Wednesday wonders

One of the great free things to do in Christchurch is to head along to the Christchurch Art Gallery on Wednesdays at 6 pm, when curators, artists, academics and others examine the ideas behind the exhibitions, enhancing and expanding the experience of viewing them.

When Ken Hall, the exhibition curator for The Vault: Neil Pardington, looked at this exhibition in relation to earlier bodies of work I was swept away with enthusiasm for finding out more about the artists he mentioned. Christchurch City Libraries has some information on most of them; some is held at the Christchurch Art Gallery library, which can be contacted if you would like to make an appointment to see these items.

So for those who love a list here’s one to work through, of some very interesting artists who have concerned themselves with similar “conceptual or thematic terrain” as Pardington in The Vault.

• Mark Dion
• Damian Hirst
• Richard Killeen
• Giorgio Morandi
• Rosalie Gascoigne
• Peter Peryer
• Gordon Walters (there’s a lovely work by Walters in the Brought to Light: A New View of the Collection show at the gallery)
• Andreas Gursky
• Thomas Struth
• Candida Hofer
• Bernd and Hilla Becher
• Philip Glass
• Joseph Cornell
• Kurt Schwitters
• Dada and Surrealism

And can I add a heartfelt recommendation to get along to one of the Wednesday night events.

Kiwi cookbooks for Christmas

What’s the most popular book for Christmas? My bet is on a New Zealand cookbook.
What’s hot at the moment? You only have to switch on telly or open a magazine – it’s food, glorious food.

It seems every New Zealand foodie has published a cookbook in 2009 including:

• Richard Till and Jo Seagar and Allyson Gofton – all three emphasising quick, delicious and easy family food
• Jo Seagar and Allyson Gofton both wrote on baking
• Al Brown (fish)
• Peter Gordon
• Simon and Alison Holst
• Sean Armstrong (from North and South)

From ‘grow it, cook it’ to ‘culinary journeys’ there is a NZ cookbook for every budget, taste and time.

Surely a record year for the cookbook industry.

For cooking your own Christmas kai, find more about festive fare from our web site – Christmas pudding? Christmas cake? Pavlova and strawberries? Roast lamb and new potatoes with mint sauce? Salmon on the barbeque? Whatever you’re planning for your home-cooked Christmas dinner, our libraries have plenty of resources to give you ideas.

Cornelia, Selection and Access Librarian