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Firstly, Riwaka was important to the exhibition by being a part of the whole. Without

Riwaka, The Suter Gully collection exhibition would have been incomplete. Secondly, the exhibition was grouped geographically and Riwaka hung with the other two Riwaka paintings and alongside three carved walking sticks. Tim Wraight, a local sculptor based in Marahau, at the entrance to the Abel Tasman National Park, chose

Riwaka to respond to in his work Sticks to aid an artist in climbing to a good vantage

Figure 30: John Gully's three paintings of Riwaka surrounding Tim Wraight's Sticks to aid an artist in climbing to a good vantage point 2011, in Site ReScene, 2011. Image courtesy of The Suter Art Gallery, Te Aratoi o Whakatū, 2011.

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point 2011. Living close to Riwaka for much of his life, Wraight is intimately knowledgeable about the area. After spending time with Riwaka in the collection store, he and his father began walking through the Riwaka hills until they believed they found the place where Gully would have sat to complete his watercolour painting. They found the tree in the painting still growing. Wraight took home a branch from the tree and used it to carve the three walking sticks which hung alongside Riwaka in Site ReScene.

Due to the intensity which the artists were able to focus on their chosen artworks, interesting new research or knowledge was uncovered. Wraight, with all of his knowledge of the Riwaka area and the time he put into finding the exact spot that the painting Riwaka depicts, provides an authoritative argument. He placed the artwork in quite a different location than had been previously thought. These kinds of outcomes occurred with several of the local artists while they were responding to their chosen works. Most significantly, artists discovered that many of Gully’s works were very difficult or even impossible to position. They discovered that Gully was quite willing to move geographical features to perfect his artworks. Sometimes this occurred to the point where it is possible to suggest that no such place as that shown in Gully’s painting exists in New Zealand.

Because Wraight chose Riwaka to respond to in his own work, Riwaka was given a more elevated position in the exhibition that it may have otherwise achieved on its own. Although it remained grouped with the other Riwaka works, it was the central piece of the three because it worked with the sculptures. The caption that accompanied Wraight’s artwork stated:

Sticks to aid an artist in climbing to a good vantage point 2011 Set of three

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These tokotoko (walking sticks) are made from the dead branches of a kamahi tree which is depicted in John Gully’s Riwaka (top right). The tree is located in the centre left of the painting in what is described as a general bush area. At the time that Gully made this painting, the tree would have only been a sapling. This identification is based on a unique set of skills and local knowledge. The artist worked with his father, a Motueka-based agriculturalist and horticulturalist, to identify the site (located on the Drummond farm on the Takaka Hill road). When the artist trekked to this site, Tim identified an old tree which he judged to be well over one hundred years given its girth and size (although he is quick to point out that he can’t be absolutely sure unless he cuts down the tree).

This identification is based on his specialist knowledge as an established wood carver working in native timbers. The motifs that have been carved into the surfaces are typical of Tim’s style and are stylistic designs based on huhu, thorn and seed forms.

These tokotoko pay homage to Gully, who Tim respects as an intrepid tramper. Tim figures that Gully would have cut more than a few walking sticks in his time to gain access to the high and difficult vantage points that we see in this exhibition.

On a broader note, the choice to exhibit the entire Gully collection, warts and all, allowed a different effect to take place. Curator Anna-Marie White stated that while she wished to respond to criticisms that the Gallery was not bringing the Gully’s out on display she did not want to turn the exhibition into a funding drive. Without being explicit, this exhibition allowed The Suter Art Gallery public to experience the Gully collection as a whole and gain a better understanding of its component parts. By placing the impressive and conserved, well-known Gully’s alongside those which had not been on display since the 1970s and were not even framed, a better understanding could be reached as to why, although there are 48 Gully artworks in the permanent

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Figure 31: Site ReScene, 2011. Image courtesy of The Suter Art Gallery, Te Aratoi o Whakatū, 2011.

collection, some are not suitable for display. Even though Riwaka does not fall into this category, this understanding is important due to the value of each of these works which comes from being part of this group.