8 Jun 2016

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Doris Lusk’s contribution to the development of New Zealand contemporary art is celebrated in a new exhibition.

Marking the centenary of the artist's birth in 1916, Doris Lusk: Practical Visionary honours her remarkable career. The free exhibition opened at Christchurch Art Gallery on Saturday and runs until October 30.

From intricately constructed early landscapes through to imaginative explorations in luminous acrylic and watercolour, Practical Visionary highlights how Lusk combined observation with invention to create paintings that resonate with a sense of place.

"Doris Lusk was strongly drawn to structure, finding it in both the natural landscape and in the built environment. She was also technically innovative, and often chose subject matter that would extend her painting practice," says Christchurch Art Gallery Director Jenny Harper.

"Practical Visionary highlights the significant stylistic changes she embraced across a long and productive career."

A key figure in the development of contemporary New Zealand art, Doris Lusk (1916–1990) combined technical versatility with a perceptive and analytical eye.

She was born in Dunedin and studied art at the King Edward Technical College there from 1933 to 1939. She held her first exhibition in 1936. Lusk and her husband, Dermot Holland, moved to Christchurch in 1943, where she exhibited with both the Canterbury Society of Arts and The Group.

A potter as well as a painter, she tutored pottery at Risingholme Community Centre from 1947 and was a foundation member of the Canterbury Potters Association in 1965. From 1966 to 1981 Lusk taught at the School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury.

In a talk at the Gallery on Sunday July 3 at 2pm, Doris Lusk Pioneer Potter, potter Tatyanna Meharry remembers her grandmother Doris Lusk, her ceramic practice and her philosophy on life and art. The curator of the exhibition, Felicity Milburn, is presenting an ArtBite on October 14, discussing Lusk's Imagined Projects, Limeworks II work.