在今年双十一节(11月11日)之际举行了惠德福庄园新西兰著名画家Blake (特威登)绘画大师画廊开幕仪式。奥克兰东区Whitford 特色小镇建设再添新亮点。简明流畅的开幕式由奥克兰东区旅游咨询委员会主席、携舟网(www.shareboating.com)总经理Andrew 主持,新西兰退伍军人协会主席、新西兰商学院主任Ken Davie ,新西兰选美大赛委员会前主席Val Lott ,新西兰华文教育、新移民服务和文体社团建设上的领军人物新西兰华文教育学会主席Jenny wang 和新西兰亚洲图书文化中心廖小雪会长等应邀出席,共襄盛举。
奥克兰最具规模的英文融媒体传媒集团Times (时代)主编Helen Perry 亲率 该传媒的专职摄影师Wayne Martin 来庄园现场釆访报道庄园新开设的Blake (布雷克)画廊开幕。英文时代(Times)传媒集团将在在12月初的英文月刊Eastlife (东方时尚月刊)杂志推出庄园传承人、画廊创办人黄伟雄封面人物专访和艺术人生访谈节目。内容主题为特色小镇再升级—-新西兰本土艺术的承传与可持续发展。在其传媒集团旗下另一本发行的本土流行杂志—-Rural Living magazine (城乡生活月刊杂志)2021年1月作为新年主题专文推出—-“承传本土特色艺术”
特威登随后许多作品是受托定制和收藏采购,包括来自爱丁堡公爵、丰田公司董事长的丰田章男、澳大 利亚博物馆、汤加国王、澳航和新西兰航空。其他还包括美国杯帆船大赛名人船主丹尼斯·康纳 (Dennis Conner)和美国最富有和知名家族之一的五件作品。他的作品被奥克兰市立艺术馆 Toi o Tāmaki、新西兰国立顶级博物馆 Te Papa Tongarewa 博物馆、澳大利亚美术馆和海外收藏与展出。
Enhancing our Whitford lifestyle — launching of Blake”s gallery
new country. His first one man
Exhibition in 1971 titled “Consider our Heritage” displayed paintings relating to the human effect on our planet. Generous publicity resulted and the show was very successful.
He then explored the stunning wildlife in Papua New Guinea. Seven trips there resulted in Exhibitions in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, London and Auckland. He became renowned for his paintings of Birds of Paradise on 24 ct Gold Leaf. Since 1972 he has published eight limited edition books on birds, fishes, the Australian Parrot series for the Australian Museum, and the 1976 Papua New Guinea stamp series.
In all Blake visited 43 countries, concentrating on painting the world's most beautiful birds, fishes and plants. His work was published in two books, “Pisces Tropicana” which featured the world's beautiful coral fishes, and “The Fifty Rarest Birds of the World”. During the following years his work has been purchased by collectors all over the world as he captured the beauty of nature well before television brought it to the world’s attention.
Major commissions and purchases include those from the Duke of Edinburgh, the Toyodas of Toyota, The Australian Museum, the King of Tonga, Qantas and Air New Zealand. Other sales have included Dennis Conner of the America’s Cup fame and five works to one of America’s richest and well known families. His work is exhibited in Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, galleries in Australia and overseas collections.
After 22 years based in Sydney, Twigden returned to Auckland in 1988 where he has enjoyed rediscovering his homeland and his natural heritage through creating the Whitford Bird Garden. For twenty-five years the Whitford Bird Garden was open to the public and was an award winning local
business. He moved to Nelson in 2013 on selling the property to Wayne Huang (inaugural Howick Local Board member of Auckland Council). Blake now spends most of his time maintaining his unique property and makes ceramics for the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary which was developed to protect and preserve the native species of New Zealand.
In November 2020 the Blake Twigden Learning Centre was established to share his vision and ensure his legacy is continued for future generations to enjoy.