New Zealand Art Print News

Introduction to Early Prints of New Zealand by D.G. and E.M. Ellis

2012-02-13T11:17:00.003+13:00

One of the first books from the back catalogue of our publishing company, Capper Press, a publisher of NZ histories, early travel and exploration books (as well as prints) to be converted into digital format is the standard reference work on early NZ prints by the founders of Avon Fine Prints, Don & Enid Ellis. We have not yet decided on the best way to make this classic introduction to collecting antique NZ prints available again (it has been out of print for 20 years), but while we sort through the myriad of ebook formats it's been a pleasure re-reading the author's introduction to Early Prints, first published in 1978.

Introduction

Purpose
A print for the purposes of this work is defined as a commercially produced pictorial plate having no text on the verso, and no text other than title and imprint on the face. Illustrations as such are not included.

Date Limit
The date limit is 1875, except where the print concludes a series begun before 1875, or is thought of sufficient importance to warrant inclusion — a purely personal choice.

Index
The Index is the key to the whole work. Entry is made from all information on the face of the print, and items may be traced under artist, title, engraver, publisher, etc. Subject entries are nominal.

Portraits
Portraits, except as part of a series (e.g. the atlases to voyages) have generally been excluded, as they are already covered in Nan Kivell's Portraits ... (see Bibliography )

Natural History Plates
Natural history plates have been included in the form of a preliminary checklist only.

Artist's Prints
"Artist's Prints" are not included. Original etchings, engravings and litho-graphs produced by the artist himself in limited editions have been regarded as non-commercial.

Because photo-lithography, a purely mechanical reproduction process, had become common by the 1870's, the upper date limit was arbitrarily set at 1875. Some later prints have, however, been included: 1875, strictly enforced, would have omitted among others Barraud and Gully, which are the first names to come to many minds when New Zealand prints are mentioned.

Arrangement is basically chronological, except where adherence would break a series of related works: for example, Buller's History of the Birds of New Zealand is described in one section, though publication dates range from 1873 to 1905. It may be helpful to indicate the method of approach used to compile this checklist. Hocken's Bibliography of New Zealand Literature was consulted to identify all books mentioned as including illustrations, and these books were then examined. This meant that books in which illustrations were not specified could have been missed. Next, by courtesy of the Librarians, permission was obtained to examine both the picture and book collections of the Hocken and Alexander Turnbull Libraries. Finally, prints and books in a number of private collections and smaller institutions were examined. Most gaps were filled by this method, though there must still be omissions.

Purist cataloguing enters a print first under the final executor, i.e. an engraver is regarded as the interpreter and of- more importance than the artist. Nevertheless, it was decided to record the separately-issued print first under the artist's name where known, with additional entries for the engraver, etc. Prints in books are fully described in the entry under author and title of the book. In all cases the index is the quick reference key.

The entries show as closely as possible the wording which appears on the print: typographical limitations have precluded the use of dipthongs and superior letters. Oblique lines indicate line endings. Emendations have been kept to a minimum, and are indicated by the use of square brackets. Sizes in centimetres give height before width.

The word print is used as a generic term, and is to be understood as meaning the particular item under discussion at any time. Because of the difficulty of finding a single word to describe the craftsmen producing blocks or plates by various methods, the word engraver applies, regardless of whether the person concerned was engraver, woodcutter, lithographer, aquatinter, or etcher. Notes on artists, engravers, etc. have been included where possible, and this additional information is indicated in the index by the use of bold type for the reference number. Additional notes have been included for the author, as distinct from the artist, for several books: insight into the reason for the use of particular views may depend on knowledge of who wrote the book and why it was written.

It is often impossible to assign a print to a particular artist or engraver: during the nineteenth century it was usual for such firms as Day & Haghe, Smith Elder, and Hullmandel, to employ numerous engravers, several men frequently working on a set of plates for one book. The section at the end of the book is to be regarded as a preliminary checklist only for the natural history plates of New Zealand interest. The decision to include scientific plates at all was made reluctantly in view of the authors' lack of competence in these fields. Yet a dividing line was difficult to draw when such items as Buller's Birds, and Featon, Hetley and Harris' books on New Zealand flowers had clearly to be included. It is to be hoped that someone with the necessary training to identify New Zealand flora and fauna will take up the task at this point.

No compilation of this nature is the work of one person alone, and thanks are due to many. Whilst it must necessarily be an invidious act to single some persons out, special thanks are due to the Librarian and Staff of the Alexander Turnbull Library; Mr M. G. Hitchings of the Hocken Library, University of Otago, and his Staff; Miss P. French, Auckland Public Library; Miss Suzanne Mourot, Mitchell Library, Sydney; Sir Alister and Lady Mcintosh, and, above all, to Mr A. A. St. C. M. Murray-Oliver, who, in addition to locating rare material and giving advice over a long period, checked the final manuscript and made many valuable suggestions incorporated in the final text. The painstaking care and skill of the compositor and printer deserve specific mention. Without the help, information, and constant encouragement of these people, this book could never have been written.

D. G. and E. M. Ellis Christchurch

Lester Hall prints now in stock

2012-02-08T12:28:00.005+13:00

Lester Hall is one of NZ's most politically aware artists. Hall first systematically investigated the themes of Maori/Pakeha relations and history in his early 2000s "Hoaries and Whities" series but it is his development of these ideas into his "Aoteroaland" series that has seen him become one of the highest profile contemporary printmakers in NZ.

In Aotearoaland, Lester says, "a "third space" is created, outside the dogmatic stupidity and hypocrisy of exclusively Maori or Euro frameworks and a blended outcome is searched for. Not sameness but unity and identity. I believe the idea of separate development is outrageous controlling of outcome for individuals who otherwise would make fine lives for themselves in a culturally hybrid frame of reference." Hall thinks that we have been slack in mining our own countries rich historical past for heros and and legends, chiefs such as Hongi Hika who was a "master strategist, a highly intelligent man, a brilliant commander, a desperado…it's exciting real Boys Own adventure stuff. But were we told stories about him? No, we were told stories about Geronimo and General Custer" (interview with the Northern Advocate Feb 2010).

He has been accurately described by Northland's Stingray magazine as an "artist provocateur", they quoted Hall saying "The old myths of popular New Zealand history need to be aired and flung out as silly and not realistic". He says "The artworks are my map into my subconscious and back out through the historical narrative that lies just beneath the veneer of our daily life."

Lester Hall's prints have caused controversy over the use of Maori images (similar to the debate about Goldie paintings being reproduced as prints - see our previous article on the ongoing Goldie prints controversy) and exhibitions have attracted letters of complaint and accusations of being offensive. However Hall's art is not always shocking or provocative, as he says he "sometimes paints tough ideas in pretty colours in an attempt to bring more and more Pakeha Kiwis especially, to the scary conversation of who we all are." Hall's kiwiana prints like the popular "Miss Kiwiana" are much lighter in tone than some of his more radical artworks.

Hall paints and makes prints from his house/studio in the Far North, a large corrugated iron shed with an apartment like interior that has featured in interior design magazines.

After the gift buying frenzy NZ Prints re-opens after the Xmas break

2012-01-13T14:50:00.006+13:00

Xmas is always simply hectic. The sheer volume of gifts to be carefully packaged and dispatched on time not just in NZ but around the world makes it a real test of our systems. We make mistakes occasionally but our dispatch team will always try all alternatives to keep the customer (or gift recipient) happy if something has gone wrong. Xmas 2011 was Prints.co.nz's busiest ever with orders volumes up around twenty percent on 2010 albeit with a slightly lower average order amount meaning only a modest increase in print sales by dollar value.

After safely navigating through the Xmas gift season (our busiest time of the year) it was lovely to receive some complimentary emails that had been sent to our customer service team while New Zealand Fine Prints was closed for the Xmas/New Year holiday. Our favourite this year was the gift buyer who emailed us back "Thank you heaps. This picture brought tears of happiness to the recipient. Print is top quality, beautifully packaged with prompt delivery". Art is such a wonderful product to be selling - and to be spreading NZ's artistic culture onto walls everywhere with every print we sell is part of what gets us to work in the morning.

After a very eventful eighteen months in Christchurch with the ongoing earthquakes and our distribution and gallery moving from our home in Hereford St for nearly 50 years due to the quakes we look forward to 2012 being more benign for our staff and their families. This writer is looking forward to working on a series of NZ artist and print-maker profiles for NZ Art Print News (starting with controversial printmaker Lester Hall) and we are cataloguing our latest series of vintage NZ advertising posters, plus new prints from Dick Frizzell, Greg Straight, Fane Flaws and prints of landscape paintings by Wellington painter Ernest Papps.

And on a completely different note one of our staff snapped this incredible example of a NZ vernacular wooden picture frame while on holiday in the Marlborough Sounds. We are not sure if the framing style is one that would have a broad appeal in the framed wall art market today - but full marks for workmanship and dedication.

NZFP's gift voucher research results

2011-11-21T12:58:00.006+13:00

When a newly married couple who had been given two $200 gift vouchers for their wedding present visited NZ Fine Prints to redeem their vouchers they happened to casually ask Ben what was the most common voucher value that we sold for wedding presents. It wasn't a statistic that we actively measured and it sparked a debate as to whether customers purchased vouchers of different amounts for different occasions - and what was the average value of the gift vouchers we sold anyway?

Customers have been able to buy email gift vouchers (pictured at left) through Prints.co.nz since the mid 1990s and traditional postal gift vouchers have been sold by NZ Fine Prints for longer than anyone working here now can remember (given that prints are the perfect arty gifts from NZ we have been delivering the physical prints as gifts since the 1960s).

It didn't take us long to realise that it was impossible to determine what gift occasion the vouchers were being purchased for - we might have been able to work this out for each separate voucher by analysing the messages sent to the gift recipient but A) We don't retain the gift message on file and B) this wasn't appropriate privacy wise as the information would not be collected for this particular purpose!

However we have worked out our most commonly given gift voucher/certificate is for $100 (although Stats 101 is a long a time ago for this writer we think this number is called the mode). The average amount over the last ten years has been a gift of just over $80, although we can see trend for higher value vouchers over this time - probably simply due to inflation or perhaps the higher value of prints that we now stock (our average sale amount has actually trebled over the past ten years). We sell the most gift vouchers in the two months leading up to Xmas, however January is also the season for weddings in NZ so the month after Xmas is also pretty close to pre-Xmas levels. As an aside paper is the traditional first wedding anniversary gift - something that we are yet to work out a good marketing campaign around (and we have been thinking about this gift buying occasion for years) but many newly weds are already aware of this tradition without our help! We think the neat thing about the couple's choosing a print as their first anniversary gift is that it is a purchase that can be made for both of them and the decision made together, it's an present they can choose together and give it to themselves so they can both enjoy it equally...

There is an almost even split between vouchers being delivered via email and by post. In fact over 2011 we have delivered around 60 postal gift vouchers for every 40 email ones, it seems an email voucher is great when you have left buying the gift to the last minute but a physical voucher through the mail (or at the presentation) is simply a more tangible gift.

And the answer to the question that we asked most often by people buying gift vouchers....the average time from delivery to redemption is just 15 days!

The annual Xmas gift-wrap debate at NZ Prints

2011-11-04T09:50:00.000+13:00

The tyranny of choice...

Behind the scenes in late October one of the most important aesthetic decisions of the year takes place at NZ Fine Prints. Yes, we have to choose the colour of the gift-wrap that we are going to use for Christmas! Our gift-wrap requirements are pretty special, it has to be light (because of the cost of delivering by airmail around the world when we are charged by weight), acid free (so it does not affect the paper the prints are printed on) and suit the festive occasion for which the buyer is giving.

This decision always creates a surprising amount of heat around the office. In the conservative corner there are strong voices supporting green and red to be used as "traditional Xmas colours", the libertarians want the gift purchaser to choose at checkout time and the warehouse manager wants blue because it is his favourite colour!

We also were faced with finding a new supplier for our gift wrap this Xmas season because the earthquakes in Christchurch closed down our normal source. Thanks to the delightfully named "Gold Wing" packaging wholesalers in Auckland (with the rather charming company motto: "They are like trees growing beside a stream, trees that produce fruit in season") we have our 48 boxes of Christmas wrap on the courier to us today. And this Xmas gifts will be wrapped in …. gold!

List of sold out Tony Ogle editions since 2000

2011-10-18T15:35:00.000+13:00

With an output of only 3-5 handmade editions annually Tony has not been very prolific despite a career spanning 30 years so far. We get lots of enquiries about whether particular Tony Ogle prints that no longer appear in Tony's collection at Prints.co.nz are still available. Usually these are the result of people ogling (hee hee) a print they have seen that they would like to buy for themselves. Unfortunately the answer is always no, because once an edition has sold out Tony never does another edition of the same print. Below is a summary for collectors by year of Tony's sold out editions from the last decade - it is safe to assume all prints dated before 2000 are sold out.

2008
Fisherman's Cove

2007
Crimson Ridge
Matapouri Bach

2006
Tawharanui
Back Beach Bach
Days End

2005
Cathedral Cove Reserve

2004
Whale Bay Raglan
Red Couch' - Whangapoua Beach

2003
First Sight - Pohutukawa Point
Hahei Hideaway
Days End Te Henga
Kauwahaia Island & Erangi Pt O'Neills

2002
Rawhiti Coastline
Cabbage Trees - Waewaetoria Island
Hahei Pa & Islands

2001
Heaphy Track Nikau
Surf Check - Hot Water Beach
Ihumoana Island - Te Henga
Back to the Bach

2000
Great Barrier Summer
Century Agave
Piha Sunset

"Okiwi Crossing" Printmaker: Tony Ogle 600 x 360mm

All prints currently available from this talented NZ printmaker (including his latest releases in 2011) are listed in the Tony Ogle collection at NZ's specialist art print store. The next edition to sell out will almost definitely be "Okiwi Crossing" (shown here), we have only two A/Ps (the rare artist proofs) left in stock today.

Robyn Kahukiwa receives Maori Arts Board award

2011-09-13T16:27:00.000+12:00

Robyn Kahukiwa

The Māori Arts Board of Creative New Zealand holds the eponymous Te Waka Toi awards ceremony at Wellington Town Hall each year.

Last Saturday 3 September 2011 painter and printmaker Robyn Kahukiwa was awarded the prestigious Te Tohu Toi Ke award (the award for making a difference) for "challenging and broadening perceptions of Maori art". Her official citation lauded her 30 year career "challenging and broadening perceptions of Maori art" through the "creative innovation and international profiling of contemporary Maori art and issues ". It's a recognition of Robyn's contribution to Maori art and New Zealand art generally and all of us here at New Zealand Fine Prints would like to congratulate her on this honour.

According to maorinews.com the annual Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi Awards are the only national Maori arts awards to celebrate all art forms. Established in 1986, they recognise achievement in areas including writing, composition, oratory, performing, object and visual arts. Two scholarships are also awarded to emerging artists.

Te Waka Toi is the Māori Arts Board of Creative New Zealand. We read with some amusement on the Creative NZ website that the Maori Arts Board claim to be responsible for the "development of Māori art and artists in New Zealand" - apparently through its role in "investing in contestable funding" developing "initiatives" and the delivery of "tailored programmes". We thought that the people responsible for the ongoing development of Maori art and artists in New Zealand were the collectors who purchased their artworks enabling them to keep being creative...

Landscape to Kiwiana - 50 years of print publishing in NZ

2011-09-07T12:17:00.002+12:00

New Zealand Fine Prints have been at the forefront of shaping NZ's visual culture since the 1960s. Fifty years ago buying prints in NZ meant choosing between imported images of famous paintings like Rembrandt's "Night Watch" or framing one of the occasional colour supplements from the NZ Weekly News.

Prints by early NZ landscape painter Charles Heaphy were popular
decoration in the mid twentieth century

In the 1960s the growing appreciation of New Zealand art led to both the opening of dealer galleries and a desire to look back at how painting had developed in New Zealand. Writers such as Tony Murray-Olliver were beginning to compile biographies of significant early NZ artists and the reproduction of prints of the most important paintings he unearthed were issued by the Alexander Turnbull Library - beginning with the so-called "Queen's Pictures" (a set was given to the Queen), the Heaphy views of Wellington and Nelson Haven. Avon Fine Prints began re-issuing limited edition prints of the early views of settlement by artists like Barraud, O'Brien and Earle that had been used by the colonising companies to advertise to new settlers the delights of new towns such as Dunedin and Christchurch.

New Zealanders began to decorate with landscape art that deepened their affinity with the land in which we lived and enjoyed looking back to our comparatively recent pictorial history with historical prints that showed the early days of settlement. The 1980s saw art publishing companies such as the Capper Press produce the first series of avowedly contemporary prints in consultation with the new breed of gallery curators, prints by artists such as Gordon Walters, Peter Siddell and Gretchen Albrecht sitting alongside the early NZ landscapes in their catalogues. For the first time commercial galleries such as the Peter Small Gallery (who were printing all those wizard infested Lord of the Rings posters under license) began producing contemporary decorative prints by NZ artists - the Jane Evans series proving particularly popular.


C.F. Goldie published prints of "A Good Joke" in the 1920s but it wasn't until the 1970s that self-publishing by NZ artists took off.

It was in the late 70s and early 80s that artists for the first time began self-publishing reproduction prints of their work (C.F. Goldie's 1920s hand-signed prints of A Good Joke shown here being a notable exception). Grahame Sydney, Brent Wong and Peter Beadle sold thousands of prints and NZ Fine Prints began distributing prints on behalf of these artists as well as our own published prints (under the Avon Fine Prints and Capper Press monikers). Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the Hocken Library and Christchurch Art Gallery joined the Alexander Turnbull Library in publishing several series of prints of artworks from their collections alongside the exhibition posters that were for many years often the only examples of an artist's work available as a print. (It was around this time that the Christchurch Art Gallery sold over 3000 copies of a Colin McCahon retrospective exhibition poster showing "Tomorrow will be the Same" despite its shocking pink border).

NZ Fine Prints' stockroom in the mid 1990s

By the late 1990s NZ Fine Prints were receiving artist submissions of new work on a weekly basis, by the early 2000s changes in printing technology and the distribution of framed pictures with NZ scenes by contract artists began changing the market again as picture framers and galleries began losing market share to the new breed of design stores and furniture outlets - and to the internet as Prints.co.nz meant print buyers could easily buy their art prints directly from New Zealand Fine Prints and have them delivered wherever they were in NZ or around the world.

Kiwiana art from Matt Guild

The last few years has seen an increase in the supply of prints at both the top end (handmade editions by artists such as Tony Ogle and Dick Frizzell and large high quality prints on canvas) and in the swift rise of a new category of "kiwiana" - prints as pictures rather than "art", even comprising simple typography and kiwi images that closely imitated current artistic trends and with a fashion forward seasonal popularity that is a long way from enduring fine art but which fits with a trend to more frequent updates to contemporary interior design. Artists such as Matt Guild whose work "Hamilton Beach Milkshake" is shown at left proudly call themselves "kiwiana artists" without the negative associations that this term might once have had (see our previous article here on the changing meaning of kiwiana).

The story of the next decade of art publishing in NZ will be about changes in printing technology increasing the supply of available images, the re-sale of quality works by contemporary printmakers at increasingly higher prices and a more urban feel to contemporary artworks - prints that will still sit alongside the NZ landscapes empty of people that have been in vogue for the last half century.

"Rita and Douglas" at the Christchurch Arts Festival

2011-08-21T08:27:00.001+12:00

Jennifer Ward-Lealand stars as painter Rita Angus in "Rita And Douglas"

The story of the relationship between painter Rita Angus and composer Douglas Lilburn presented the audience at the Rudolf Steiner School auditorium last night with the delight of seeing the superbly cast Jennifer Ward-Lealand working flawlessly with the effortlessly sophisticated pianist Michael Houston as they balanced beautifully a two handed piece of contemporary NZ theatre. What a treat to see these two on stage together.

However the enjoyment of watching two extremely talented performers wring the most out of their material was tempered by writer Dave Armstrong's sole reliance on Lilburn's meandering music to respond to Angus's paintings and her words written in letters to Lilburn. This meant the audience were unable to gauge the true nature of the relationship at the core of "Rita and Douglas" - was the depth of feeling that Angus had for Lilburn being reciprocated, tolerated or rejected? Without knowing where the writer placed the artist-composer relationship on the continuum that stretches from Angus being the one night stand of twenty years before that kept coming back to haunt Lilburn or the long distance soul mate of an equally introspective and self-obsessed composer the play was difficult to enjoy.

What was easy to enjoy were the superb costumes designed by Nic Smellie that were made by Sheila Horton and Elizabeth Gibbons with the assistance of textile artist James Flynn from the Bowerman School of Design. With Angus's unflinchingly honest self-portraits creating a vivid picture how we imagine the painter in our mind's eye (like Picasso in his Breton stripes) to see famous ensembles such as what Rita is wearing in her "Self Portrait Smoking" so faithfully recreated was an unexpected delight.

Thanks to the support of the Estate of Rita Angus we were treated to watching a large number of paintings projected behind the performers, at one point the projector wildly bounced around as a 4.0 earthquake rocked the auditorium but neither performer reacted to the 15 second shake in a display of pure professionalism. The paintings of Rita Angus are always enjoyable to see but the occasional recycling of some landscape images was disconcerting as unless it was a portrait of Angus or Lilburn crucial to the unfolding tale of their relationship there didn't always seem to be a connection between the repeated paintings with the recitation by Ward-Lealand of a particular passage from one Angus's letters.

No-one who appreciates the contribution of Rita Angus to the visual arts of New Zealand or who admires the work of Douglas Lilburn is going to be disappointed by "Rita and Douglas" but perhaps writer Dave Armstrong's affinity and admiration for what he calls "two of this country's greatest artists" meant he created a piece of theatre that an ardent fan would enjoy rather than working the material into a play that despite the richness of subject and talent was just a little too earnest (and even with the enlivening earthquake) a little too soporific as well.

Favourite part of the play for this reviewer? When Angus writes that there is no way that Lilburn will ever be allowed to buy "Cass" and other of her favourite paintings from her - and that perhaps there will be prints available one day that he could purchase instead!

Kiwiana art features at NY's new Kiwiana Restaurant

2011-08-12T11:20:00.000+12:00

Chef Mark Simmons

The kitchen at NY's new Kiwiana restaurant

Recently New Zealand chef Mark Simmons chose kiwiana art specialists NZ Fine Prints to supply the artworks for New York's brand new Kiwiana Restaurant.

Prints chosen to decorate his new restaurant that showcases NZ's cuisine and culture had to be delivered to New York within a tight timeframe before Kiwiana's opening night in August 2011.

Born and raised on a sheep farm in New Zealand Simmons was amusingly described in a recent US interview as "the former Top Chef contender with the dreamy New Zealand accent". After a stint at NY restaurant's Public and then a role as executive chef at Melt Simmons has decided to open the first kiwi restaurant in New York - "Kiwiana".

According to Simmons "Kiwiana is about combining the rich cultural and culinary traditions of New Zealand in a friendly and welcoming space". The cuisine at Kiwiana is inspired by native New Zealand ingredients such as the horopito pepper and our national dishes such as hokey-pokey ice cream. The food incorporates elements and techniques Simmons acquired during his travels, starting in Australia, through Japan and on to the United States. Kiwiana features a variety of lamb and seafood dishes with a New Zealand twist - such as as manuka and marmite braised baby back ribs with squash purée , Milo-rubbed venison loin with potato cake, baby leeks and cola-braised cherries and raspberry lamington with whipped coconut cream and hokey pokey brittle.

Lamingtons (Image courtesy of Kiwiana)

So next time you are in New York and want to take your American friends out for a kiwi style feast of superb NZ cuisine check out Kiwiana - 847 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11215, their website is http://www.kiwiana-nyc.com.

And for the record Simmons chose the following kiwiana prints from our kiwiana art collection - a large vintage style canvas by Paul Ny called "Kiwis can Fly", "Highway 80" by Grant McSherry and "Four Square Store at Sunrise" by Bill MacCormick.

What we know about an artwork's history changes our enjoyment of it

2011-08-03T11:01:00.000+12:00

This morning we watched an insightful and entertaining look at why people like original paintings better than an identical forgery. In this TED talk Paul Bloom argues that our beliefs about the history of an object change how experience it. And not just as an illusion but a deep measurable change in the way our brain feels pleasure viewing art.

How do we respond when the artworks may look the same but they have a different origin? Pyschologists have argued that we care so much about origins because we are snobs, as Bloom says "we are focused on status". So owning a handmade limited edition print is more prestigious than owning a reproduction of the same image because there are always going to be fewer original prints available to buy. Although Bloom doesn't doubt that this does play some role he believes humans are also to some extent "natural born essentialists". He means we don't just respond to art in the way that we see it, our response is also conditioned on our beliefs about "what they really are, where they came from, what they are made of, what their hidden nature is". You can own something that looks exactly the same as another artwork but it doesn't have the same history so your respond differently to it.

Bloom quotes Christchurch philosopher of art Denis Dutton (whom we have featured in NZ Art Print News previously) who wrote "the value of an artwork is rooted in assumptions about the human performance underlying its creation". Bloom's argument would be that owning an orginal print (which is the product of a creative act, knowledge of materials and technical skill) means the buyer will get a deeper pleasure from owning it than a poster of the same print. If they were told that it was not an original print their pleasure in owning it would diminish (a case in point is Dick Frizzell's Mickey to Tiki lithograph which was reproduced with the edition number 5/50 on it, occasionally we have been contacted by people given this print as a gift whose pleasure in the gift is lessened when they are told that it is a reproduction although it looks identical to the original print).

It's an interesting question if choosing artworks with a meaningful history - even if they are "reproductions" - can have still give you a deeper pleasure. For instance if you collect only prints by quality artists or fine examples of the best paintings from New Zealand. NZ Fine Prints try and stock only meaningful artwork, we have never understood the part of the market where custuomers are looking to buy art to "match the curtains". I guess this touches on the prestige or snobbish element of art ownership alluded to by Bloom as a motivation of buying artwork for your home or office because your choice of art is a way of demonstrating to others your degree of artistic sophistication or level of art appreciation. But for Prints.co.nz making a distinction between meaningful art and pure decoration is a way of helping us decide what we choose to stock at a "fine art" print specialist.

Prints by Greg Straight get NZ Fine Prints recommendation

2011-07-30T06:36:00.000+12:00

NZ Printmaker Greg Straight


Pop Art Tiki by Greg Straight [Edition of 100]

Recently contemporary New Zealand printmaker Greg Straight (pictured left) was profiled by Kiaora magazine's Matt Philp (Straight's "Neon Tiki" graced the cover of the inflight magazine for Air New Zealand in June 2011). “Art and design used to be very clearly distinct but these days there’s far more of a crossover. I think my generation is more open to that. But fine art takes itself too seriously sometimes, which is why I like pop art. I love the idea of taking objects from everyday life and putting them in a gallery.”

Greg is at the forefront of the movement that is finally adding a contemporary urban sensibility into the visual arts in New Zealand. “It’s a real challenge with kiwiana though, because everyone has had a stab at it,” he told Kiaora's Philp “You have to find ways to put a new twist on it and keep it contemporary. That might mean breaking the thing down into geometric shapes and using bold colours."

Straight graduated from the University of Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts majoring in print making. A fine art printmaker who also works as a T-shirt graphic designer for streetwear brands such as Huffer and Federation Straight's artwork is an exciting melding of high art with NZ pop culture.

We are cataloguing Straight's first series of prints including "Pop Art Tiki" shown here and Greg Straight's prints wholeheartedly get NZ Fine Prints' "buy" recommendation for astute collectors building their hoard of contemporary NZ editions.

Notable new releases at NZ Prints

2011-07-28T19:38:00.000+12:00

New releases have been piling up at New Zealand Fine Prints while behind the scenes we have been occupied with sorting and re-shelving the thousands of prints shifted from our Hereford St gallery following the Christchurch earthquakes.

Home by Weston Frizzell 1000 x 515mm [Edition of 80 Prints]

Among the new prints that have arrived have been a couple of superb new letter series prints called "Home" and "Whanau" from the studio of Mike Weston and Otis Frizzell (for disambiguation of the various Frizzell monikers check out our previous article on who is Weston Frizzell?) and the complete Weston Frizzell seasons series (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) are now in stock with some matching numbered sets still available.

Mike has also just sent us some previously unseen editions from the Auckland Supercity styles series, the last two editions of the Behave series and his latest solo work "Float" that we'll get catalogued onto prints.co.nz mid August - with a backlog of over 140 prints waiting to be photographed and described we are running several weeks behind schedule for new artwork submissions. Artists submitting new prints with the images ready, dimensions measured and a great description of the artwork written with the customer in mind may find they are bumped to the top of the queue!

Two New Editions from Tony Ogle

2011-07-05T11:35:00.001+12:00

Tony Ogle Print Hammock and Bach

NZ Printmaker Tony Ogle

Reputedly "Cathy's place at Bethell's [Beach]" "Hammock and Bach" was Tony Ogle's last print of 2010. As with all of Ogle's fine art prints "Hammock and Bach" began as a detailed painting on board from which each individual colour is then hand separated. These separations became the stencils on the screens through which each colour is printed (some Ogle prints have up to 25 individually printed colours). The printing process involves a careful alignment and registration and constant checking for quality problems. The colours of all Tony's prints are hand-mixed and give the image a very real handmade feel and quality. Hammock and Bach is an edition of 200. (NB for readers outside of NZ "bach" is the coloquial New Zealand expression for a holiday home).

Caravan Window, Tony's first print in 2011

Tony's first print of 2011 is "Caravan Window". Here the kiwiana style beachside scene is cleverly framed by an oval window that echoes the shape of the caravan windows in the foreground. A tyre rope swing hangs from the branches of the pohutukawa tree. Edition of 180, image dimensions 450 x 180mm. Tony subscribes to single edition productions only, he says "a true Limited Edition Fine Art Print [should be] limited to one edition, each being numbered and signed individually by the Artist. Once the Edition has sold out it should not be repeated otherwise the value of the works is compromised." In the long term this is what gives the artworks value over time.

Christchurch earthquake photographer releases canvas prints

2011-07-01T12:27:00.000+12:00

Gillian Needham, the Canterbury designer who took the famous photograph of the Christchurch skyline at the moment of the February 22nd earthquake, has signed an international distribution deal with photo library Getty Images and NZ art publisher Image Vault. This means that the famous Christchurch earthquake photograph is now available in a larger range of print formats including a stunning range of stretched (ready to hang) and un-stretched large canvas prints.

New Christchurch Earthquake Photo Canvas Print

Prices and size options for the new canvas prints are as follows:

600 x 200mm $84.95 or $129.95 stretched (ie around a wooden stretcher frame ready to hang)
1000 x 330mm $219.95 or $299.95 stretched
1.5metre x .5metre $349.95 or $659.95 stretched

To place your order please call New Zealand Fine Prints on 0800 800 278.

New Zealand Fine Prints have just a few of the original giclee prints in stock of the earthquake image today and this print will be replaced in our catalogue by the Image Vault publication offset print which is in a slightly different size once stock runs out.

NZ's most dramatic art gallery opening!

2011-06-30T13:07:00.000+12:00

A few weeks ago the stockroom of New Zealand's largest art print store was opened in dramatic fashion after the front wall of the 100 year old warehouse sustained structural damage during the Feb 22 Christchurch earthquake. Over the next 5 hours nearly 3 tonnes of prints were then successfully shifted to New Zealand Fine Prints' new location outside of the cordoned off CBD - at 139 Hackthorne Rd, Cashmere.

Digital fine art printing in New Zealand - An Industry Snapshot in 2011

2011-06-28T14:00:00.002+12:00

Introduction
The printing of fine art prints in New Zealand has changed dramatically over the last decade. The rapid change from off-set photo-lithography to high end inkjet printing (also known as giclee or digital printing) is now markedly increasing the size, quality and range of prints being supplied to the New Zealand market. In this article NZ Art Print News talks to an expert panel of New Zealand's leading fine art printers to find out about the history of fine art digital printing in this country and we ask our experts where they think the New Zealand digital fine art printing market is headed. Along the way our experts explain to people buying prints from specialist art print galleries like New Zealand Fine Prints the technical side of digital printing and lastly we explore the kinds of questions NZ artists should be considering when contemplating publishing editions of fine art prints using the giclee or digital printing process.

Defining what is a "Digital Fine Art Print"
This article focuses on the New Zealand market for high quality digital prints using very high resolution files printing onto superior quality substrates (such as 100% cotton rag paper) where the printers are aiming for the very best colour reproduction and print longevity. This end of the market provides both the greatest long term value for customers buying purely for home or office decoration and also the best opportunities for early collectors of the work of contemporary New Zealand printmakers using digital printing.

NZ Art Print News asked Hamish Bayly of art publisher Image Vault about the differences between prints advertised as a "giclee" or "digital" or "inkjet". He told us that "these terms really amount to the same thing, though the word giclee assumes a higher level of technical ability has been employed to achieve the final result. There is much conjecture as to how the term giclee came about - but as I understand it, it was really coined to differentiate between standard printing, and the high end product resulting from following delicate procedures to faithfully replicate an artwork. I think it is as well to be a little wary as giclee has probably been used a little...optimistically shall we say by some! In general, price is an indicator...as with everything, good things take time!"

Giclee Print's Honey, Honey by Rachael Foster

Mike Thornton's digital printing business is actually called "Giclee Print" - he started Giclee Print "after seeing a canvas print in a shop and being intrigued as to how it was done. The opportunity to buy a business producing photos on canvas presented itself but eventually fell through [and] we decided to start from scratch". According to Mike "the term 'giclee' is in itself a contentious subject - there are whole Internet forums and websites dedicated to arguing the origins of the term, how and why it was coined, and so on." He thinks that "not all digital prints are inkjet - and not all inkjet prints are "giclee". 'Giclee' does not have anything at all to do with art reproduction, per se - the large canvas prints we provide for wedding photographers can also be classified as giclee prints. Anyone having prints made, or buying prints, should satisfy themselves that the paper / canvas and inks used are of "archival" quality. "Archival" is yet another example of a term that can spark arguments about the qualifying criteria, but basically it means that they've been tested by an independent authority to pass certain tests for lightfastness." Rachael Foster's new pinup series (see her edition of 50 giclee prints on archival paper "Honey, Honey" above left) are printed by Mike at Giclee Print.

There are low quality digital prints on the NZ market but these are clearly differentiated by 1. Non-New Zealand content, 2. Low price, 3. The use of inks that fade rapidly and 4. Poor colour reproduction). The vast majority of these prints are imported rather than being New Zealand prints created by NZ artists. In our view these imports are extremely poor value even being used purely as decoration due to the unusually swift UV fading in the harsh NZ light conditions they are not designed for. A NZ artist trying to compete at the cheap prints end of the spectrum by producing ultra cheap low quality digital prints simply wouldn't be able to sell the volume of prints required to make this economically viable in a market as small as NZ's.

Early days of digital fine art printing in New Zealand
Megan Rogers of Microfilm Digital Print remembers being asked to join the Christchurch based company when "giclee printing was quite new" in 2003. Giclee (from the French "to squirt) was the original term used by commercial fine art printers to describe digital printing using high end inkjet printers. Megan says one of the key drivers for the explosive growth in digital printing has always been that "short-run printing is less money up front than long-run offset prints".

John Schroeder of Auckland's The Digital Darkroom bought the first HPZ3100 Photo Printers in New Zealand six years ago, he says "We had recently bought CopyCatz, a copy centre on Dominion Road. We were already thinking that it was too sweet a space to clutter up with copiers, laminators, etc. and then I started reading early reviews of the HPZ3100 Photo Printer and it was obvious from the specs and the reviews that this was the real deal. I have worked with various ink jet printers as proofing devices but the Z3100 sounded like something special" Once the HPZ3100 was installed the Digital Darkroom "sold or scrapped all of the copy centre kit, and refitted the retail space as a gallery and digital print studio."

Image Vault's NZ Tiki Tour by Jason Kelly

In 2005 Hamish Bayly started New Zealand's first specialist production company exclusively focused on producing high end archival quality prints for artists and photographers around New Zealand, Artforum. Now the wholly owned digital printing division of NZ art publisher Image Vault Artforum brought a new level of specialisation and professionalism to the digital art print industry in New Zealand. Hamish's design background and production skills honed in the competitive "street" fashion clothing industry combined with Image Vault's wholesale distribution showed the retail art print market how digital printing could offer a fresh and dynamic seasonal collection based alternative to the occasionally updated catalogue model of art print wholesale. Hamish has printed many of New Zealand's top selling reproduction images over the last few years, prints by artists such as landscape painters Diana Adams, Grahame Sydney and Image Vault's latest success, kiwiana artist Jason Kelly whose "Tiki Tour" print is one of NZ's top 3 selling prints in 2011.

How are digital prints being printed in NZ today?
The Digital Darkroom's John Shroeder sums up the role of the printer in contemporary NZ fine art, we are technicians he says "Our objective is to be the final step in artists and photographers creating the work they strive for".

Hamish Bayly learned early on that "It is extremely important for the [artist or photographer] to have a clear understanding of how the entire process works, and the importance of each of the steps involved. If any of these stages are compromised upon, it is likely to affect the end result. Sometimes it can be a balance between price and expectation." Mike Thornton of Auckland's Giclee Print says the steps from the artists' perspective are really simple "All we need from the artist is (a) the original artwork or a digital file captured from it, (b) instructions as to the physical print size(s) and media desired, and (c) "sign-off" on the colour-proofs that we produce before going in to production. "

Bayly emphasizes the importance of the digital capture because if "this this is done correctly, the rest of the process is much easier to implement". Hamish says "the next step in the process is to colour balance the digital file to closely match that of the original artwork. The file is then sized, set up for printing and processed through the 'rip' to apply the desired media profile. Rip software is designed to ensure that the assigned 'profiles' allow the image to be replicated faithfully on a variety of media (eg canvas, paper etc), allowing for their different textures and ability to absorb the ink. This is a very time-consuming and complex system to use, but when applied correctly, assures consistent results."
One of the challenges that The Digital Darkroom has successfully met is being able to produce consistent colour from print to print in fluctuating environmental conditions due to, for example, Auckland's humidity.

Christchurch's Digital Print's Epsom printers can vary the size of the ink droplet put onto the paper down to a droplet size of one third the thickness of a human hair which enables Megan to print what she calls with a just a little understatement "very finely detailed images".

Substrates

The Digital Darkroom's Aotearoa by Weston Frizzell

The choice of substrates (eg paper, canvas, stock) is enormous and in depth knowledge and experience of the media is a key part of a digital printer's expertise, for a taste of the depth of understanding our experts have here is John Shroeder talking about Hahnemuhle Fine Art Matt 308gsm (the paper favoured by Auckland pop artists Weston Frizzell for their giclee prints such as their letter series print "Aotearoa" shown above right). John says "this paper is, basically, weird. It seems to impose no sense of texture allowing the textures portrayed in the printed image to stand for themselves. Stunning blacks, rich colours and subtle tones. The available colour space allows us to print beautiful, stepless gradients and continuous tones." In general John selects substrates "that will allow us to lay down plenty of ink, doesn't allow ink to flake off, is easy to handle (doesn't crease or scuff readily) and provides the finish required by the artist/photographer."

Mike Thornton relies on certification by the UK's Fine Art Guild to ensure "quality, consistency, and archival ratings" so "our artists and art-buyers can be sure the prints we produce will stand the test of time", he cautions that "some cheap papers will look great initially but break-down or yellow over time". Thornton says that "giclee print manufacturers should be prepared to advise the artist exactly the materials they use. If they're not prepared to do so, some caution should be exercised. Some cheap papers will look great initially but break-down or yellow over time".

Inks
Giclee Print's Mike Thornton says their choice of inks was straightforward "brand loyalty to Canon was a simple choice for us - we use their technology across the board." Thornton says "the Lucia inkset is beautiful, with graduated greys and red green and blue inks on top of the normal CMYK (and the "photo" variants)." He warns that "non-original or fully dye-based inksets can appear really bright and saturated, but within weeks or months not look the same at all". (Unlike pigment, dyes dissolve when mixed into a liquid. Dyes are well suited for textiles where the liquid dye penetrates and chemically bonds to the fibre. Because of the deep penetration, more layers of material must lose their colour before the fading is apparent. Dyes, however, are not suitable for the relatively thin layers of ink laid out on the surface of a print. Pigment is a finely ground, particulate substance which, when mixed or ground into a liquid to make ink or paint, does not dissolve, but remains dispersed or suspended in the liquid. According to Wikipedia pigments are categorized as either inorganic (mineral) or organic (synthetic) and the online encyclopedia gives the example of "a pigment such as red iron oxide (rust) which is simply an oxidized form of iron. One could leave iron, lead, or gold in the sun for a million years and they would never change color or change into another substance. In contrast, man-made synthetic and vegetable water-soluble dyes can fade rapidly, often within one to six months."

The Epson printer employed by Digital Print uses K3 pigment inks. Megan says they are "more like a paint than an ink, are water resistant (but not waterproof) and have been tested to be colourfast for 100 years or more. The printer we use has 8 different colour inks for a wide gamut of colour."

Factors to consider when buying digital prints - or if you are an artist looking at digital fine art printing.
We asked our experts what questions print buyers should ask artists or photographers selling digital prints of their work. Hamish Bayly told us "With open edition prints on canvas and paper it pays to look at the quality of the print itself where you want to have sharp detail and rich colours. Along with the quality of the image it pays to look at how well made the frame and finishing is as this all plays at part in the overall quality of the product itself. If you are purchasing a limited edition print it is very important to obtain all the details about the artist, the edition number, the media that it is printed on, the ink system used and to ensure it comes with a certificate of authenticity."

Digital Print's Wharekauri Tahuna by C.F. Goldie

Megan Rogers of Digital Print says simply to "ask if it has been printed on a fine detailed inkjet printer with pigment inks onto archival paper." She warns that "there are some very poor quality canvases being used out there which don’t last. Look to see if the edges are cracking badly and ask if the print has been sealed. Moisture will affect the inks over time (which is why our framer uses a special sealant which totally protects our canvas prints). Copyright is an important factor too. If it is not obvious (ie the artist is selling it), ask if they have permission to reproduce this image. It is illegal to copy artworks without permission. I would look at the quality of canvas stretching as there is a lot of poor workmanship out there. Look at the tightness of the canvas, if it is baggy don't buy it, it will only get worse. If there are lumps of folded canvas at the corners or the stapling is messy then this also indicates poor quality workmanship. Once bought, treat your Giclee print as you would an original artwork - don’t hang it in direct sunlight." This modern print of one of C.F. Goldie's Maori portrait paintings shown here was printed by Megan at Digital Print. With its stunning dense blacks and exquisite detailing bringing this giclee print is a real step up in quality when compared to prints of Goldie's paintings produced using conventional photo-lithography in past decades.

…and the most common question asked of their printer by artists and photographers according to John Shroeder at The Digital Darkroom is "Can I get a discount?"!!

Future Trends for NZ Digital Printing
Hamish Bayly says "The main trend I see at the moment is towards artprints with a strong, clearly identifiable New Zealand focus. [Image Vault] follow and are influenced by international trends - but always with a nod to Kiwi culture. New Zealanders are as trend conscious as the rest of the world, but seem to gravitate towards artwork which reflects our culture, our lifestyle or our unique landscape in a contemporary way. We are always refining what we do and the business has been growing well over the last 18 months which has been very rewarding given the economy has been a little slower during this period."

According to The Digital Darkroom's John Shroeder "This is a time of incredible freedom for creators and consumers of art. Artists can price art so that it is accessible knowing that contemporary buyers will buy based on the merits of the work. Buyers can take risks because they can buy knowing that if they outgrow a piece they can sell it on TradeMe or simply wait for the next inorganic day."

We look forward to adding more prints by NZ artists, print-makers and photographers that are printed by these fine companies over the remainder of 2011. Special thanks to our panel of printing experts, Hamish Bayly of Image Vault, Megan Rogers of Digital Print, John Schroeder of The Digital Darkroom and Mike Thornton of Giclee Print for their help in compiling this article for NZ Art Print News.

Otis Frizzell reveals his printmaking technique

2011-06-22T14:20:00.000+12:00

Contemporary New Zealand print-maker Otis Frizzell recently gave a rare insight into his print-making process when he revealed the steps involved in creating his latest tiki series print, La Fiesta Del Tiki, as part of a "Visa Platinum people" promotion on Facebook. Otis is one of NZ's most popular printmakers, both in his own right and in collaboration with his friend Mike Weston as the "art brand" known as Weston Frizzell (we have explained the differences between the artists Otis, Dick & Weston Frizzell in a previous article).

Otis Frizzell's initial drawing of a Tiki

In this article Frizzell describes how he begins making a print. "Everything starts out with a drawing. I've been working on a series of pinstripe Tiki stencils for a few years now and thought I'd try something different. I love Mexican folk art and wondered if I could fuse the decorative style of the Mexican sugar skulls with a broken down Tiki form." Shown here at right is a picture of the original tiki drawing that Frizzell worked up into the finished artwork.

Once Otis was happy with the design he tried a few colour variations because the sugar skulls are very colourful and ornate. To make sure he gets the symmetry in his tiki series Otis revealed that "I often only draw half and when I reckon I'm there, I scan the drawings and flip them. It's worth noting that this is the only process I use my computer for. Everything else is hand done."

Actual stencil used in screenprinting process

When he's happy with the whole design Otis prints out the image to the size he wants the finished art to be and then the labourious task of breaking it down again colour by colour begins - essentially the artist has to trace over his entire drawing to make a stencil for each separate colour. Once each colour has its own stencil (see picture at left of one of the actual stencils used to make La Fiesta Del Tiki) Frizzell does a test run - with spray paint! "That way" he says, "I can play with the colours and make sure it all works".

The actual screenprinting then begins, Otis says "I take each stencil and spray directly onto the film to make the screens (like I was saying, I like to keep it as hands on as possible). That way there are human imperfections on the screens. When things get too perfect they lose the human touch. The final result is a beautiful edition of signed and numbered prints". To buy all prints available by Otis Frizzell, including the La Fiesta Del Tiki featured in this article please go to the Otis Frizzell prints collection at NZ's specialist art print store, New Zealand Fine Prints.

Christchurch Earthquake Photographer Gilly Needham releases print

2011-05-14T09:15:00.001+12:00

Christchurch Earthquake Photo by Gilly Needham

Gillian (Gilly) Needham has this week released a print of her famous photograph taken of dust clouds across Christchurch at the moment of the Feb 22nd earthquake. Fashion designer Needham was at home in Cashmere when the earthquake struck. Her camera was sitting on the kitchen bench and she grabbed it to capture the scene in the city below. A few hours later a low-resolution photo was on Facebook and it quickly went around the world to become one of the most enduring images of the Christchurch earthquake. A large panorama shaped print of the photograph has now been printed and is available exclusively from Christchurch art print specialists New Zealand Fine Prints.

Picture hanging advice following the Christchurch earthquakes

2011-05-11T12:53:00.000+12:00

Framed pictures dropped off walls in large numbers during the recent earthquakes in Christchurch. NZ Fine Prints is based in Christchurch and we have been dealing with hundreds of insurance quotes for replacement or repair of damaged prints since September 2010.

Our staff are frequently asked "How do we re-hang our pictures to minimise the risk of damaged artworks in future quakes? So we decided to find out more about the seismic performance of picture hanging systems commonly used in NZ. We were surprised to find that even the most basic system can actually do a pretty good job of protecting both the artwork and the occupants of the home, office or gallery (albeit with a couple of relatively minor tweaks).

The first piece of advice we have for hanging framed pictures in New Zealand's seismically active zones is don't hang any heavy artworks above your bed. The average person spends a third of their lifetime in bed - simple arithmatic means that the chances of being in bed when an earthquake strikes are quite high and no picture hanging system can protect you from structural damage to the actual wall causing the artwork to drop on your head.

The traditional picture hanging method using wire or cord on a conventional picture hook (pictured below) can actually be easily modified to greatly reduce the risk of falling down according to Ian Cooke of leading NZ picture framing supplier Larson Juhl. Ian manages the South Island branch of Larson Juhl and has been in the picture framing industry for 30 years. He told us about a couple of simple tricks:

Conventional Picture Hooks (image courtesy Larson Juhl)

Close the gap in the hook making it less likely the cord will bounce through the gap.
Adequately secure the hook into the wall - into a stud if possible.

Gallery Hanging Track (image courtesy of Sydney Art & Framing Supplies)

According to Ian valuable artworks in galleries such as Christchurch Art Gallery which have security hangers behind the pictures also came through the earthquakes well because these types of hangers "allow the item to be slid down over two metal brackets and then further secured with a slotted security device at the bottom of the frame".

Another option is the gallery style hanging tracks that are about to be installed at NZ Fine Prints new gallery outside of Christchurch's CBD. This is a track that is securely screwed to the top of a wall employing a series of suspended nylon or fine wire droppers to which custom made hooks are attached (see picture above of a powder coated gallery style hanging track). The pictures are then hung from these hooks. Ian Cooke tells us that "while the pictures swung around on the droppers" during the Christchurch quakes people have reported to him "they did not fall off". Gallery hanging tracks such as the Stas brand which is stocked by Larson Juhl also have the benefit of letting galleries, homes and offices change their wall displays as often as they like without drilling new holes or damaging walls.

NZ Prints: Christchurch Earthquake Update 3

2011-03-02T16:17:00.000+13:00

We are slowly getting back to normal service levels. Special thanks to Paul Ryan, National Sales Manager at shelving specialists Hydestor New Zealand who are replacing our shelving at lightening speed (when we emailed photographs of our current shelving we were delighted to realise that Hydestor supplied our current racking over 30 years ago). Paul had concept drawings to us within hours and rapidly re-configured the standard shelving set up to suit our new location and the latest standards for storage of fine art (it's all metal shelves now). Sonoco NZ who supply all our poster rolls are doing a special run for us today in our standard sizes - an incredible help when we have virtually no mailing cylinders left. If we ran out of these we can't ship a single art print. Packaging House Auckland has delivered our special acid free tissue that we use to wrap prints already. Our incoming couriers are now delivering artists' prints to us again, our supply chain is cranking back into gear. Thanks to artists such as Tony Ogle who are kindly drop-shipping prints directly to customers who need them immediately for gifts too.

Mary Lou Dolls by Matt Guild

Also a huge thanks to our customers who are continuing to buy prints from NZ's largest art print store over the past week. Especially to those who are patiently waiting for us to track or ship orders made around the time of the Christchurch quake and the customers waiting for framed prints that have been delayed for at least another two weeks. Your patience during this difficult time is helping us concentrate on the key tasks as our business recovers from this event.

It was also a personal milestone for our catalogue manager when the first new print by a NZ artist to be catalogued for sale after the earthquake, Kiwiana specialist Matt Guild's "Mary Lou Dolls", was processed and uploaded to www.prints.co.nz earlier this afternoon (the first print in the prints for children collection we were working on at the moment the quake struck Christchurch last week). With a three month waiting list for new work this list doesn't get any shorter if Antony's not doing his job of cataloguing NZ's latest art prints for sale for a whole week.

NZ Prints - Christchurch Earthquake Update 2

2011-02-28T10:23:00.000+13:00

From Monday 28th February NZ Prints staff are now working at our temporary office outside of the CBD. All our computer systems are unaffected and running as normal. Please note all NZ Fine Prints contact details such as phone numbers and email addresses have been diverted and have not changed - all NZ Prints contact details are listed here. Artists and suppliers please re-direct all deliveries from 28th February to our temporary office at 139 Hackthorne Rd, Cashmere.

We are currently unable to ship art print and poster orders due to our gallery being within the Christchurch CBD cordon and normal courier services being unavailable. Thank you for your patience during this difficult time - we will start shipping prints and posters as soon as possible.

NZ Prints - Christchurch Earthquake Update

2011-02-24T12:38:00.000+13:00

All NZ Fine Prints staff and families are ok. We are unable to ship orders due to our building being within the CBD cordon as well as disruption to normal post and courier services.

We appreciate the emails and calls of support from our artists, suppliers and customers throughout New Zealand and around the world.

Our focus is on our families and friends during this difficult time. Our staff will respond to emails and telephone messages in due course, please be patient at it will be at least several days before we can even begin to offer anything close to our normal levels of customer service. Please email us at enquiries@prints.co.nz or leave a message on 0800 800 278 and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

New signage for our Christchurch Gallery by kiwiana artist JK

2011-02-07T16:54:00.000+13:00

Christchurch painter Jason Kelly is at the vanguard of the kiwiana art movement that is sweeping galleries and design stores across New Zealand. But we also knew that he had initially trained as a commercial sign writer - so who better to design and create the new signs for our gallery in Christchurch following the earthquake in September 2010 than JK?

We got progress emails from him saying things like "Are you happy for me to freestyle a little with timber choices and a have slightly different shape?" and then a few days later "I found some cool pieces of wood and metal work yesterday…I hope you won't mind". We began to wonder if Jason was heading off on one of his quirky tangents but he assured us we would appreciate the recycled bed head pieces in the final sign/artwork!

The final design was unveiled this morning at 202 Hereford and we are delighted with our new signage that not only makes it a lot easier to find our store but subtly reminds visitors that although we are NZ's largest online art retailer we have been in the art print business for nearly five decades.

Contemporary Maori artist Douglas Ferris talks about his popular prints

2011-02-04T10:59:00.001+13:00

For over a decade prints of Maori artist Douglas Ferris' exquisite pencil sketches have sold steadily to collectors of Maori art throughout NZ and around the world. Born in Hastings Ferris is from the iwi Ngati Porou. Douglas is shown here creating one of his portraits in his studio.

Maori artist Douglas Ferris at work in his Hastings studio

We asked Douglas to tell us a bit more about his artistic background and what sparked his interest in Maori portraits in particular. Ferris told us that he gained his Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts with Honours from Brigham Young University in Hawaii, his wife Charlotte added that "he received the prestigious Top Artist Student Award in 1995 [his last year of study]. Charlotte also told us that Douglas' "informal training began as soon as he was able to hold a pencil and paintbrush. He has drawn and painted ever since [and] has been doing portraits since primary school".

So why did he focus on portraits of Maori? Ferris said he had admired "the special spirit that our Maori people innately possess" and that he particularly "enjoyed capturing this human spirit in representational art". Capturing the pride of "our people" in his portraiture is paramount to Douglas. Ferris says he doesn't take it to heart when people criticise him for selling portraits of Maori (see our previous post on the controversy about prints of Maori portraits by Goldie & Lindaur), he gets "thousands of thanks for making it possible for relations to have a picture of their relation".

Ferris' classical art education background sees him looking to masters of representational art such as Carravagio, Rembrandt and Velazquez for inspiration rather than to other contemporary NZ artists and he describes the process of creating his Maori portraits in characteristically straight forward terms "I look, I see, I create". All of Douglas' prints are held in stock at New Zealand Fine Prints - at just $29.95 each his studies are some of the most popular prints in the Maori art collection with customers often buying several prints at a time to frame as a series.