we3art
Left to right : Pam, Judith, Miriam
THE GREAT TARANAKI ART ROAD TRIP - how it came about
Judith Prictor, Pam Lines and Miriam Ruberl are 3 women and artists who know each other through their membership of the Geyserland Art Group, Rotorua. The club meets on Tuesdays and Pam and Miriam often chat there while painting ... the subject of going out and painting in the field came up, we decided 'let's set a date and do it', and so the plot was hatched. Where should we go ? Pam put up the itinerary for Taranaki, and 6 weeks later, the first week of June saw us on the road, joined by Judith whom we had done a group open studio day with the previous year.
A map of our route can be found at here
What's happened since At Castlecliff, our last night on the road, we all agreed that the trip had exceeded everyone's hopes. We agreed we wanted to produce work from the vast amount of input we had each received, and to exhibit our work together, calling ourselves simply we3arts. We have had a day painting together, and a morning sharing our work to-date. We've agreed that the best thing would be to show our art in Taranaki, and our first step is to each enter work in the Taranaki Art Awards 2011, at Opunake. We propose to hold a group exhibition later, when we are all available to participate.
ITINERARY & PHOTOS
Monday 30th May 2011
Early Monday morning we set off via Lake Whakamaru, Bennydale and Pio Pio to the coast, stopping at the lake for sketches ...while we had a plan to reach Awakino by lunch, and New Plymouth for the evening, we quickly fell into a pattern - someone would say "that looks interesting", and we'd stop, leap out, and scatter, agreeing to be back at the vehicle within a certain amount of time. This worked extremely well throughout the trip. On the way we passed Hatupatu Rock, and the Pauariki Walkway, saw little black piglets grazing on the side of the road and marvelled at the uniquely NZ native bush
Awakino
The cold wind whipped up the river from the mouth as we sketched and photographed the west coast. We lunched, watched a local paddle off in a canoe, and got out our sketch books and cameras. We were ready….
Estuary at Awakino
Mokau
Always a favourite haunt, as usual the beach was bestrewn with vast amounts of drift wood; we all noted the amazing movement in the grass on the sandhills, the storms well out to sea.
Tongaporutu
Wai-iti
A quick look here, but the rain defeated us !
Urenui
It was getting to the end of the afternoon, the tide was out and the pools, stones and ripples of water on the black sand kept us drawing and taking photos.
New Plymouth
We were pleased to arrive and get to our accommodation. We went down to the walkway and took photographs as the sun set below the sea, out by the sugar loaves.
Tuesday 31st May
East End Beach
A 6.30am start enabled us to take some amazing photos as the sun came up. Lunch in town and visits to the many galleries including the
TART and Govett Brewster Art Gallery filled the day, with another water front visit that evening and dinner nearby
TART and Govett Brewster Art Gallery filled the day, with another water front visit that evening and dinner nearby
Wednesday 1st June
Oakura
Okato
An opportunity for us to walk around the village and into the church grounds.
Stony River
Climbing over rocks to watch the waters of the mountain river race past
Cape Egmont
Opunake
Kaupokanui
Driving down to the little hamlet of baches. Watching the river meet the sea and climbing the sandhills. That was a favourite.
Manaia
Ohawe
Rocks, pools and towering cliffs.
Hawera
Thursday 2nd June
Patea
The day included a visit to Waipipi Road Beach - however the gate was closed and we went on down to the next beach. Here we were delighted with the upbeat feel to the town, the wonderful monument and spent a lot of time at the Museum talking with the staff member there about the history of the place, shipwrecks on the coast having happened upon the SS Waitangi at Mana Bay, and also with the Arts Co-ordinator.
Mana Bay and the wreck SS Waitangi
Waverley
Waverley Beach and the hole in the rock.
Wanganui and Castlecliff
Our last night, in a truly iconic camping ground cabin, and another opportunity to watch the sun set out at sea, and talk about our experiences and where to next. we3Arts was hatched.
Friday 3rd June
Home to Rotorua
