Main Gallery
5 June - 4 July

Opens Saturday 5 June 10am
Floor talk at 10.30am

Connections with Land, showcases people working with and enjoying their animals on the land, as well as a beekeeper and gardeners working in their respective environments. The work exhibited expresses the joy of connection with land as well as presenting images of the reality of rural life.

A smaller series of three works trace the joy of the working relationship of a farmer and his workmate, the farm dog. The first image portrays the farmer and his dog as mutual respected workmates, the second image shows the aged dog and in the final third image we see the sad task of laying to rest an old dog under a willow tree, an act befitting a much-loved farm dog.

Also featured are images depicting farmers and animals in drought, wet weather and in plenty of grass. Other works are about people enjoying a close relationship with their calves or a couple of cows demanding affection. The beekeeper is just as intent on caring for his bees as are the gardeners in their gardens.

Throughout her career as an artist, Dianne discovered that she couldn’t settle with landscapes or formal portraiture until the day she realised that combining the two was her strength. By doing so she could paint the people and/or the animals within the environment together. For Dianne this was a release to work with the environment she knows best.  

February and March 2020 were the months of drought for farmers, and then Covid lockdowns for the rest of New Zealand. Both came as a shock for Dianne. She then took time to slow down, regroup and knuckle down into survival mode. All appointments, trips and visitors were cancelled and other than the daily 4pm Covid bulletins, life was very quiet. It was a perfect time for Dianne to concentrate on her paintings for her exhibition the following year. She had already begun working on paintings under the heading of Connections with Land. When Covid lockdown started she had plenty of art material and a healthy pile of images and ideas to work towards completing her exhibition work in her studio.     

Dianne Baker paints to showcase the joy and the toil of life working with land, weather, animals, gardens and people in both an emotional, as well as the physical reality as she experiences it. She is aware that each viewer will bring their own experiences and responses to these art works.

Pictured below: 

They Demand Attention