Hey everyone,

New Artland (series 2) starts screening from Saturday 29th August on TVNZ 7 (Sky channel 97). This is the crazily ambitious art series that Chris was filming for the first half of this year, in which he travels NZ meeting a bunch of artists and watching/commentating/getting his jandals mucky as they make works of art with Kiwi communities.

When Chris had the stroke we only had a few days of filming left, but we still had almost all of the voice-overs to go. Bugger. However, Chris being so brilliantly eloquent throughout the filming meant we had plenty of recorded material to get the series finished. (A sample CK interview question would find him discussing an artist’s shift from “monolithic solidity to ephemeral play…”)

Without voice-over, the episodes have a slightly surreal quality that kinda suits the art. It was odd editing the series without Chris popping in every few days, but he’s seen a few of the shows now and we’re feeling good about it.

Season two’s artists are Dick Frizzell, Grahame Sydney, Virginia King, Niki Hastings-McFall, Karl Maughan, Wayne Youle, Reuben Paterson, Jacquelyn Greenbank, Seung Yul Oh, Tracey Tawhiao, Regan Gentry, Alex Monteith and Steve Carr. The artworks involve farmers, flying squads, orchestras, graffiti artists, schoolkids, tattooists, knitters, BMX riders, snowballs and Westies. Near the end of filming when I interviewed Chris for the press kit, he said: “This is unique television. Watch it to get over any fear of art you may have.”

We’re kicking the series off with a launch party and art auction on Thursday 27th August in Auckland in collaboration with TVNZ 7 & Media 7. Most of our series 1 & 2 artists are contributing pieces and proceeds raised will go to the Stroke Foundation, tagged specifically for art therapy. We’ve got a tight invite list but if anyone here is keen to spend up large on some art on the 27th, email me and we’ll try to fit you in!    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

All the best

Gemma Gracewood

PS Those overseas can try tvnzondemand.co.nz  but we’re not sure if it works overseas.
Broadcast dates for each episode…

Wayne Youle – Where You Stay?
29th August

Dick Frizzell – Teaching a Fencepost to Paint
5th September

Niki Hastings-McFall – Polynisation
12th September

Karl Maughan – Old School
19th September

Jacquelyn Greenbank – Nina and the Nitwits
26th September

Seung Yul Oh – The Ability to Blow Themselves Up
3rd October

Tracey Tawhiao – Tagging with Light
10th October

Regan Gentry – Paper Trail
17th October

Steve Carr – Snowballs
24th October

Virginia King – Pacific Stars
7th November

Grahame Sydney – Into The Nevis
14th November

Reuben Paterson – There Goes The Moon
21st November

Alex Monteith – Red Checkers
28th November

Hi – Reading the stats for the blog, we have a fairly steady readership out there – thanks to everyone for your continuing support and interest. I’m hoping one of you can help me (Sam?) – someone wants to do a cover of a song called ‘Badger’ for the album. Which is great, ‘cept we need to get a copy of the song to said artist and not only do I not know the song but I can’t track it down on any discography of Chris’.  Can anyone assist?

Thanks

Roy

Am hungover. Alcohol bad. Coffee good. Those darn friendly-types at Pastis who just hafta introduce me to Calvados after a night of beers’n'cider’n'wine’n'pernod’ oh’n'at-least-one vodka….  Looked at blog & realised I have been slacking – sorry folks.

Chris had a good weekend with plenty of visitors. We watched The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939 version) -  seen it before of course, but fab movie. Was tempted to make connected jokes about Chris’ new physique with straps & buckles & related distortions, but held off on the grounds that my taste can be very questionable at times – my recent pillow gag re ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ Chris didn’t appreciate very much.

Ant Timpson came over with his new baby boy who Chris enjoyed meeting (kids & pets a big deal at the moment). Ant very kindly asked me what films from the last festival I thought Chris would be interested in seeing on DVD and I hafta admit that I substituted the films that I wanted to see ….. uhh ….. but you’d do the same in my position…. right? … right?

Chris is boppin’ around the house now without any need for his walking stick & was in a pretty cheery & Chris-like mood all weekend. Beautiful day in Auckland and lounging on the back deck was popular.

Tomorrow is the big day for the Mono boxset – tens of crazed Beatle loons won’t be sleeping tonight. I’ll be picking up Chris’ set first thing and of course I will be waiting for him to open it & have a listen, of course I will, I wouldn’t dream of anything else…..

It is totally true that you can’t Beatle too much. Go Beatle now – go on – you know you want to – it’s good for you – it really is – start with uhhhhh -  ‘Dear Prudence’

Hiya – Last night I was floored by Chris. I’d taken along an acoustic guitar to play some songs with Chris as Don McGlashan had done it and i’d been told it was really good for Chris (good on ya Don!). Anyway I wasn’t really prepared for what Chris did – his singing was just as fantastic as ever, ok no words, but we did lots of Beatle tracks  ‘Strawberry Fields’, ‘Bungalow Bill’, ‘Ticket To Ride’, a Velvets one, some of Chris’ songs & we even made up a chord sequence/melody on the spot – (so the musical creativity is untouched too!).

That thing that Chris can do was just THERE, if you know what I mean, and I am so f**king happy to see that that side of Chris is still intact – that amazing voice & melodic sensibility & superb phrasing & sheer musicality & that musical link for me to all the bands and records that I adore are all there in that voice. Ah bliss.

So, don’t slack, mac, go back to the bottle store for MORE celebration!

Rik Merkle

Morning – I have returned from my exile. Sorry to all friends that are now down with my unhealthily incubated disease!

Chris was in good shape last night – he handed out chocolates when I arrived and was quite cheery. He’s been drawing some rather hilarious pictures (the reason that they are funny is best not gone into here, sorry) – and they are obvious improvements over previous pictures. He has also conveyed why he intially disliked the electric wheel chair he is supposed to use – the angle of the back was uncomfortable – and it has been fixed so he is zipping about merrily; personally, I’m a tad disappointed as I used to enjoying whacking into people in the chair myself.

But the really big news is that there is considerable improvement with Chris’ walking – he’s walked up to 200 meters at times! And we have had a cautious prediction that Chris will regain reasonable mobility. Which is just brilliant. It’s a wee bit early in the day here, but to those in the northen hemisphere I suggest now is an appropriate imbibing moment of celebration.

Thanks to NZ On Screen for working so hard to supply us with Chris’ videos. Many thanks also to the bands & artists that are sending me tracks for the album – I’ve been enjoying The Mint Chicks’ version of Crush this morning.

Hi – Yep I’m still banned from seeing Chris until my cold departs. Apparently he has just had a nice morning of pancakes with friends & is in fine form. His walking is improving & he has had some nice musical moments with a friend singing ABBA songs with him last week.

Rob Martin

Hi Everyone – Yeah lots of people are excited about Jeff Mangum doing a track – well, me too. ‘On Avery Island’ is one of my all time faves -  the harrowing ‘Three Peaches’  and how it transitions to that great pop moment of ‘Naomi’ … remarkable, breathtaking stuff! I’m also really excited to hear Bill Callahan’s version of ‘Lapse’ – it’s gotta be beautiful, right? Tracks are rolling in daily here and it’s a wonderful thing.

We watched ‘Persepolis’ with Chris yesterday – Liesha did a magnificent job of reading out the sub-titles to Chris throughout the entire film to ensure he followed it. I’m thrilled that Chris is getting back into watching movies as I always loved hanging out & watching movies with him and he’d always have something interesting to play me.

We also sat on the back deck in the sun for a while & drank tea – it was a beautiful moment as the sun shone and John was on one side of Chris & Liesha was on the other, both taking care of him.

Chris is drawing a lot with his left hand & today responded in the affirmative when I asked if he would like some colored pens. I’m hopeful Chris will use painting as a creative outlet through his recovery.

Ron Merton