More than 100 creative New Zealanders are joining forces to showcase their talents for the 9th Art Salon at Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple in Flat Bush.
The annual exhibition is staged by the temple’s Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery and features hundreds of individual works by artists across a wide range of genres.
The showcase’s first session had its official opening ceremony at the gallery on August 16.
Among the people on hand were Venerable Abbess Manshin of Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple and the gallery’s curator, Takanini MP Rima Nakhle, Howick Local Board chairperson Damian Light and board members Adele White and John Spiller, China Airlines New Zealand general manager Jim Wong, Kendra Chen of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Auckland, and Counties Manukau acting clinical head mental health services Dr Jennifer Hauraki, among others.
Venerable Abbess Manshin joked by saying she describes artists as “the crazy ones” because they break through their comfort zone to bring their works great texture and to share them with the community.
“I can see the improvement year after year, especially because so many of them have participated in this Art Salon for many years.
“We have 115 artists involved in this session. We appreciate all the diamonds in the community who are gathered at this temple, this platform, to share your works here.”
Nakhle said the temple’s work isn’t just done in a day.
“It has a ripple effect, whether it’s with our young children, our teenagers, our young adults, and with our artist community as well.
“You don’t only use the word ‘harmony’. You act it – the community here.
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking consistently to that message of fostering harmony.”
Light said the local community is very diverse and “art has the opportunity to bring us together”.
“Sometimes we don’t speak the same language or understand each other, but the amazing thing about visual art in particular is it’s an opportunity for us to communicate.
“Sometimes those messages can be a call to action, or a call to concern or a call for help, and sometimes it’s just about conveying the beauty we see in the world.
“That’s one of the things I love about art and we are very fortunate in Auckland, particularly out east here, to have some fantastic creative artists.”
The exhibition of works in the Art Salon’s first session is on public display until September 27.
Entry is free and works in the showcase are for sale.
- To see more photos by the Howick Photographic Society at the opening of the Art Salon’s first session click here.
