Case 16
- Art – Collaborations
Hone Tuwhare, Sap-wood and milk. Dunedin: Caveman Press, 1975. SPRH 821 TUW
Although Hotere was not fond of the term ‘collaboration’, the contributions he made to the work of others, particularly the poets Hone Tuwhare (1922-2008) and Bill Manhire (b.1946), and the installation artist Bill Culbert (1935-2019), are undeniably collaborative. Hone Tuwhare, like Hotere, hailed from the North and a working-class background, and both were eventually drawn south to Otago. They became firm friends over beer, food and lively conversation, and worked together artistically on numerous occasions, with Hotere using words from Tuwhare’s poems in his paintings, and providing illustrative material for Tuwhare’s published works. This copy of Sap-wood and milk appears to have met with an unfortunate accident, but Hotere has let the suitably black paint spilled into the book become part of its fabric.
Bill Manhire, Malady. Dunedin: Amphedesma Press, 1970. SPRH 821 MAN
Hotere began working with poetry after his move to Dunedin in 1969 to take up the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship. The poet Bill Manhire was another contemporary who became a friend and whose words resonated with Hotere. The paintings he created for Manhire’s Malady series, to complement the pattern poem of the same name, were intended to be more of an extension of the poem itself than purely accompanying illustration. By the time this book, with its ink-and-wash images, was published in 1971, Manhire had returned to London to continue studying. His poems written on postcards sent to Hotere over this period would form the artist’s Pine series of 1972.
Bill Manhire, Malady. Dunedin: Amphedesma Press, 1970. SPRH 821 MAN
Ralph Hotere, Black light: Major works including with Bill Culbert. Wellington: Te Papa Press, 2000. SPRH 759.993 HOT
Bill Culbert collaborated with Hotere successfully on numerous occasions throughout the 1990s. The 1991 work titled P.R.O.P. (Preserve Observation Point), after the local organisation of the same name, was a reaction to the proposal by Port Otago to truncate the point at Port Chalmers and extend the port. Culbert was born in Port Chalmers in 1935; Hotere had long since made the town his home, and his beloved studio was situated on part of the land being targeted. The work, with its towering black corrugated iron propped against the wall and fluorescent tubes of blue and white, dramatically represents the juxtaposition of dark and light so often alluded to in Hotere’s work.
Ralph Hotere, Black light: Major works including with Bill Culbert. Wellington: Te Papa Press, 2000. SPRH 759.993 HOT
Open image in new window
‘Programme sheet for Tom Paine by Paul Foster’. Dunedin: August 1969. SPRH Hotere Ephemera
Rodney Kennedy (1909-1989) was a champion of the arts and something of a pioneer in experimental theatre. He persuaded Hotere to become involved with set and costume design, notably for James K. Baxter’s play Temptation of Oedipus (1970). In 1969 Kennedy staged a production of Paul Foster’s Tom Paine (1967) at Allen Hall, starring Warren Dibble, another of Hotere’s friends, in the title role. The Otago Daily Times and university student paper Critic reviewed the play in August and September respectively; Hotere’s name is not mentioned, though he is thanked on this programme sheet. Hotere’s foray into theatre work was an agreeable sideline, and he enjoyed working with others – ‘collaborating’ – while remaining single-minded in his approach.
‘Programme sheet for Tom Paine by Paul Foster’. Dunedin: August 1969. SPRH Hotere Ephemera
