Art for a cause
Queenstown’s Ivy Box Gallery will host a Street Art Street Party on the King’s Birthday Weekend with proceeds going towards suicide prevention and support. Christchurch street artist Morks / ‘Morepork’ will be coming down to paint several large canvas’ in his signature style across Saturday and Sunday outside the gallery. The pieces will be auctioned off with 50% going towards the cause here in Queenstown.
Sian Gillanders, Gallery Manager at The Ivy Box Gallery, hopes to raise more awareness of and encourage people to come out to watch the artist at work. In addition to the live creation of art, Jane Sutherland will be there with her fashion and jewellery, and The Italian Way will be there to keep everyone well fed. Real estate agent Brendon Quill will be running the auction at 6pm on the Sunday, too.
“I first spotted Morks’ work at the Shift: Urban Art Takeover up in Christchurch,” says Sian. “It was the most incredible exhibition at the museum on the edge of Hagley Park – they’re doing massive renovations there so they’ve taken out all the museum pieces and they allowed 78 street artists from throughout New Zealand to basically go wild. Every single nook, cranny, stairway, basement, pillar – everything was straight up graffiti throughout the building.”
“When I was there I took lots of photos of art pieces I liked and they luckily included a little bio for the artists. So, I tracked down Morks, not knowing who I was going to find or who I was going to meet. I reached out and told him that I’ve just taken over managing this gallery in Queenstown and I really like your art – could I meet you with a view to perhaps having some of your art on display? That’s basically how it started.”
Sian ended up going to meet Morks to learn more about his backstory and get a feel for him. She’s pretty passionate about contribution and had heard a lot of suicide talk going around Queenstown, so saw this as an opportunity to raise awareness and money, and Morks was on board too. Everyone Sian has spoken to about the event has been really supportive and she’s received a lot of community interest, which she’s really grateful for.
“The girls at Drift Away have gifted the accommodation for Morks, which is awesome. Everyone’s behind it and everyone’s quite keen to watch him paint, because he’s amazing. I contacted the boys from The Italian Way and they thought it was fantastic, so I’m not paying for them to be there. I’ll also have some donation buckets around the place. Jane Sutherland will have her jewellery in the gallery and she’s going to bring some of her latest special pieces, and she’s already been given a $500 donation, which is unreal,” says Sian.
The Street Art Street Party will go ahead on Sunday 4 June from 10am – 6pm, with most of the action happening from 5 – 6pm at The Ivy Box Gallery at 134 Park Street. Pop down to check out the action and make a donation towards suicide prevention and support in Queenstown.
