The Centre for Contemporary Art (CFCA) Hamilton
1982-1994
The Centre for Contemporary Art (CFCA), in Hamilton, New Zealand was the first permanent home for the Chartwell Collection, and followed an earlier informal arrangement between the Waikato Museum and Chartwell to hold works at that Museum. The Centre for Contemporary Art, now closed, was developed in a building acquired for the purpose, the old Hamilton Hotel, the renovation of which became the subject for commissioned photographic documentary portfolios by photographers Robin Morrison and Kees Sprengers.
The CFCA rapidly became a site for art discourse in New Zealand, with its programme of non-commercial New Zealand and Australian exhibitions. It provided a national alternative artspace and was committed to growing a local audience for contemporary art. The exhibition programme facilitated the collecting of works.
An annual Chartwell Collection exhibition served to highlight new acquisitions from the Collection which increasingly included works by Australian artists rarely seen in New Zealand at this time. Often visiting New Zealand for the first time, a number of Australian artists installed exhibitions at the gallery including Victor Majzner, John Nixon, Jenny Watson, Stephen Bram and Melinda Harper. Over thirteen years, approximately one hundred and fifty exhibitions were held at the gallery.
These included:
1982
Robert Owen, Edward Bullmore, Don Driver, Prospect Collection, National Cartoon Show, Robin Morrison, Peter Black, Chartwell Collection
1983
Victoria Ginn, Stanley Palmer, Richard Killeen, Chartwell Collection, Jeffrey Harris, Milan Mrkusich, Pat Hanly, Don Driver, Gretchen Albrecht, Stephen Bambury, Max Gimblett, James Ross, Philip Trusttum, Tony Fomison.
1984
Andrew Drummond, Stuart Griffiths, Vivian Lynn, Jorgen Waibel, Victoria Edwards. Nigel Brown, Ted Bracey, Mary McIntyre, Margot Phillips, Dick Frizzell, Joanna Paul, Gavin Chilcott, Ralph Hotere, Robert Ellis, Chartwell Collection.
Installation view of Four Installation Sculptors, CFCA, Hamilton, 1984, Chartwell archive photographs
1985
Grant Banbury, Graham Bennett, Bing Dawe, John Hurrell, Michael Reed, Peter Peryer, Phillippa Blair, Rodney Fumpston, Julia Morison, Terrence Handscomb, Melvin Day, Robert McLeod, Rob Taylor, Trevor Moffit, Jeffrey Harris, Robert Jesson, Chris Booth, Chartwell Collection.
1986
Paul Cullen, Gretchen Albrecht, Jacqueline Fraser, Ralph Hotere, Arnold Wilson, Selwyn Muru, Para Matchitt, Kura Te Waru Rewiri, Greet Twiss, Matt Pine, John Reynolds, Simon Ogden, Nick Adler, Mark Whyte, Max Gimblett, David Clegg, Alberto Garcia Alvarez, Chartwell Collection.
1987
Christine Hellyar, Claudia Pond Eyley, Victor Majzner, Michael Armstrong, Julian Dashper, Maria Olsen, Robert McLeod, Neil Dawson, John Nixon, Jenny Watson, Chartwell Collection.
1988
Richard McIlroy, Warren Viscoe, James Charlton, Derrick Cherrie, Graeme Brett, Don Driver, Siegfried Koglmeier, Jacqueline Fraser, Pat Hanly, Andrew Drummond, Stephen Bambury, Jeff Thomson, Chartwell Collection.
Andrew Drummond, installation views, CFCA, Hamilton, 1988, Chartwell archive photographs
1989
Alexander Rodchenko, Joe Felber, Gudrun Klix, Ron Left, Peter Roche, Alberto Garcia Alvarez, Jack Forrest, Chartwell Collection.
Peter Roche, CCA Hamilton, NZ, 1989, Installation images. Chartwell Archive photographs
Language Of Drawing - Group exhibition, CFCA Hamilton, NZ, 1989, group installation image, Chartwell Archive photographs.
1990
Boyd Webb, Billy Apple, Gretchen Albrecht, Philip Clairmont, Mark Adams, Julian Dashper, Jeffrey Harris, Bill Culbert, Ruth Watson, Chartwell Collection.
1991
Ken Orchard, Fiona Pardington, Alistair Nisbet-Smith, Christine Webster, Michael Shepherd, Paul Cullen, Tom Kreisler, Daniel Clasby, Bill Hammond, John Hurrell, Stuart Griffiths, Morgan Jones, Siegfried Koglmeier, Russell Moses.
Tom Kreisler, Installation, CFCA, Hamilton, 1991, Chartwell Archive photographs
1992
Ian Scott, Edward Mackenzie, Peter Nicholls, Chartwell Collection, Bill Culbert, Ralph Hotere, Philippa Blair, John Reynolds, Ralph Hotere, Don Peebles, Paul Radford, Geoff Thornley, Phillip Trusttum.
1993
Janet Laurence, Marie Shannon, Ian Scott, Dennis K. Turner, Allen Maddox, Guiseppe Romeo, Jeffrey Harris, James Ross, Mary McIntyre, Jean Horsley, Max Gimblett, Noelene Lucas, Paul Cullen, Simon Morris, Di Ffrench, Julia Morison.
1994
Pip Culbert, Jenny Watson, Julie-anna Child, Tracey Collins, Chiara Corbelletto, Jenny Dolezel, Charlotte Fisher, Judy Millar, Stefanie Young, Denys Watkins, Patrick Pound, Stephen Bram, Bronwyn Clark- Coolee, Melinda Harper, Anne Marie May, Rose Nolan, Kerrie Poliness, Gary Wilson, Tim Bass, Julie Irving, Allan Mitelman, Stephen Wickham.
Kees Sprengers,
Hamilton Hotel prior to renovation, commissioned photographic series,
1982
Publications
Snake Oil: Recent Chartwell acquisitions 2002 - 2005,
Robert Leonard, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, 2005
Nine Lives: The Chartwell Exhibition, Robert Leonard, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, 2003
Big Bang Theory: Recent Chartwell Acquisitions, Allan Smith, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, 2002.
Multistylus Programme: Recent Chartwell Acquisitions, Allan Smith, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, 2001
The Chartwell Collection: Recent Acquisitions, Allan Smith, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, 2000
Home and Away, Contemporary Australian and New Zealand Art from the Chartwell Collection, William McAloon, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, David Bateman Ltd, 1999
The Chartwell Collection: Acquisitions 1997, William McAloon, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, 1997/ 98