Riversdale’s Mixed Media Exhibition has a lot of heart(s).
I drive through Gore, out into the rolling countryside, past the Hokonui Hills. An evening fog hovers at sheep level over the paddocks.
Twenty minutes later I arrive in Riversdale, population 500. The main street is mostly deserted. It’s dusk on a winter Friday. There are a few people around, kids in shorts on their bikes, someone coming out of the Superette beer, a couple of middle-aged men leaning on a ute decked out with dual rear wheels, no doubt to cope with muddy paddocks. They’re discussing the weather, in particular the weeks of inversion gloom and fog, which at times has reduced visibility to as far as the war memorial, a hundred or so metres down the road.
It’s quiet, but tonight you can see there’s something bigger happening than another night at the pub. Across the road at the Riversdale Community Centre the lights are on and there’s a buzz; the Gala Opening of the 51st Riversdale Mixed Media Exhibition is about to start.
Run by the Riversdale Arts committee, the exhibition was born in 1974 out of a conversation between local sheep farmers Phyllis and Jack McLeay about the need for an arts culture to balance out the single-mindedness of sport. Phyllis may have been partially inspired by attending a one-day “school for country women” in Dunedin sponsored by the Country Women’s Institute.
The CWI movement began in Canada in 1897, and the first CWI in New Zealand was founded in Hawkes Bay in 1921 by Anna Elizabeth Jerome Spencer. The idea was to combat isolation by connecting women living in rural areas, provide training for community work and a training ground for local body politics, offer services like housekeeping for sick members, and encourage cultural works such as music, home crafts, drama and art. CWI (now The New Zealand Federation of Women’s Institute) membership is much smaller than it used to be, but the community spirit in rural Southland still burns bright, and the Riverdale Arts committee, now made up of 22 volunteer women and one paid administrator, is still going strong 51 years on.
I first learnt of the Mixed Media Exhibition after visiting my sister Charmaine Will, who is a committee member and helps in the pop-up shop at the exhibition. On opening night, Charmaine introduces me to the guest artist Linda Hannan from Motueka. On her website, Linda describes her work as “an eclectic range of contemporary realism and stylised artworks focusing on NZ’s natural environment.” In person Linda is a lot more to the point. A self-taught oil painter, she has mastered the ability to be herself and paint what is true for her. “I just want to make a nice painting that is accessible to lots of people.”
Linda tells me she is “chuffed to have been invited” and is impressed by the professionalism of the exhibition. The thing she enjoys most about small intimate exhibitions like the Riversdale event is the lack of pretentiousness. She has exhibited at much larger events in cities and while they don’t mean to be, they can be a “bit snooty”. Linda tells me she overheard someone critiquing one of her paintings at one such exhibition: “look at that poorly executed tree”.
Meanwhile, what started in the old Drill Hall with haybales for props and has matured into a nationally-renowned exhibition with invited artists from all over New Zealand showing their work. Last year, the 50th Anniversary of the event attracted nearly 4000 people over its nine days and raised approximately $100,000 for Riversdale Arts.
But it’s not just about numbers. As past president Kerryn Millar wrote in the introduction for the 50th anniversary, the exhibitions “have been a lifeline for our rural community, a vital part, especially during the hard times of economic crisis … more than just a hobby or a pastime, it has created a space for learning, sharing, and inspiring each other through various forms of art.”
Communities evolve over time, and the exhibition has reflected changes in Riversdale. In 2016, then-president Christine O’Connor felt the event needed to be more visible, and more contemporary. She oversaw the erection of signs at the entrances to town, the introduction of art installations on the main street, and had flags flying from the streetlights. She also ensured the exhibition was held during the school term so school and preschool children from the surrounding district could partake. They have their own mini-exhibition in a room off to the side of the main hall.
One highlight this year is the Tree of Love. Erected in the main hall and lit up like an Xmas tree, it features 1500 hand-made stuffed felt pocket hearts. The “heartist” Marianne Williams, who is a member of the committee, personally made 600. They have now been individually packaged with a note explaining they are “a little package of love, hope, courage and comfort” and gifted to places like Hospice Southland in Invercargill.
There has been another change to how the event is run over the years. Up until this year, it was always “ladies a plate” when it came to catering for the pop-up café. (A particularly New Zealand version of the pot luck, “ladies a plate” refers to the tradition of women bringing plate of food to share at communal gatherings.) Food and beverages at the exhibition are now supplied by a catering company from Winton. “Don’t get me wrong, the food is great,” Charmaine says, as we sit in the café having lunch. “But I used to be able to come into the café and say, ‘Oh there’s Shirley’s [Charmaine’s late mother-in-law] sponge cake, and Vivian’s custard squares.’”
A survey in 2015 revealed that many visitors to the Mixed Media Exhibition were older, and the committee also wanted to encourage young people to the event. They introduced a new Emerging Artist award for those aged 13 to 25, with prize money of $1000. This year’s winner was 18-year-old Hannah Goodall from Invercargill, whose work ‘Golden Hour’ was a reflection on life during Covid. Her piece is influenced by the Japanese artist Tatsuya Tanaka, who creates incredibly detailed miniature models. She placed figurines that appear to be exercising in the golden sunset, but on a medical mask.
She tells me, “I made it my own by making the photo bright and colourful to have a pop art feel and show my child-like view of how the outside world looked to me during lockdown. It was bright, colourful, and all I wished was to be outside running around freely again. I want my photography to reflect the effects Covid had on young people, and I’ll continue exploring this through my different pieces in the future.”
One of the judges is Jim Geddes, who was instrumental in securing the Money Collection for the highly-regarded Eastern Southland Gallery in Gore, just down the road from Riversdale. The Money Collection belonged to the art collector John Money from Baltimore in the United States. Jim tells me via an email that, “we have always been friends with the Riversdale committee. Since day one they have been very well organised and incredibly hard working, so, of their own volition, they have achieved an enormous amount over the years. We help with the judging. On occasion there are small things like letters of support for funding or contacts for certain artists, but they are hugely capable and professional in their own right.”
Inside the main hall, where white sticky tape marking out badminton courts is visible on the wooden floor, I chat with Sharee Milford, who is visiting from Invercargill with her partner. “We weren’t sure when the Exhibition was, but Mum reminded us.” I ask what her favourite piece is so far, she points to a painting of the narrow swing bridge across the Waikaia River at Piano Flat, near Gore. It reminds her of her friend’s elderly dog crossing over the swaying strip of timber suspended metres above the river. “I didn’t think she’d make it, but I was stoked when she did.”
Allan Uren