A collective print exhibition reflecting artists’ views concerning the significance and life of the Pacific Ocean. Including printmakers from New Zealand, Hawaii, Vanuatu, California, Japan and Australia.

Studio Printmakers Collective have generously gifted two collections of prints to the Whangarei Art Museum from a Pacific perimeter print exchange. This innovative exchange of contemporary prints was first initiated in 2011-12 by Jenny Sanzaro-Nishimura to coincide with the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial at the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Australia. It was implemented to give printmakers in the Asia/Pacific area an opportunity to showcase their work and have a voice on issues that face the region. The collection features studios and artists from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Philippines, Chile, Japan and Vanuatu, showcasing a variety of printmaking techniques including traditional, digital and variable edition monoprints, on A4 size archival paper. Each studio involved has kept a Solander box set of prints to exhibit around their country and to add to a museum collection of their choosing. This first collection will be exhibited at Whangarei Art Museum from the 6^th until the 26^th of November 2017 in the Community Gallery.

The second Pacific Perimeter Print Exchange, Vie du Pacifique II, was curated by Jenny Sanzaro-Nishimura and Jennifer Stuerzl from Migaloo Press. It features printmakers from Black Dolphin Workshop, Long Beach, USA, Arm & Roller Press, Hawaii, Tama University, Japan, Studio Printmakers Collective, New Zealand and a group of artists from Vanuatu. The Queensland artists feature members of Migaloo Press and Impress Printmakers Studio from Brisbane, printmakers from Crow Street Creative, Gladstone, plus several invited artists.

The printmakers represented in these collections are from countries geographically diverse; climates vary from tropical, to temperate and sub-Arctic/Antarctic. The flora, fauna and marine life are equally diverse, as is their cultural lore relationship to the Pacific. The themes open an opportunity for printmakers of the Pacific Region to investigate a range of issues. These include relationships with the Pacific Ocean; concerns about global warming; the ocean as a source of life and beauty; environmental and political concerns. Some artists work is reflective, whereas others are reactionary in their engagement with the theme.

There is a wide variety of printmaking techniques and styles represented in Vie De Pacifique and a Printmakers talk will be held on Saturday 25^th of November at 2pm, at the Whangarei Art Museum to explore the processes and content of the collection.