increase font size
Some of Waikato artist Dianne Baker’s work which will be on display in Morrinsville during Fieldays.
Visitors to this year’s Fieldays, who want a bit of a break from looking at all the new tractors and machinery, can pop over to Morrinsville to take in some rural art.
‘Connections with Land’, an exhibition in the Community Gallery at the Wallace Gallery in Morrinsville, will have up to 21 paintings by Waikato artist Dianne Baker. It showcases people working with and enjoying their animals on the land – as well as a beekeeper and gardeners working in their respective environments.
Baker describes the artwork as showing the joy of connection with land, as well as presenting images of the reality of rural life.
The exhibition also includes a smaller series of three works that traces the joy of the working relationship of a farmer and his farm dog. The first image portrays the farmer and his dog as mutual respected workmates, the second image shows the aged dog and in the final third image we see the sad task of laying to rest an old dog under a willow tree.
Also featured are pictures depicting farmers and animals in drought, wet weather and in plenty of grass.
Other works are about people enjoying a close relationship with their calves or a couple of cows demanding affection.
Baker says that throughout her career as an artist, she couldn’t settle with landscapes or formal portraiture until the day she realised that combining the two was her strength. By doing so she could paint the people and/or the animals within the environment together.
February and March 2020 were the months of drought for farmers in the Waikato and then Covid lockdown came for the rest of New Zealand. Baker says this was a perfect time for her to concentrate on her paintings.
She had already begun working on paintings under the heading of Connections with Land. So, when Covid lockdown started she had plenty of art material and a healthy pile of images and ideas to work towards completing her exhibition work in her studio.
Baker says she paints to showcase the joy and the toil of life working with land, weather, animals, gardens and people.
Already causing a stir in the burgeoning ute sector, JAC (“Jack”) has raised its profile by being named as the latest major sponsor of June’s National Fieldays, where it will officially introduce its top-of-the-line T9 4WD double cab ute to the market, joining its fleet of 100% EV and Cummins diesel trucks.
With two months until National Fieldays at Mystery Creek, organisers say 90% of sites have been booked by exhibitors.
The Forestry Hub returns to Fieldays for its third consecutive year, showcasing how trees and wood are transforming New Zealand.
OPINION: The annual Fieldays at Mystery Creek next week should inject some much-needed energy into the agricultural sector, however, a mate of the Hound questions whether the organisers truly understand that most of the exhibitors are hoping to see farmers – not just all-and-sundry – coming through the turnstiles.
This year’s Fieldays will feature a Rural Advocacy Hub - bringing together various rural organisations who are advocating for farmers and championing their interests as one team, under one roof, for the first time.
Fieldays 2025 opens this week with organisers saying the theme, 'Your Place', highlights the impact the event has on agriculture both in the Southern Hemisphere and across the globe.
Sam Carter, assistant manager for T&G's Pakowhai Sector, has been named the Hawke's Bay 2025 Young Grower of the Year.
The CEO of Apples and Pears NZ, Karen Morrish, says the strategic focus of her organisation is to improve grower returns.
A significant breakthrough in understanding facial eczema (FE) in livestock brings New Zealand closer to reducing the disease’s devastating impact on farmers, animals, and rural communities.
Farmer co-operative LIC has closed its satellite-backed pasture measurement platform – Space.
OPINION: The case of four Canterbury high country stations facing costly and complex consent hearing processes highlights the dilemma facing the farming sector as the country transitions into a replacement for the Resource Management Act (RMA).
