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Quartet, 5-20 February

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Drawings, paintings, and prints by Peter Le Fevre, Gavin Kew, Esther Hansen and Vicky-Anne Allen

A group of local art teachers are putting their own creative works up for public assessment next month during an exhibition at the New Zealand Steel Gallery in Franklin: The Centre. The drawings, paintings, prints and installation works will reveal the talents of four past and present staff of Pukekohe High School's Art Department.

 'Quartet' will open Wednesday 6 February and run through Wednesday 20 February. The exhibition will show recent work by current Pukekohe teachers Peter Le Fevre, Esther Hansen and Vicky-Anne Allen, and Gavin Kew, formerly a teacher at Pukekohe and now at Kaipara College in Helensville.
 
'Quartet' will remind pupils and the public, the artists say, that they are more than just teachers. Showing themselves as long-time practicising artists demonstrates they are continually challenging their skills and ideas, as well as staying abreast of trends in the contemporary art world. Their broadly ranging individual interests and skills will be well represented in the exhibition.
 
By day, Vicky-Anne Allen is the Head of the Art Department and the Arts Faculty Leader at Pukekohe High. In her studio, she uses abstract painting processes combined with installation elements and lighting effects to explore the dimensions of who we are as human beings, our interconnections and our spheres of influence.
 
Peter Le Fevre takes his favoured genre, portrait painting, beyond the traditional goal of capturing a sitter's likeness on canvas. Questions about the sitter's identity, and his or her role in constructing a reality for the painting, are just as important. Peter's most recent work is allegorical and pays homage to an influential teacher of his own, the artist Andrew Verster.
  
Gavin Kew's recent works have been in mixed media, presented in installation format. They deal with male sexuality and confront traditional mind-sets about deviations from the conceived norm. His works for this exhibition build on this theme and further explore this controversial topic.
 
Esther Anita Hansen's creative work involves printmaking, alternative photographic techniques and installations. She focusses on negotiating the hybridity of her cultural heritage, having been raised in Franklin District by a Danish father and a Dutch mother. Her recent works, 'Joyful Myths,' are black-and-white prints depicting diverse text, objects, and religious references. The combinations disrupt the usual associations with each image while telling new stories, allowing viewers to make their own mythologies.