Various Artists with Sofia & Beth

The New Zealand Institute of Architects Gold Medal for 2022 award was recently presented to Nicholas and Gary of Stevens Lawson’s Architects.

Between them they have 200 completed projects behind them, encompassing 80 bespoke houses and 20-odd multi-residential projects. So far the Institute has recognised Stevens Lawson with 25 national and 24 regional awards, as well as the New Zealand Architecture Medal, the Supreme Award and the 2022 John Scott Award for Public Architecture. They were awarded a category win and highly commended at the 2022 World Architecture Festival.

The NZIA Gold Medal, however, is a little different. It is the highest individual honour an architect can achieve in New Zealand. It honours architects who consistently achieve the highest standards for – and with – their clients. Gold Medal recipients make an outstanding contribution to the practice of architecture, which is demonstrated through a consistently high-quality body of work over a period of time.

This week on Various Artists, Frances caught up with Nicholas and Gary to hear about their creative partnership, their work over the years and their hope for the future of Architecture in Aotearoa.

On Friday last week, myself (Frances), Joe and Liam jumped in the car and drove down the West Coast to WOMAD. 

WOMAD is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. This year saw a line up with the likes of Youssu N’Dor, Avantdale Bowling Club, Sampa the Great and a whole bunch more. 

There was also a range of food, market stalls, and workshops. Interviews were taking place with writers, vendors were selling salt grinders, and local chefs came together to sell food from Venezuelan Arepas to Hungarian Langos.  

After pitching some tents in the mud, we grabbed our mics and headed out to enjoy the festival and talk to the people of WOMAD.

Kia Ora, and welcome to the inaugural episode of Various Artists! Former news teamers and show cover-ers, Frances and Liam, are super excited to bring you a new platform to be in the know about arts in Tāmaki Makaurau. E whai ake nei:

We’re taking a quick trip down to Tauranga to chat about Work Out - a multi artist project taking place in the local gallery. Liam spoke to curator Serena Bentley about the overall project, as well as artists Paul Darragh and Turumeke Harrington about their individual exhibitions.
Then we celebrate the life of Aotearoa photographer Ans Westra, who passed away at the end of February. Frances talked with Athol McCredie, Curator Photography at Te Papa and David Alsop, director of Suite gallery about Ans’ life and works. 

We also have your Tāmaki arts guide from the tenth to the seventeenth of March! Whakarongo mai nei!

 The AGI Open is coming up later this month at Aotea Centre, showcasing talks from over thirty global design leaders from Alliance Graphique Internationale.

This is only the second time in 25 years that AGI, a major collective of influential graphic designers from around the world, have come to the southern hemisphere and their first time in Aotearoa. 

Taking place from the 18th-19th of September, these talks will not be worth missing. Liam had a chat with organiser Dean Poole about the designers trekking down to Tāmaki Makaurau and the event as a whole.