Navigation for Standing Room Only

12:23   Company of potters - the Nodsdale kilns

At a North Shore property in the 1970s and 80s, some of this country's top potters honed their skills using home made kilns powered by a wing,a prayer - and occasionally a vacuum cleaner.

Ian and Sheryl Smail's Nodsdale property was home to three kilns used by potters including Len Castle, Denis O'Connor, Chester Nealie and Warren Tippet.  Now an exhibition at Auckland's Objectspace gallery is about to celebrate those years and reunite the Smails and the potters who owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

Lynn Freeman talks to Ian Smail who's now living in Mangapai in Northland, to ceramicist Peter Lange and to the exhibition's curator, Damian Skinner, who explains why potteries like Nodsdale were so important.

The Company of Potters: Ian Smail and the Nodsdale Kilns, 1973-1984 opens at Objectspace in Auckland on Friday. Damian Skinner, Peter Lange and Ian Smail are part of a conversation at the gallery on Saturday afternoon.

 

12:50 A century of Wellington's Paramount cinema

The Paramount

The Paramount Photo: Alexander Turnbull lLibrary

This week sees the end of an era. After almost exactly 100 years, Wellington's Paramount Cinema is finally closing its doors tomorrow. It opened as a picture palace in 1917, but more recently, it's best known for its starring role over the years during Wellington's International Film Festival.  It's also been a home to many other organisations - from the serious Wellington Film Society to the funky 48 Hour Film Challenge.

Lynn Freeman looks back on an eventful 100 years, and talks to the Paramount's last manager Steve Ferguson, and to the Wellington Film Society's Caroline Garrett.

 

1:10 At The Movies

This week Simon Morris reviews American Assassin, Victoria and Abdul and Mother!

 

1:31 Unearthing and cataloguing buried treasure

Alex Monteith

Alex Monteith Photo: supplied

Artist Alex Monteith is behind a push to catalogue hundreds of boxes of material excavated from Fiordland back in the late 1960s and early 70s.The material, mainly from maori sites, has been stored at Southland Museum and Art Gallery and Otago Museum, but until Alex got involved, little of it had been examined.

Now she's working with archeologists and historians and other artists to catalogue artifacts in another 25 of the boxes, as part of an exhibition called Coastal Flows / Coastal Incursions, currently showing at St Paul Street Gallery in Auckland.  Lynn Freeman asks Alex Monteith to describe some of these hidden treasures.

 

1:45 The long - very long - shots of photographer Peter Latham

Few photographers get to see their work blown up to be 28 metres long, but that's one of the biggest commissions so far for New Zealand landscape photographer Peter Latham. The alpine scene mural now adorns a Russian mansion.

Peter's concentrated on landscape photography since 2004 and a new book of his images Looking for the Light  takes us on a roadtrip through Aotearoa.  As he expalins to Lynn Freeman, capturing the perfect light - and patience - are crucial to his work, particularly on his favourite in the collection, a photo called "Jackpot"..

 

2:06 The Laugh Track - Guy Williams

Guy Williams

Guy Williams Photo: supplied

The maverick third wheel of TV3's popular Jono and Ben series picks some political favourites in the aftermath of the election - people like John Mulaney, Jordan Lepper, Dave Chappelle - and Guy Williams.

 

2:25 Rongowhakaata artist Derek Lardelli is inspired by three women

Derek Lardelli

Derek Lardelli Photo: Te Papa

Senior Rongowhakaata artist Professor Derek Lardelli has carved three giant pou that tell the story of three women with a very special place in the history of his Gisborne iwi.  Te Papa commissioned the work as part of its new exhibition Ko Rongowhakaata: The Story of Light and Shadow - the eighth iwi exhibition since the national museum opened in 1998.

It's also the home of the iwi's historic whare whakairo, Te Hau ki Tūranga, dating back to the 1840s and confiscated by the Crown in 1867. During the exhibition, Rongowhakaata craftsmen will work to restore the treasured meeting house.

Derek Lardelli's work Ngā manu a Rongo reflects the influence of Rongowhakaata's ancestors through time, and as he tells Lynn Freeman, it's a deeply personal carving:  Ko Rongowhakaata: The Story of Light and Shadow opens at Te Papa in Wellington this Friday.  

 

2:36  Anahera, Snothead and a boat called Baby

No caption

Photo: supplied

No caption

Photo: supplied

Cynthia steals money from her father to pay for a boat called Baby, a sanctuary for her, her dog Snothead and Anahera, her fitness instructor and the woman of her dreams. But the reality of their life in the Bay of Islands isn't what she hoped for as the money quickly runs out and Anahera remains more aloof than loving.

This is the scenario in Annaleese Jochem's debut novel, Baby.  She talks to Lynn Freeman about the appeal of the  Bay of Islands and black comedy

Baby is published by Victoria University Press.

 

 

2:48 My heels are killing me - Nom *D

Margi Robertson is the founder of New Zealand’s most iconic label - Nom *D. The label has been running for 30 years and Sonia Sly meets the designer to talk about life-changing moments, the future for young designers and the success behind the brand.

3:06 Drama at 3 -  LifeAfter and A Short History of Olive Growing 

Today Episode 1 of a 10-part thriller about AI - LifeAfter by Mack Rogers. It's been made under the supervision of John Dryden for the GE Podcast Theater and the Panoply Network.  Also a fondly remembered New Zealand piece -  Joanna Derrill presents A Short History of Olive Growing  by Katie Henderson.

Music played in this show

Artist: Tono and the Finance Company
Song: Politics will make you miserable
Composer: Tonnon
Album: Otago Music:  Volume 3
Label: University of Otago
Played at:  12.18

Artist:  Dragon
Song: Politics
Composer: Taylor-Hunter-Brown
Album: O Zambezi
Label:  Portrait
Played at:  12.23

Artist:  Everything But The Girl
Song:  Politics aside
Composer: Watt
Album:  Worldwide
Label: Blanco y Negro
Played at:  12.45

Artist: Theme
Song:  Cinema Paradiso
Composer:  Morricone
Album: Paradiso
Label: Decca
Played at:  12.49

Artist: The Waterboys
Song: Politics
Composer:  Scott-Yeats
Album: An appointment with Mr Yeats
Label: Proper
Played at:  12.58

Artist: Dead C
Song: Bad politics
Composer: Dead C
Album:  Dead C:  Perform DR503C
Label: Flying Nun
Played at:  1.09

Artist:  Less Than Jake
Song:  Plastic cup politics
Composer:  Fiorello
Album: Anthem
Label: Sire
Played at:  1.43

Artist:  Sammy Kershaw
Song:  Religion politics and her
Composer: Hill-Martin
Album: Chartbreakers 4496
Label: Chartbreakers
Played at:  1.58

Artist: Urban Species
Song: Religion and Politics
Composer: Akinrinlola
Album: Blanket
Label:  Talkin Loud
Played at:  2.04

Artist:  Divine Comedy
Song:  Bang goes the knighthood
Composer: Hannan
Album: Bang goes the knighthood
Label: DCR
Played at:  2.50

Artist: Cream
Song: Politician
Composer:  Bruce-Brown
Album: Live Cfream
Label: Polydor
Played at: 2.58

Artist: Re-Flex
Song: The politics of dancing
Composer: Re-Flex
Album:  Hard To Find
Label: Disky
Played at:  3.38