Class visit to Pah Homestead art exhibitions...

This last weekend, I took my class on field trips to two very different venues. The first venue was to a local art exhibition and the second to a local community food hub.

The first trip was to an art exhibition at a local Auckland City Council venue called Pah Homestead that has a very interesting history.

The origin location had been a Maori tribal Pah site (Maori village) which was probably fortified pre-European contact. 

However, it was later sold for only 60 Pounds in the in the mid to 1800s to Europeans. Over the years it changed hands several times until a wealthy European then built a large Homestead with many rooms as an Estate with extensive gardens. These still grace the Homestead and currently have many sculptures in the outdoor gardens.

The particular art works that the class viewed was by a contemporary Maori artist, Star Gossage. Her works range from painted boxes and portraits to large canvases with interesting dark hues in some of her works.

The exhibition spanned at least three rooms in the Homestead with interesting paintings that had been painted in Marae and portraitures of Maori women and girls in particular. Her exhibition continues until the 4th of July and was well worth the drive out...