Neil Dawson, Ripples, 1987. PVC (polyvinylchloride) high density sealed cell foam coated with carbon fibre cloth and epoxy resin. Stainless steel wire. Destroyed in 2022.
And who could forget the Left Bank Café on the Centre for Contemporary Art (CFCA hereafter) Waikato River bank terrace. Created by Brian Anderson and Kevin Pyle this was a lunch and dinner must-go-to café in Hamilton, unquestionably world-famous in the Waikato and Auckland in the 1980’s -1990’s. Diners walked off busy Victoria Street, down through the elegant galleries of the CFCA to the quiet, smart, casual, consciously very good riverside outdoor terrace café. It was bliss. This was where New Zealand artists, collectors, academics, arts administrators, directors, curators, writers, and business people from Hamilton, Auckland, Waikato and the world met.
As if an early thumbs-up of bigger things to come between Chartwell and the CFCA and Waikato Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Waikato (Waikato Museum hereafter); and before the new museum building had been completed, the CFCA was the venue for the 1986 reception where Hamilton Mayor, Sir Ross Jansen KBE JP received ‘Ripples’ on behalf of the city. The Waikato River bank sculpture by Christchurch artist Neil Dawson CNZM suspended between two trees at the river frontage of the Waikato Museum is now synonymous with Hamilton City, a tourist attraction in its own right. Commissioned by Hamilton law firm McCaw Lewis Chapman (now McCaw Lewis Lawyers) on the recommendation of the Waikato Museum, the much-loved sculpture celebrated the 1987 opening of the new Waikato Museum.
The CFCA and Left Bank Café were also the venue in the early 1990s for a luncheon for the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, MOMA, New York, NY organised by Dame Jennifer Gibbs DNZM, an ICMMA member, following a historic visit to Tūrangawaewae Marae, Ngāruawāhia and viewing exhibitions at the CFCA and Waikato Museum.
Bruce M. Robinson
Director 1984-1995 Waikato Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Waikato
