Wānaka’s Whare Kea Lodge & Chalet has re-established its Kenneth Myer Artist/Writer in Residence Retreat, which provides the opportunity for a writer, poet, visual artist, photographer or composer to create art in the Wānaka environment.

The 2024 recipient of the retreat is Sarah Tomasetti, an artist specialising in mediaeval techniques and materials, including fresco (a painting done rapidly in watercolour on wet plaster so the colours penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries).

Sarah was based at the Whare Kea Chalet for two weeks recently, documenting the landscape and movement of weather of the Tititea/Mt Aspiring range.

“I’ve been working with mountains in my practice for the last 20 years but I’ve never before been able to spend an extended time in one place looking at a range,” she said.

“Usually I’m passing through on a trek or staying nearby and trying to capture changing light with a camera in a short space of time.”

Once back in the studio Sarah will take her catalogue of sketches and scale the works up for her next body of work. She plans to develop a panoramic installation that depicts the mountain line and includes aspects of the geological and human histories of the area.

The Kenneth Myer residency was established in 2012 by Martyn and Louise Myers (proprietors of Whare Kea) to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Martyn’s father, Kenneth Myer, who had a long involvement in the arts and an affinity with the mountains. 

Past recipients of the retreat include local artists Martin Hill and Phillipa Jones, whose project ‘Watershed’ looked at the relationship between human systems and the water cycle.

The retreat is donated by Whare Kea Lodge and includes accommodation at the lodge, guidance from Wānaka mountain guides, and helicopter flights with Aspiring Helicopters.