May 1 - May 31, 2017 Once There Were Huia

Two exhibitions open for May by husband-and-wife Paul and Fran Dibble. The couple with a long-standing foothold in Palmerston North enjoy showing their work together and this is the latest of several exhibitions the duo have had that have been held at Zimmerman Art Gallery.

Fran’s paintings occupy the walls in a new series she calls “Strange Fruit”.

Paul Dibble’s sculptures occupy the three dimensions with a menagerie of celebratory animals promenading the gallery. A collection of his rabbits gather in one grouping turning-the-tails on their human exterminators, either wielding shotguns themselves or just smugly strolling the grounds. His trademark creations of huia (Palmerston North’s natural icon with its last sighting in the Tararua Ranges) either perch against golden kōwhai or tower on a leafed Corten stand surveying passers-by. The central work, The Last Huia 1907, is more solemn, immortalising the bird in flames, burning like the phoenix, in recognition of its demise.