fabric and seaming, finishing, design and degree of difficulty. The person who has the most points wins the trophy.

(“Novice” means the member hasn’t entered or won previous competitions, not that they’re a beginning knitter.)

You can see Vivien’s prize-winning work in Kāpiti Gallery’s “Fabulous Fibre” Exhibition in June; it will showcase the work of Kāpiti Arts and Crafts Society spinners, weavers, knitters, fibre artists and felters. Most of the work on display will be for sale.

Vivien, who is a member of Kāpiti Arts and Crafts’ Spinning, Weaving and Knitting group, is also newsletter editor for the NZ Machine Knitter’s Society, and her wonderful children’s knitwear is available through the Kāpiti Arts and Crafts Shop in Raumati Village.

As well as highlighting Vivien’s award-winning creations, the “Fabulous Fibre” exhibition will include traditional kete and other work by our guest artist, basket weaver Mary Moon from Ōtaki. Mary will be at the Gallery on Sundays during the exhibition, demonstrating basket weaving.

Fabulous Fibre exhibition and sale of work – Thursday 3rd to Sunday 27th June 2021

Kāpiti Gallery, 192 Matai Road, Raumati Beach.

Gallery opening hours: 10.00 am to 3.00 pm Thursday to Sunday

Group visits can be arranged outside these hours by contacting the gallery manager.

Local artist guest at Kapiti Gallery

The Guest Artist at the Kapiti Gallery’s latest exhibition is Ernie Stevenson. Ernie’s work will be exhibited alongside work by members of the Kapiti Arts and Crafts Society members with a theme of “Water”.

Ernie will be at the Gallery on Saturday 8th May from 1.00pm and would love to meet and share his experiences of his painting travels in New Zealand.

Ernie was born into a family of seven siblings and parents who loved nature and a father who loved drawing country scenes. Throughout his working life of 44 years in engineering, wholesaling, retailing and electronics his passion for painting didn’t diminish.

In 2009 he spent 17 months travelling NZ in a caravan visiting back country and mountainous places that many New Zealanders have never seen.  He would sit, meditate, sketch and paint in watercolour and then return to his caravan and transform his watercolour sketches into oils on canvas. The reason for this double work was the rivers, lakes and forests attracted masses of sandflies and the oil and turps brought them to the painting.

Today he is greatly pleased if people seeing his paintings feel something of the beauty and splendour of his ‘soul’s experience’.

AGM 24 February 2021

The 2021 Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 24 February at 7.30 pm in the Matai Road workrooms. All members are welcome to attend and vote on nominations and other items of business. Roles to be filled for the 2021 year are Secretary and Deputy President.

Kapiti Arts and Crafts Society, Matai Reserve, 192 Matai Road, Raumati Beach

Evening Knitting Group starts 4 March

If you’d like to come to our Spinning, Weaving and Knitting group but can’t make it during the daytime, we’re beginning evening sessions, fortnightly from Thursday 4 March at 7.00 pm. Click here for details

We don’t hold formal classes, but our more experienced members are happy to share their knowledge—and if you know the basics, or are an experienced spinner or knitter, you can work at your own pace in friendly company. (We’ve called it a knitting group to begin with, but spinners, weavers and crocheters are welcome, too.)

Join during March 2021 and you’ll receive FREE a pair of knitting needles, an easy pattern and wool from our stash to get you started. If you’re a spinner, you can bring your own wheel, or borrow one from the group.

Once a core group forms, the time and frequency can be adjusted to suit members. Modest fee per session in 2021, or join the Society as a full member. Great location in Raumati Beach at the Kapiti Arts and Crafts Society workrooms.

Kāpiti Gallery and Shop holiday dates

The gallery will close at 3.00 pm on Thursday 24 December 2020 and reopen on Thursday 7th January 2021 with our Exhibition themed “Memory”.

The shop will be closed on 25 & 26th December 2020 and 1 January 2021. On Wellington Anniversary Monday 25th January the shop will be open from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm. Normal hours: Monday to Saturday: 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. Between October and Easter, the shop is open on Sundays 11.00 – 2.00pm.

  • Kapiti Gallery

Artists in Coastlands

The Oil and Acrylic Painters had a very successful Exhibition in Coastlands Shopping Centre in November. Most of group’s members had paintings on show and they received a very positive reaction from the public – along with a pleasing number of sales.

The group is especially thankful to Lynda Price who organized it and to everyone who participated and staffed the exhibition.

See photos from the display on the Group’s page.