R E V I E W S
The NZ Herald |T.J. McNamara: solo
exhibition at The French Art Shop Gallery September 1989
"A show with equal energy
is the recent work of Sarah McBeath at the
out-of-the-way gallery above The French Art Shop in Ponsonby Rd.
This is an unheralded but very impressive show. The basis of most of the paintings is a
swelling hill with a sombre light in the sky beyond. Added to this archetypal New Zealand
image are two other forms, a jester and a maze shape.
The outstanding paintings are two called Mabers Farm.
Both have spectacular skies, and in one of them the curious maze symbol appears and adds a
note of song to the scene.
The symbol is stretched vertically in Muriwai and disturbs the level of the
horizon. This and the heavily angled Waimauku 6 are forced and mannered; but the
exhibition as a whole is very powerful with the joker figures breaking through the
prevailing sombreness."
The NZ Herald |T.J. McNamara:
Central King Country Art Awards October 1989
"The Central King Country Art Awards are generous and the competition has grown from
250 entries in 1987 to well over 500 this year.
The work of the winning artists supported by other fine work from Sarah McBeath, Russell
Hollings, Martin Young, Ted Kindleysides
must be stimulating to culture in the centre
of the island."
The Northern Advocate | Stephanie Sheehan: group exhibition
at Art Stop Gallery Whangarei February 1991
"The most memorable and powerful painting of the two dozen on exhibition is
Mabers Farm by Sarah McBeath. In this sombre work the land heaves itself up like a
gutstruck whale, the water streaming off its flanks and evaporating into a luminous
sky."
The Northern Advocate | Stephanie Sheehan:
solo exhibition at Whangarei Art Gallery February 1992
"The bare bones of three volcanic mounts
are seen through shifting veils of
paint.
The Kaipara River has become a braided knot impossible to
untangle. In one, Journey, the cord departs from and returns to the same pot in an elegant
reference to a life briefly assumed by clay before returning to dust.
In Helensville II the colour drifts and snakes through in a
lazy meandering will-o-the-wisp of ochre, blood and cerulean spiking the moulded green
hills with a fire of animation.
As well as a flickering dance, McBeath is interested in rich, impasto effects created by
using layers of card, paper and lumpy paint on hessian, canvas and board."
The Northern Advocate | Stephanie Sheehan:
solo exhibition at The Old Firehouse Art Gallery, Waipu December 1992
"McBeath is trying to find her voice, beyond imitation of nature or nemesis.
Taurapa is McBeaths version of the traditional sternpost of a carved canoe.
It shows man in the middle place between wood pigeon above and the lizard below. These are
to define his relationship with God, life and death, says the artist.
They are big bold statements.
Te Makuranga is another large work, this time about two
metres wide rather than high. Here the alternating figures and spirits pose like a line-up
in front of the olive-green animal curves of the hills.
Subtle shading of blues and ambers with the mere hint of magenta makes these hues sing
soft songs
The seven principles of existence
look like patterns of concentrated energy that
cannot be defined more clearly because they would then lose their value."
The Northern Advocate | Stefan Tengblad: solo exhibition at Art Stop Gallery April 1994
The NZ Herald |T.J. McNamara: solo
exhibition at The French Art Shop Gallery February 1995
"The unpretentious but very fine exhibition by Sarah McBeath at the French Art Shop
Gallery in Ponsonby Road succeeds in incorporating Maori thinking and motifs.
Almost all the paintings are Northland landscapes. Some are directly painted and for all
their small size are full of atmosphere. They are little gems.
There is a second category of more profound work where the ancestral
spirits that inhabit the land are made manifest in figures based on Maori carving.
Most of the work uses dark ridges with the light beyond. In Tuia I te Here Tangata there
is a linked chain of motifs under the hills that very effectively suggests a continuum of
thought and feeling associated with the land.
The skill and thought evident in these works is complemented by some works shaped like banners which involve a mask-like face framed by the unfolding
spirals of fern fronds.
With this exhibition Sarah McBeath becomes a force to be reckoned with in New Zealand
art."
The Northern Advocate | Stefan Tengblad: group exhibition at
Northland Craft Trust August 1996
"Sarah McBeaths Te Ao Marama and her Waimauku are fine landscapes playing on
the movement of light as it travels across the land from its source within the sky.
They display good background fading effects. Perhaps signaling a new maturity in her
works."
The Northern Advocate | Hilary Sumpter:
group exhibition at The Old Firehouse Gallery October 1998
"Sarah McBeaths volcanic landscapes are aptly Northland but her stand out are
the Tukutuku panels.
An influence of McCahon is apparent in the panels."
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