Clock Tower Len Lye

Another drawing of the funhouse-like reflections of the Len Lye Centre's stainless steel walls.

 

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

This was done over multiple lunches at about 15 minutes per day. The first day, there was a car with a roof rack. Being finicky, I didn't want to draw that so left the bottom for tomorrow. The next day, there was van with a roof rack. The third day, 6 out of the 8 vehicles had a roof rack. I was able to wrap up the cars and the people on the fourth day but it seemed like there was a conspiracy.

Downtown New Plymouth

It's starting to feel like the beginning of winter sketching in New Zealand.

Len Lye Selfies

What to do on a New Plymouth weekend? Take a selfie in the stainless steel surface of the Len Lye Centre. (Long exposure, above, and short exposure, below. The third one was from about 18 months ago.)

Colourize Project: Len Lye Centre & the White Hart

Some people have seen this colour version of this sketch but I haven't uploaded it here until now. This is when the Len Lye Centre opened and they closed down the street so that everyone could take selfies in the stainless steel walls for the first time. This was also done before the White Hart Hotel had the glass put in on the balcony so it's still a bit more old-timey in this sketch.

Len Lye

After one year, it's still quite popular to take a selfie against the stainless steel walls on the Len Lye Centre.

Len Lye Centre, Govett Brewster Gallery , Monica's : NEW PLYMOUTH.

The re-furbished Govett Brewster Gallery and the Len Lye Centre have great exhibitions  which are fittingly matched by great service and coffee at Monica's. MLB

The Len Lye Centre and Monica's Eatery.

It was rather wet this afternoon, so we went to the Len Lye Centre to sketch inside. I was quite happy with this as they had the touring exhibition of the New Zealand Secondary School NCEA level 3 art boards from last year i.e. 17 year olds. This made interesting viewing and there was a wide variety of different ideas and mediums to look at. I didn't attempt to sketch any of this, but went out into the centre. I had problems deciding what to do as at this stage it is quite a big empty echoey space with a lot of grey concrete or black walls. In the end I tried a pencil drawing in grey scale of a nook in the wavy concrete wall.

Here is my sketch:

I must say I was surprised to find a crack in the floor at this early stage!

I then gave up on the Len Lye Centre and went to their cafe "Monica's Eatery." I found much more to sketch in here. I decided to get out my pen and coloured pencils. This is the first pen sketch I've done since July 2014. Goodness! I think I need to do a few more. I sketched very quickly as I was concerned the two people would leave any minute. They had that look about them.

Here is my sketch:

Len Lye building and the historic White Hart Hotel, New Plymouth .MLB

48th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day Results.

Follow this link to see our results page for the 48th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day.

http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=12798&p=60358#p60358

Return of the Gallery

The re-opening of the Govett Brewster Art Gallery, including the new stainless steel Len Lye Centre. They closed the streets around the building for the opening ceremony (but mostly so that everyone could get photos and selfies in the mirrored steel outer surface). The White Hart Hotel, one of New Plymouth's oldest buildings, is an interesting neighbour for it. The old and the new, both very challenging to sketch. The White Hart just has so much detail. If you don't draw it all, when do you stop? And the Len Lye Centre, is just plain weird. It's like trying to draw a Photoshop filter. I sat on the step across the street for several hours while trying to figure out where it all goes.
#LenLye #LenLyeCentreOpening

48th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day.

Today was the 48th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day and it just happened to coincide with the opening day of the multi million-dollar Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, New Zealand.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/70477064/rome-wasnt-built-in-a-day-nor-was-the-len-lye-centre.html

This is New Zealand's first gallery dedicated to a single artist and the opening festivities kicked off at 9am with a powhiri (prayer). Doors opened to the public at 10am.

A little bit about it's construction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKtt5mvNHLQ&feature=youtu.be

Our theme for the day: The Old and the New.

The new? The Len Lye Centre. The Old? The Len Lye Collection.

One of our sketchers Trevor Davies was interviewed by the local newspaper:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/70540737/public-get-first-glimpse-of-lauded-len-lye-centre 

And on the national TV3 news:

 I don't have the video yet, but I'll put it up if I can.

Here is Trevor's sketch:

Here is my sketch:

Here is Norah's Sketch of the people outside:

More sketches from Trevor:

Old Chinese vase:

More Photos:

On Sunday the public coloured this exhibit in:

Sketch crawl-  the new Len Lye Centre building and the Govett Brewster Gallery . MLB

The New Len Lye Centre.

The Len Lye Centre is starting to take shape and is due to open on 25th July. Many thought it wouldn't be built due to the technical difficulty of the design and the enormous cost. The money for the project has been fund raised over many years as follows:

• $1m – TSB Community Trust, committed in 2009.
• $4m – Ministry for Arts Culture and Heritage Regional Museum Policy Fund, 2011.
• $0.5m – Lotteries’ Environment and Heritage Fund, 2011.
• $3m – Sole Founding Partner, Todd Energy, 2011.
• $0.305m private donors as of March 2014.
• $2.695m - Lotteries' Significant Projects Fund, March 2014.

The Len Lye Centre will be a dedicated space providing permanent access to Len Lye’s art and ideas while assuring the preservation of the Len Lye Collection and Archive for future generations. The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and the Len Lye Centre will operate as a combined facility.

The centre has huge reflective angulated stainless steel walls which have been designed by architects Patterson Associates and made by the Taranaki steel company Rivet.

When I first saw them going up I thought there was no way I was going to try and sketch that! Anyway we all gamely went up there, (now that nearly all of the steel is on), and tried our hand at reflective stainless steel!
Here is my sketch:

The landscaping isn't done yet, but the reflections of the surrounding buildings make for an interesting building that is not easy to sketch!

Wet White Hart Hotel

This wasn't my first choice of what to draw this week but the rain made us find shelter to draw. Trying to stay dry, I made a few mistakes in my slow and careful drawing style. Instead of ripping out the page and starting again, I went back into it with a heavy pen and saved it.
This thing really is brutal to draw. With so much repetitive detail in the building, even I have trouble not getting bored with it all. I have to say that I didn't mind sketching this after I started to let go a bit and draw it loosely.

Last weeks sketch and this weeks sketch.

So the meeting place today was by the clock tower near the new Len Lye Centre that's being built. We looked at the new building, it's starting to look spectacular with it's stainless steel skin going up. No idea how to draw that!

The Clock Tower reflected in the new stainless steel skin.

So here is my sketch. The old and the new. The White Hart Hotel and the scaffolding over the Len Lye Centre.

 And last Saturday. 14/03/2015.

Last week we went to Brougham Street and I sketched the lovely old building that used to be Andre's Restaurant.