Out of the Rain - West Coast Artists Mair Gallery, 7 - 24 March 2007

Out of the Rain is a survey show that celebrates the local, the indigenous, and the regional in an entirely unselfconscious manner and draws attention to a place, environment and particular community in a collective body of art works. Less than 50 kilometres in width and 500 kilometres in length, the West Coast is a unique geographical entity and not least because of the dominating influence of the Alps on the West Coast's weather. Canterbury writer, Anna Rogers recently described the rainfall as 'phenomenal: one place inland from the Hokitika Gorge once recorded a staggering 14 metres (of rain) in a year.'
Out of the Rain reveals the range and quality of work currently being practiced by West Coast artists and acknowledges and honours the region through a series of art works that are informed, either consciously or intuitively, by the climate, geography and atmosphere of the region.