‘With Ruth in Mind’  Exhibition 2025

Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand selected member exhibition

Venue: Ruth Davey Gallery, Arts Post, Waikato Society of Arts, Hamilton

Dates: 10 July to 10 August 2025

Opening: Saturday 12 July. 1pm - 3pm.
(There will be another exhibition opening at the same time - WAIPRINT, the annual exhibition of WSA printmakers).

Workshop: “Ruth’s ‘Shift Print’ Technique” tutored by Steph McLellan. 9am to 12noon the same day (Saturday 12 July). Cost and registration details coming soon.

A selected exhibition open to all PCANZ members.

In recognition of Ruth Davey and her importance in Aotearoa New Zealand regional art, PCANZ is organising a selected exhibition of prints inspired by Ruth’s work.

Members are invited to submit up to two digital images of prints created recently.

If selected, the actual prints will be shown in Hamilton at the Ruth Davey Gallery at ArtsPost, managed by the Waikato Society of Arts (WSA).

Selector: Kathy Boyle

Organisers: Janice Meadows (ArtsPost) and the PCANZ exhibitions team. Contact details below.

Entry Information:

Format: unframed A4 paper, 280-300 gsm, portrait or landscape. Print size can be edge-to-edge or within the paper size with pristine margins.

Technique: any autographic printmaking technique/s are welcome.

Content: artists should take inspiration from Ruth’s work, especially two of her favourite themes: ‘People’ or ‘Nature and Landscape’. Ideally, work should be made for the exhibition, but older work (made 2024/2025) is acceptable.

Entries: Each artist may submit up to TWO entries although only ONE work per artist will be exhibited (if selected). The exhibition will consist of up to 36 works.

Price to artist: All prints must be for sale. The gallery commission is 35% plus GST. Please supply price to artist in the entry form.

Entry Fee: $20 per artist. This Exhibition is open to all Print Council members. The entry fee, to be paid when submitting your colophon, will cover the cost of the catalogue, Selector fee, opening function and any other associated costs.

Selected artists will be responsible for getting their works to:
Janice Meadows, WSA/ArtsPost on or before 4th July 2025.

The postage address is: WSA/ArtsPost, 120 Victoria Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton 3204

Your works can be received by courier post or hand delivered to ArtsPost Gallery. If couriered, works can be returned in their original packaging provided you send the prepaid postage.

Deadline for Colophon and entry fee: Friday 9th May.
Entrants will be informed of the Selector’s decision mid June.

Payment to: Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand bank account 03-0791-0387378-00 Reference: Your Name and RuthDavey

Deadline for delivery of your work (if selected) to Janice at WSA/ArtsPost (above): Friday 4th July 2025

Colophon: Please fill out the colophon via the button below. A downloadable exhibition brief is also below.  

Please make sure you have the following information ready:

  • Brief statement about the artist (50 words max)

  • Titles/names of works (up to 2)

  • Brief statement about each work (50 words max)

  • Media/technique

  • Price to artist of work/s (a 35% commission plus GST will be added by the gallery)

  • Your bank account details

  • Photo of the artwork/s for selection and catalogue purposes. Suggest good quality JPEG, 1-2MB file size, 300 dpi resolution

Check list:

  • Prepare your information and fill out the colophon, adding one to 2 photo/s to go to the selector

  • Pay your entry fee, including your name and reference: RuthDavey

  • If selected, package your print/s securely and include return postage paid and addressed envelope (or label if same packaging is to be used)

  • If selected, deliver or send your selected work to Janice Meadows by the close-off date of 4th July.

Responsibility of artwork:

While PCANZ takes all care with exhibition works, PCANZ can take no responsibility for lost or damaged works.

Contacts:
Janice Meadows, jmeadows51@gmail.com for ArtsPost
PCANZ exhibitions team, exhibitions@printcouncil.nz, cc julieamoonlight@gmail.com

Ruth Davey Exhibition Colophon:

Downloadable Exhibition Brief:

A Bit About Ruth

‘Estuary and Shell’ etching and aquatint

Ruth Davey (1923-2023) was a close colleague and mentor of Marty Vreede (aka his ‘print mother’); by his invitation she was a charter member of Central Print Council. Many PCANZ members will remember working with Ruth during the council’s first two decades of summer schools and winter workshops, especially her eagerness to learn new techniques even after her many years of making and exhibiting prints. She was inspirational in her joy and enthusiasm for making and mentoring.

Ruth was a prolific artist who established printmaking as an option for the WSA School of Art in the 1970s and taught there into the ‘90s. In recent years she and her husband, Lester, established the Ruth Davey Merit in Printmaking prize awarded annually at the NZPPA. After giving many of her prints to Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery, the Daveys left the remainder to the WSA.

‘boy Drawing’ Etching and aquatint

These are displayed in a dedicated space at ArtsPost with all sales going to help fund the merit prize.

The several hundred prints held by the museum can be seen on their website at https://collection.waikatomuseum.org.nz/persons/340/ruth-marjorie-davey

Carole Shepheard has curated Davey exhibitions and in 2021 published ‘Walking Hand in Hand: Ruth Davey & Printmaking’ in Art New Zealand, issue 177. (Unfortunately, this is not available online.)

When Ruth died in December 2023, soon after her 100 th birthday, her life was described in the Waikato Times: https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/nz-news/350158009/artist-whose-images-express-joy-idea-ruth-marjorie-davey-1923-2023