Legato in New Zealand 2011

The Wallace Gallery is the venue for the 2011 New Zealand exhibition of Legato. The Gala Opening (click here for link) was held on Friday 18th February and was enjoyed by a "full house" of enthusiastic visitors. The exhibition fills the Main Gallery and Legato works by Morrinsville born Sarah Scott spill over into the Matamata - Piako District Community Gallery.

The curator's presentation in the Wallace Arts Trust Gallery outlined the background to Legato and the future plans for its growth. Photographs and explanations gave further insight into selected pieces and the talk included an indepth look at works which remain in the permanent collection in Italy or which have been retained to show again in Cassino 2011.

New exhibitors include artist Gilmore Wall, sculptor Dave Roy (guest exhibitor), illustrator-artist Lisa Allen, writer Glenda Kane, poet Robert Sullivan, quilt artist Lois Wine, and artist Regan Balzer who is the guest artist at Cassino 2011. Regan has preliminary paintings for her Cassino works in the Morrinsville exhibition.

An evening of live Italian music was provided by Alison Ham of Papamoa (keyboard) and Garry Osborn of Tauranga (clarinet). Service clubs and volunteers served canapes and drinks and all three adjoining galleries were used for the evening. Extra seating was provided by service clubs and sports clubs to accommodate all the guests in the adjoining Wallace Gallery for the presentation. This was concluded with the viewing of Nicola Blackmore's "Legato at Cassino".

Guests from the Italy Star Association saw a different presentation which included more photos of Cassino and the surrounding area on the Saturday.

The exhibition continues in its present form until 16th March. Gallery director Charlotte Giblin and her assistants are available to discuss the works. Curator Kay de Lautour has returned to Italy to finalise details for Legato (Cassino) 2011.