White Night in Parnell offered a range of engaging gallery experiences and outdoor art installations for all ages. From 6pm on the 12th March, hundreds of people were seen wandering the streets, exploring the galleries and participating in interactive displays in Heard Park.
If you arrived by bus, you would have been enchanted by some treasure troves and magical objects placed at the bus stops, installed by Whitecliffe students.
Along Parnell Road Margaret Johnston installed a colourful selection of plastic bags along a fence, asking us to please consider where our plastic bags may land up. Groups of people clustered around with Filani Macassey, learning about Masi – Fijian tapa cloth painting and Wei lun Ha drew crowds with his detailed calligraphy style. Art lovers admired the colour of Bev Goodwin’s transformation of an overlooked circular seat using multi coloured leis and the swaying ribbons and gentle sounds of bells in the installation by Tiffany Singh. Louise Davis’ Maori cloak suspended from windows caught the attention of onlookers as did Claudia Recorean’s installation of flax structure, plastic pendants, aluminium and light.
At Heard Park you could get interactive with Simon Payton, using layers of vibrant coloured paint as part of communal action painting. Karleen Winters invited passers by to join in her creation of a weird and wonderful cast of characters drawn all over her car and Paula Egginton’s chrysalis tree was a hit with the little ones who donned the butterfly wings with glee.
The galleries were abuzz with interested patrons, Alfresco Interiors had a dinner party in the window and the festive atmosphere was rounded off with roving performances by the All Souls Choir and the Children’s Musical Theatre Studio Show Choir.
