Anne Bowling Collection
Collection Details
DescriptionAnne Bowling (formerly Mrs. Anne Hyde nee Bowling) was a folk artist who lived in Katikati. This collection of drawings was done as a tribute to the many significant homesteads in the Bay of Plenty, many of which have now been demolished or moved. Anne's own collection of first prints of her drawings were donated by the artist to the Western Bay Community Archives in 2022.
Some of her drawings feature in the book "Tauranga 1882-1982 : the centennial of gazetting Tauranga as a Borough", edited by A. C. Bellamy.
Anne was also very involved in Katikati's artistic community. The story of her involvement with the Little Blue House is told below in her own words:
In Pursuit of Happiness...
My journey to the Little Blue House began in 1947 with the polio epidemic closing the schools. I was six years old, sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by drawing materials, with no-one telling me what I could or couldn’t do. That was when I discovered I could draw. Despite my family at the time declaring that I was very clever, it was not a talent to be taken seriously - if you worked hard at the 3 ‘R’s you would get a good job and live happily ever after. Art would not secure a career or bring you Happiness. Wrong!
My career of choice as a graphic artist and window dresser was forbidden on the grounds that it was ‘men’s work’. Vocational Guidance directed me to a choice of two careers, the only options for a girl who couldn’t do maths – training as an air hostess or as an occupational therapist. I made a life-changing choice and began training as an OT in 1959 - not realising how much scope there would be to develop and utilise my artistic side for the benefit of others.
Back then the training was a 50/50 split - half physiology, medical and psychology and half arts and crafts. I acquired basic mastery of so many crafts but more importantly, learned the therapeutic value of creative activity for groups and individuals. During 35 years as a practicing therapist, I became passionate about the benefits of the creative process as a healing tool for so many clients presenting with so much pain, from physical disability to mental ill health to sexual abuse, across all age groups and social sectors. I extended my reach to teaching wellness and personal empowerment. And that’s when it dawned on me that art and creative activity could be the superglue that brought communities together, giving them a sense of collective purpose and belonging.
And so, after many years of creating milieu environments within institutions and communities and empowering individuals toward their own pursuit of Happiness, retirement created an opportunity for me to explore my own artistic bent. My wonderful new partner and I, taught ourselves to be ceramicists and ran away with the Gypsies in the old Matakana Island school bus. For five years we travelled the North Island circuit peddling our self-made wares, folk art and ceramics. And after that five years on Waiheke Island, with our own ceramic studio.
Then we made a wrong turn to Morrinsville. Two years later we escaped that creativity crematorium and arrived in Katikati which we were told was a very arty community. Apart from the Murals and the Katikati Art Group, there wasn’t much action above ground. Small creative groups abounded but with no opportunity to showcase their work, it was all pretty much underground.
And then a wonderful thing happened. Open Air Art leased a small derelict central building from the council at a peppercorn rental as it was destined to be demolished sometime in the future. It was to be used as a base for the Mural Festival and to make it fit-for-purpose Pat Williams, John Barrett, Sid Barker and I were invited to decorate it. I was delegated the front wall and what fun that was! After the Festival Pat and I suggested that it become an exhibition centre and Pat named it ‘The Little Blue House’. We enlisted the help of a group of ‘caretakers’ who took turns to look after each weeks' exhibitor/s. No-one was to be excluded on the grounds of expense, so a koha of $10 per day and no commission was set. There was no pre-selection process, the only rule being that the work exhibited must be the personal work of the exhibitor/s and where possible, they staff their own exhibition.
The previously ‘underground’ creatives came to the party in droves, and a different exhibition each week attracted a wide community following.
Offerings expanded to include the Knitters and Natters who knitted for the community; Paint an Egg Day for the children at Easter (the eggs being generously donated by Monty’s $2 Shop); an art-and-craft book lending library; sponsored exhibitions by local retailers such as the Travel Shop; mixed-theme exhibitions where artists could hang one or two items for a small fee, and an extensive emailing list who received monthly notifications of the next month’s activities. Stats were kept - 10,000 visitors in the first year.
Dawn Blain faithfully kept scrapbooks of the weekly LBH articles in the local paper.
The community were educated about art and became discerning over time. Exhibitors got feed back and benefitted from the experience. All round it was a winner! A glorious and successful exercise in community collaboration. Happiness abounded at The Little Blue House.
Sadly, the true significance of this experience was not a vision valued by others. After the Little Blue House was demolished, Katikati’s creative communities have been allowed to disappear back underground.
A note about the drawings: the items donated by Anne to the Western Bay Community Archives are all first prints of the original drawings. More information about those drawings and how they were developed into the prints is available by clicking on the web site under "website link"
Website linkTauranga Historic BuildingsCollection dates 1976-1977Donor or SourceAnne Bowling
Some of her drawings feature in the book "Tauranga 1882-1982 : the centennial of gazetting Tauranga as a Borough", edited by A. C. Bellamy.
Anne was also very involved in Katikati's artistic community. The story of her involvement with the Little Blue House is told below in her own words:
In Pursuit of Happiness...
My journey to the Little Blue House began in 1947 with the polio epidemic closing the schools. I was six years old, sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by drawing materials, with no-one telling me what I could or couldn’t do. That was when I discovered I could draw. Despite my family at the time declaring that I was very clever, it was not a talent to be taken seriously - if you worked hard at the 3 ‘R’s you would get a good job and live happily ever after. Art would not secure a career or bring you Happiness. Wrong!
My career of choice as a graphic artist and window dresser was forbidden on the grounds that it was ‘men’s work’. Vocational Guidance directed me to a choice of two careers, the only options for a girl who couldn’t do maths – training as an air hostess or as an occupational therapist. I made a life-changing choice and began training as an OT in 1959 - not realising how much scope there would be to develop and utilise my artistic side for the benefit of others.
Back then the training was a 50/50 split - half physiology, medical and psychology and half arts and crafts. I acquired basic mastery of so many crafts but more importantly, learned the therapeutic value of creative activity for groups and individuals. During 35 years as a practicing therapist, I became passionate about the benefits of the creative process as a healing tool for so many clients presenting with so much pain, from physical disability to mental ill health to sexual abuse, across all age groups and social sectors. I extended my reach to teaching wellness and personal empowerment. And that’s when it dawned on me that art and creative activity could be the superglue that brought communities together, giving them a sense of collective purpose and belonging.
And so, after many years of creating milieu environments within institutions and communities and empowering individuals toward their own pursuit of Happiness, retirement created an opportunity for me to explore my own artistic bent. My wonderful new partner and I, taught ourselves to be ceramicists and ran away with the Gypsies in the old Matakana Island school bus. For five years we travelled the North Island circuit peddling our self-made wares, folk art and ceramics. And after that five years on Waiheke Island, with our own ceramic studio.
Then we made a wrong turn to Morrinsville. Two years later we escaped that creativity crematorium and arrived in Katikati which we were told was a very arty community. Apart from the Murals and the Katikati Art Group, there wasn’t much action above ground. Small creative groups abounded but with no opportunity to showcase their work, it was all pretty much underground.
And then a wonderful thing happened. Open Air Art leased a small derelict central building from the council at a peppercorn rental as it was destined to be demolished sometime in the future. It was to be used as a base for the Mural Festival and to make it fit-for-purpose Pat Williams, John Barrett, Sid Barker and I were invited to decorate it. I was delegated the front wall and what fun that was! After the Festival Pat and I suggested that it become an exhibition centre and Pat named it ‘The Little Blue House’. We enlisted the help of a group of ‘caretakers’ who took turns to look after each weeks' exhibitor/s. No-one was to be excluded on the grounds of expense, so a koha of $10 per day and no commission was set. There was no pre-selection process, the only rule being that the work exhibited must be the personal work of the exhibitor/s and where possible, they staff their own exhibition.
The previously ‘underground’ creatives came to the party in droves, and a different exhibition each week attracted a wide community following.
Offerings expanded to include the Knitters and Natters who knitted for the community; Paint an Egg Day for the children at Easter (the eggs being generously donated by Monty’s $2 Shop); an art-and-craft book lending library; sponsored exhibitions by local retailers such as the Travel Shop; mixed-theme exhibitions where artists could hang one or two items for a small fee, and an extensive emailing list who received monthly notifications of the next month’s activities. Stats were kept - 10,000 visitors in the first year.
Dawn Blain faithfully kept scrapbooks of the weekly LBH articles in the local paper.
The community were educated about art and became discerning over time. Exhibitors got feed back and benefitted from the experience. All round it was a winner! A glorious and successful exercise in community collaboration. Happiness abounded at The Little Blue House.
Sadly, the true significance of this experience was not a vision valued by others. After the Little Blue House was demolished, Katikati’s creative communities have been allowed to disappear back underground.
A note about the drawings: the items donated by Anne to the Western Bay Community Archives are all first prints of the original drawings. More information about those drawings and how they were developed into the prints is available by clicking on the web site under "website link"
Website linkTauranga Historic BuildingsCollection dates 1976-1977Donor or SourceAnne BowlingArtworks
![Chimney, Katikati "surrounded by the ashes of its history"](/img/placeholder.gif?1724212645 "Chimney, Katikati "surrounded by the ashes of its history"")
Related Information
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Anne Bowling Collection. Western Bay of Plenty Community Archives, accessed 12/10/2024, https://westernbay.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/2479
