Christchurch’s creative collective art of isolation moves online

The originals may be out of sight but you can still enjoy the art and even create your own digital exhibition from the online collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.

Christchurch Art Gallery Audience and Programmes Manager David Sheldon says that while the local landscape for art has had to shift quickly it still plays an integral role in people’s overall wellbeing.

“We are reaching out to the community to encourage people to engage with art and still enjoy the city’s artworks during lockdown,” Mr Sheldon says.

“It’s our role to support people’s creativity by providing resources to help adults and children make the most of the art in our collection.

“The gallery is physically closed but very much open online.

“Staff from across the Gallery will be curating their own exhibitions, and we are inviting everyone to get involved by putting together their own exhibitions using the My Gallery tool on the Gallery’s website.

“We want to encourage engagement with art and connecting with each other during our period of isolation. With My Gallery, we can all develop our own individual art projects and share them online with friends, family and the world.”

People can register for My Gallery on the Gallery website, and put together their own collection of favourite works.

“You can delve into our online collection to find your favourite artworks, articles and multimedia pieces, and then upload your own images, and perhaps write an introduction and add a few notes and comments,” Mr Sheldon says.

“You choose the art, the title, what you say about the works and who you share the results with.”

Most works in the Gallery's collection are online. People can search for a favourite or browse the whole collection. My Gallery can be used to save, share and comment on anything they find.

“You can upload your own creative collection to social media, or simply share it with your ‘bubble’,” Mr Sheldon says.

“Our lead curator Felicity Milburn has put together our first post-lockdown set with a beautiful collection called ‘Bubbles – from mine to yours’. We hope many more will follow.”