The Interview: Jane Evans

Nelson’s most famous living artist discusses her long involvement with the Suter and its immense importance to Nelson’s artistic community. | By Sue Farley. Photography by Tim Cuff
There’s a book about her, as well as countless magazine articles and even a documentary, but these days Nelson artist Jane Evans keeps a lower profile. Widely known for her vivid, luscious, colourful paintings of flowers, people and places, she now prefers to paint quietly in her studio, slowly working through the big backlog of paintings she has on order to national and international clients.

Sitting at her kitchen table, we are surrounded by examples of her art on the clay walls, shelves of handmade crockery and lots of colourful fabrics and earthy tiles. Outside, the garden is changing colour as autumn seeps in; the burnt orange of the grapevine matching the pastel colours of Jane’s studio across the courtyard. There’s so much colour here.

Although she had travelled and achieved success earlier, Jane’s artwork really rose to prominence during the time she lived and worked in one of the little colonial cottages along Tasman Street in the 1970s. Often home for long periods due to ill health, she began to paint the flowers and colours of her garden. This bold, bright artwork quickly became her signature, although it was often considered precocious as colour was just beginning to emerge, replacing the earthy tones of landscape painting at the time. She still draws on those earlier roots in her more contemporary work.

Her bright, happy personality – and equally bright and uplifting paintings – has added an important dimension to Nelson’s art community, in which she still plays a vital part. “I’ve had a long association with the Suter,” she begins. “When I was just 15, I was a working member of the Nelson Arts Society, so I was really touched when they made me an honorary life member a few years ago.”

“I can so clearly remember walking into the old Suter [the wooden-floored Amelia Suter Gallery], which was a really old building that creaked spookily. There was usually nobody there at all, so often the friendliest face in the gallery was that wonderful Lindauer portrait of Huria Matenga on the right-hand side as you went in; the soft face of this strong woman who was larger than life. That was often your only comfort because it was pretty damn scary in there.”

But Jane was drawn there by the art, even as a teenager. As she explains, very few people had original artwork in their houses back then. They would have a picture of the Queen maybe, and a few prints. “I went because I really liked the paintings.”

Between 1965 and 1997, she held over 60 solo and group exhibitions around the world. Her work was held in corporate and gallery collections, embassies and countless private collections, and she was featured by numerous media outlets.

Since those early beginnings, Jane’s involvement with the gallery has been renewed over the years. On her return from London back in 1969, she was devastated to find that the beautiful old wooden Provincial Buildings, which once stood where the courthouse now stands in Bridge Street, had been pulled down.

“I immediately started looking at the wealth of buildings that we had here by Frederick de Jersey Clere: the Suter, the School of Music and that background of churches. For colonial buildings, they had a special quality. So when the Suter went for that original redevelopment by Miles Warren, I was appalled that the old gallery ceiling was lowered and the original Gothic-inspired ceiling was covered up.”

“But things change, because now we’re going to re-expose it and reveal it again,” she smiles.

For many years now Jane has been involved in the long, drawn-out and sometimes contentious proposals to upgrade the Suter Art Gallery. Over much of that time, the Suter had been governed by a rather archaic trust board arrangement, inherited from the late 1800s, which made decision-making and change extremely difficult to undertake.

“So when the new development was first initiated in 1999, I got very excited about it and was very happy to get on board the steering committee for Project 2000. But looking back on that whole era, I feel terribly sorry for the trust board and director of the day because they all worked so incredibly hard and they’ve had to wait until now to see something happen. At last! They had a real drive to get that building going, but it was just a series of disasters. It could have been so amazing.”

The saga of the proposed 2000 Suter Gallery upgrade was a sad story. Essentially, the gallery was offered a large pledge of $6.4m from three generous American-based benefactors – Glenn Schaeffer and David and Leigh Teece. Unfortunately, these generous philanthropic offers were eventually lost through the turbulence and slowness of the decision-making process, much to the detriment of the upgrade project and to Nelson itself.

Jane laments this loss still, feeling that a lack of understanding of the philanthropic process may have won out over a much more magnanimous outcome. “After all,” she says, “Wellington was quite happy to accept his [Schaeffer’s] generous gift in saving the Bill Manhire School of Creative Writing at Victoria University. They were more than happy to accept the building he bought them and the sculptures he commissioned for them.”

“But I truly believe there’s still so much positivity here in Nelson. It’s unfortunate that a few people bowled an absolutely unbelievable gift. I wrote something once in reaction to all this. It said something like, ‘Do the Venetians weep into the Grand Canal because they have the Peggy Guggenheim in their midst? Do the villagers of Giverny bemoan the emergence of Monet’s garden? Do the good citizens of Versailles complain about the restoration of their fabulous palace by the Rockefeller Foundation?’ How could the Suter turn down its moment of glory?”

“So we lost the pledge, which ran out in 2005. Now, without the $6.4m, it’s a whole different ball game for this new upgrade in a recession landscape. A less ambitious refurbishment is now underway with the philosophy of ‘small is beautiful’, which aims at enhancing the existing gallery in stages. It incorporates the requirements for upgraded staff quarters, education spaces, a new exhibition gallery and an entrance foyer suitable for powhiri, whilst retaining the old favourites – the theatre and café.”

“Some of your readers may recall that I had doubts about retaining the theatre in the original Suter 2000 redevelopment plan. But so many people wanted the theatre to stay. At the time, it wasn’t only not pulling its weight but was costing the gallery money. To repair it was going to cost a lot of money, which we didn’t have, and it wasn’t a core interest of the gallery. However, it was set up in a time before multi-screen cinemas, so film and theatre were an important part of what made the gallery a multi-functional facility.”

“Now it’s a wonderful, ambient little theatre functioning well under new administration and I’m all for it. I think it’s great, and as patron of the Nelson Arts Festival I’m very aware of how much we need these small theatres.”

To overcome previous disasters and difficulties and move forward, the Suter needed to become a council-controlled facility. This has taken a long time but is now resolved, and the gallery is running under a new, rejuvenated trust board with Craig Potton as chair. Both the Nelson City and Tasman District Councils give annual, if not equal, contributions towards its running.

“Initially, the community gave tremendous support to the Suter 2000 Fund, but the government couldn’t commit funding until the gallery was a council-controlled organisation. So we had to wait till they formed an Act of Parliament and it had been through the government process. Nick Smith and Sir Geoffrey Palmer were both involved in finally getting it through. Now that these governance changes have been formalised, it feels like a cloud has been lifted,” Jane explains passionately.

“Apart from the building redevelopment, there are other exciting things happening at the Suter. I’ve always felt that the Suter suffered from a huge marketing disadvantage being placed back from the street as it is, because you simply don’t see it. It has no ‘Here I am!’ about it. I would like to see something that says, ‘Here is the Suter, Te Aratoi o Whakatu’ – something that can be seen from either end of Bridge Street.”

This has now become more than just a wish as Jane has recently negotiated a sculpture placement with Sally Hunt, the newly-appointed patron to the gallery. “Sally and her late husband, Robert, initiated the incredibly successful education programme at the gallery. And Sally has agreed to loan and fund the placement of her son’s, Jim Mitchell’s, exciting contemporary stainless-steel sculpture outside the gallery. This is very ‘statement making’,” Jane says excitedly.

“And I think that having it done before the building work starts acts as a little feed-out to let people know that things are happening. Another thing that’s happening is Craig Potton’s acquisitions programme, which is the ‘10 by 10 Group’ – 10 people give $10,000 each over five years. We’ve had a fantastic response to this.”

At this point, Jane quotes Hamish Keith’s comments on the essence of any gallery being its acquisitions, and the importance of galleries working as long-term archival, as well as short-term display, venues.

“I was so reinforced by what Hamish said there, because really… what is a gallery all about? It’s about the paintings and the people; not about egos or individuals. It’s about the viewing public and providing works that are going to uplift and inspire; and looking after the collection and adding value to it in the form of contemporary works. This emphasis has faded away more recently, but the Suter Arts Society has been very helpful in reigniting the idea. They’ve both fundraised and bought for the collection.”

“It was once suggested that the Suter collection be sold and only temporary exhibitions displayed. It’s also been suggested that the collection be moved offsite. These are such short-sighted ideas. There is huge significance in the fact that 90% of the collection has been donated by the community, and one of the very special things about the Suter is that the staff are so willing to show anyone who is interested into the inner sanctums of the Collection Gallery. This is a very special feature that the gallery is able to offer its community and visitors.”

“With all the positive changes, there’s a new buoyancy at the gallery now; a real feeling that we can do it. We struggle sometimes, and we’re a bit shabby and the infrastructure is very rundown, but we do put on really good shows. An incredible job is being done with running themed exhibitions from works in the archives. And there’s an intelligence and creativity in the use of our collection.”

“We’re also incredibly lucky to have a brilliant young curator, Anna Marie White, who would be snapped up by any major gallery in the world! The dynamic between her and our director, Julie Catchpole, is tangible as they bounce ideas off one another. We have an enthusiastic and fantastic permanent staff and group of volunteers, a hugely successful education programme for schools, the café is buzzing and the theatre is doing very well.”
“We are the envy of galleries in the major cities with our turnouts. Galleries are often seen as elitist, but the Suter is considered inclusive… as far as that’s possible. We bring in exhibitions that attract younger people as well as the grey hairs like me,” she laughs.

With that, the coffee pot is empty, it is gently raining and the golden glow has gone from the grapevine. Jane’s concern for the local arts scene is obvious as she remembers all the other things she meant tell me. Another time, maybe.