KIMISIS – FALLING ASLEEP

Production by IHOS OPERA as part of the Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival
October 2012

by Elizabeth Barsham

Inspired by the Greek Orthodox feast commemorating the Dormition, the death of the Virgin Mary and her assumption into Heaven, Kimisis takes the theme set by yesterday’s commemorative activities to another level. In the Church this service lasts several hours, but Con Koukias has considerately compressed his version into just twenty minutes.

The Unconformity Project

by Elizabeth Barsham

 

“I’ve never seen so much interest in rocks!” exclaimed the happy geologist from Devonport.

Far too many people were crowded into the LARQ gallery in Queenstown for the opening of The Unconformity Project, and loving it.

The Iron Blow - some of the rocks that inspired Julian Cooper

 We were surrounded by the wonderful bold, colourful paintings of Julian Cooper, LARQ Artist in Residence in 2011. Julian lives and works in Cumbria in the UK Lake District, and climbs rocks and mountains when not painting. The rocks around the old Iron Blow are not of great interest to a climber, but they inspired some terrific paintings, and these are great, energetic celebrations of stone. Julian's rock walls are alive and sparkling, reflecting harsh sunlight off uneven planes, hiding their secrets in shadowed clefts.