A new exhibition is serving as a passing of the torch between South Canterbury Art Society presidents.
The ‘‘Between the Lines’’ exhibition is a collaboration between former society president Helen Willcock and new president Lesley Brown.
The exhibition opened last Friday at Polly Rowe’s Red Bird Gallery in Stafford St.
Brown said the exhibition came about almost by chance.
‘‘We had some pieces in the Hector Black’s art auction and Polly was there. She loved Helen’s yellow and black piece and said ‘it would be great if you two could do a joint show’ and it’s all been a go since then.’’
She said the exhibition was called ‘‘Between the Lines’’ due to the linear quality of both their works.
‘‘[The art] is different but they’ve got that same thing and there is the connection in the art society where Helen is the ex-president and I’m the current president.’’
Her pieces for the exhibition were created as a response to the line ‘‘Hold infinity in the palm of your hand’’ from Auguries of Innocence, a poem by William Blake.
‘‘It’s about what lies between the lines of a poem and what lies in art, shapes and colours.’’
It was great to have the opportunity to work with Willcock, she said.
‘‘Helen has stayed on the committee for that president transition which is good, so to have this as well [has] been a good chance to know each other and discuss how we can best still support the society.’’
Willcock said her work was a bit of a retrospective.
‘‘My work takes so long to do so it’s a bit hard to get stuff in a hurry — I do have some newish pieces that I’ve done within the year, but some are a bit older than that.
‘‘I love lines and the absence of them. It fascinates me what shapes you can get from the absence of them.
‘‘I’ve loved doing this with Lesley because she has more experience at this sort of thing than I do. I’ve learnt a lot.’’
She said she was thankful to have had the opportunity to exhibit their work.
‘‘It’s very cool to have another place to exhibit. I absolutely love it and to have someone as passionate and professional as Polly involved is just great.
‘‘I just want to say a massive thank you to her for inviting us and for having the hard work and vision to put a gallery in the middle of Timaru.’’
The exhibition is free to view and open to the public until July 26.
