First Thursdays August – Join Queenstown’s favourite late night art crawl

For close to two years First Thursdays Queenstown has brought a monthly free and family-friendly event celebrating the diversity of arts and culture to Queenstown. We’ve created new art lovers, brought lots of great artists to town, collaborated with local organisations, and had a lot of fun. After the 3rd of August, First Thursdays will become a quarterly event roughly aligned with the seasons and we look forward to welcoming you back in November.

August’s offering includes two new solo shows at Milford Galleries. Painter Amanda Gruenwald’s large canvases are rich in colour with a visceral solidity, in part informed by her making process. Pouring initial shapes onto a flat canvas the artist creates shapes that form the basis for her intuitive process of repeated addition and removal of paint.

Also opening at Milford is sculptor Hannah Kidd who creates life-sized animals formed from the most rustic of metal materials – thick steel wire and flattened corrugated iron – that simultaneously lovingly acknowledge and subvert concepts and forms of Kiwiana. Join Hannah at 5.30pm at Milford Galleries for an artist talk about this new exhibition.

Starkwhite Queenstown continues its exhibition Surface Tension featuring the work of high-profile Australian painters Sally Gabori, Michael Zavros, and Jonny Niesche alongside leading NZ and international artists. New to the gallery are works by Australian painter Paul Davies. Davies’ Mid-Century aesthetic joins an exhibition that explores the medium of painting in an expanded sense, including several works also trouble the traditional understanding of painting. Paul Davies will be speaking about his practice at 6.30pm at Starkwhite during First Thursdays.

Artbay is showing work by artists Michael Moore and Ilya Volykhine. Moore continuously draws on the land for his practice, painting its trees and forms across works on canvas and board. “I am passionately connected to the New Zealand landscape and my life as a painter allows me to continually express its effect upon me,” he says. Figurative artist Ilya Volykhine creates works that are darkly comic, the characters within his paintings battling their way through the anxieties and joy of life. The artist’s intuitive process, alongside a willingness and confidence to allow the story to unfold creates a space for his characters to breathe and take on a life yet unexplored.

Lightworx offers work by Max Patté and Tim Christie. Patté’s light sculptures explore the qualities of liminal spaces between light and colour. The artist intends his work to be “pivotal in uplifting your mood, your feelings and the space in which it is hung.” Tim Christie’s desire to explore light as a medium was a natural progression from earlier digital works and paintings. He draws upon high contrast in his work, using an oscillating effect of black and white lines in close proximity to create a rhythm, energy, and a vibrational quality.

Head to Romer Gallery for large format landscape photographs by Stephan Romer that capture wild places and remote locations. Stephan recently took home several wins at the 2023 London Photography Awards, a competition recognising photographers across a range of categories. His work Maniototo, won Platinum in both the Natural Art and Long Exposure categories and is currently on display at Romer Gallery to admire in-person.

Please join us for the last monthly First Thursdays on the 3rd of August. Bringing together Starkwhite, Milford Galleries, Romer, Artbay, and Lightworx, First Thursdays Queenstown connects people with creativity. Based around Earl Street and Marine Parade, six spaces offer exhibitions, talks, and opportunities to engage with the creative community during a special late-night opening. Thanks to Akarua, join us for a glass of some of this region’s finest wine as you take in the exhibitions. Maps are available at participating galleries and on the First Thursdays Queenstown instagram – @firstthursdaysqt – and facebook page.

First Thursdays Queenstown
from 5–7pm on Thursday 3 August

Artist Talks:
5.30pm – Hannah Kidd at Milford Galleries, 9a Earl Street
6.30pm – Paul Davies at Starkwhite Queenstown, 1 – 7 Earl Street