Wonderful Waiheke Women (W3) along with Dr. Hinemoa Elder and artists Sally Tagg, Carol Bucknell and the Waiheke Community Art Gallery are excited to present the February W3 event, here in the gallery.

The current exhibition Tidelines features two wāhine artists – Sally Tagg from Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) and Carol Bucknell, who lives on te Moutere o Waiheke and who has attended many of our W3 events. Artists Sally Tagg and Carol Bucknell explore that ever-changing space between land and sea; celebrating our deep connection to Aotearoa’s coastline while warning of its increasing fragility.

This is a chance to view this exhibition but also learn from the artists through a Q&A hosted by Dr Hinemoa Elder, with the opportunity to also ask questions yourselves and purchase the artwork.

If you haven’t ever been to the Gallery or haven’t been recently, this will be an inspiring and entertaining evening, enabling a chance to see the recently refurbed gallery, and viewing Sally and Carol’s art through their eyes. The Gallery’s gift shop is also full of taonga/treasures that make stunning gifts. More information on our speakers is below.

Details of the evening

Venue: The Waiheke Community Art Gallery – 2 Korora Avenue, Oneroa

Date: Friday 9^th February

Start time: 5.30 mix and mingle, wine, non-alcoholic drinks and delicious nibbles, viewing of exhibitions.

6.15pm seated for formal part of the night – Q&A hosted by Dr Hinemoa Elder with artists Sally Tagg and Carol Bucknell.

7pm  continue mix and mingle – wine, non-alcoholic drink and nibbles and viewing of art.

More information about our speakers:

Artists:

Sally Tagg

Sally Tagg is a visual artist working in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New

Zealand. Majoring in Art and Design at Auckland Teachers College, Tagg has exhibited in

a variety of art and design contexts. Her last solo exhibition (Studio of Contemporary Art -

S.O.C.A gallery) used collected plant specimens to create abstracted botanical

landscapes. T.J. McNamara, art critic for the NZ Herald, says of Sally’s work: “ The sense of order and

symmetry and of an obscure magic is one of the elements that shift these pieces from

display into the realm of art.”

Tagg’s work often steps beyond traditional photographic techniques, exploring materials

such as vinyl, Perspex, stainless steel and glass, to produce large scale, hybrid work. Her

sculpture has featured at NZ Sculpture Onshore multiple times (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014,

2018). Also at Brick Bay Sculpture, Sydney Botanic Gardens, Connells Bay Sculpture,

Gleam, Hunters Garden Marlborough, Waikato National Gallery, Hastings City Art Gallery

and Bowan Gallery in Wellington.

Carol Bucknell

Carol Bucknell has been painting commissioned portraits and figurative works in oils for

nearly 20 years, exhibiting these works in various group exhibitions. Recently she has

completed several specialist courses in order to broaden a mostly self-taught practice.

Working out of her Oneroa studio the artist’s current paintings explore the relationship

between contemporary digital processes and oil paint application on panels using cold wax

medium. Through protracted interplay with both media from the initial sketch stage

onwards she arrives at the final figure(s), integrating them with their environment using

colour, line, pattern, and texture.

Tidelines exhibition

Artist statements

Sally Tagg

Tidelines is an on-going series of work about my connection to the sea and coastlines in Aotearoa. Traditionally my work has been centred on botanical forms, this new work incorporates sea themed items that I have collected on local beaches. These 'treasures' of weathered starfish, shells and seaweed become starting points for my dream-like Sea Scapes.

This show is a mix of small sculptural pieces (mermaids), lightboxes (using found objects and crystal grit) and large photomontages printed on vinyl and art paper. The work reflects child hood memories of growing up on Narrow Neck beach, gazing into rock pools and the mystery of the oceans that surrounded us.

My fascination with mermaids goes back many decades. These mythical sea creatures take us from the land into the sea, they symbolize freedom, transformation, and transmutation. Beautiful, but odd, they can be alluring but at the same time serve as an omen for disaster.

My depiction of mermaids changed dramatically in 2023 after experiencing a landslip on my property, the impacts of climate change suddenly became very real to me. Displaced from my home and feeling quite traumatised, the new mermaids I began to make reflected my new reality. They went from being care-free joyful beings, that were glazed with turquoise colours of the sea, to being stark white, hairless, and displaced. They were bleached (like many coral reefs) and broken.

Tidelines is both a celebration of beauty and a warning, as we are confronted with environmental threats, resulting in many of our ocean species being lost and our land and

homes being displaced.

Carol Bucknell

I’m a figurative oil painter living on Waiheke Island. The sea has had a strong influence on my work since I began painting 20 years ago. My ‘yachtie’ family would spend weeks every year exploring the coastline and during these voyages I’d draw and paint friends and whānau on our favourite beaches and islands. Their reflective uncontrived poses sparked an ongoing fascination with the emotional intensity of the figure. 

Since my arrival on this motu nine years my painting has continued to focus on the varied moods and mysteries that the sea can evoke in people. For Tidelines I created a series of contemplative, expressive figures bathed in the vibrant colours and warm light of Aotearoa. These works convey my belief that the sea and its shore line are places that strengthen the connection between humans and nature encouraging a deeper awareness of the holistic nature of our place in the environment.  

Interviewer for the evening:

Dr Hinemoa Elder, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī, Te Rarawa and Ngāpuhi, is mother to two adult children. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist in inpatient, youth forensic and neuropsychiatry.

She is on the Board of The Helen Clark Foundation and is Patron of “Share My Super” a charity aimed at ending child poverty in Aotearoa, NZ.

Hinemoa is a staunch advocate for fostering efforts that bring Te Reo Māori me ōna tikanga, the Māori language and cultural lore, forward in understanding the links between climate emergency, mental distress and ill health leading to effective change.

She has a PhD (2012) Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2014-18) developing Māori specific approaches for whānau (extended families) affected by brain injuries, these resources are now used in rehabilitation services.

Dr Elder is a deputy psychiatrist member of the NZ Mental Health Review Tribunal.

Hinemoa received the NZ Order of Merit for services to Māori and Psychiatry in 2019.