Coromind is honoured to have the Artist Michael Smither (Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit) as our featured artist. When our team asked Michael to share some words with our readers, we were stoked with what we received.
Here’s a journal entry from Michael Smither from 27 October to 1 November 2023.
“Library, massage, coffee, walk. Very tired after my son Thomas’s visit. Did a little composing, restructuring my 21 Piano Pieces for bassoon. Considerable demands on my memory for articles on the origin of the Govett Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, and for this now one-year-old Coromind. My birthday coming on 29 October. Attendance in Coromandel at the CR Exhibit Space. 84 this time. 85 a long way to go. Thomas bought me some therapeutic boots for long cold winter evenings. Could be some way away as the forecast is for a long hot dry and windy summer. Had a taste of intense cold yesterday as I got into the pond to clean the glass to help see the little school of whitebait delivered by Chris Charteris from his stream, the Waitaia. The whitebait have big dark eyes that makes them feel like aliens. The water was so cold it made my arm ache. I look forward to swimming in the sea.
At the Otama Ratepayers AGM, I put out an idea for the prevention of the destruction of the Otama mussel reefs. Along with James. So far I have thought of a Pō to mark their significance, and somehow making it educational and attractive. Next idea to emerge was a children’s book and perhaps t-shirts. Vivienne who showed her artwork in the exhibition of Māori and Pacifica wāhine in the Kūaotunu Hall, a stirring image. She and I worked on the Tairua school mural years ago. Smither rocks painted around the school swimming pool. I am going to ask her to support the ‘save the mussel beds’ with her imagery. The mussel is such a central part of the rocky coastal environment. The harakeke is its onshore partner in survival, sharing the same rocky bed with seaweed and fish.
In a day, my body clock moved from 83 to 84. It seems my slide into the 80s is inducing requests for my biographical notes. There are plenty of stories over the years, some written by me and others by interested professional writers. Most recent of these requests involves recounting the early stories of the setting up of the Govett Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth. Well I remember the bug house theatre on Saturdays where I got my dose of common culture for sixpence. The movie house that became the new flash Art Gallery. Set up by her* funds to support local artists – that the City Council quickly killed off for exhibitions supporting international artists considered of ‘great’ importance. The cultural mafia at work. Don Driver, local artist of national repute, got a job at the front desk. He became gossip central till he retired.”
*Monica Brewster (née Govett 1886–1973)
Words by Michael Smither
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