Joan Gragg Explained

Joan Gragg
Birth Name:Joan Elisabeth Gragg
Birth Place:Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Known For:painting, drawing
Style:everyday life and people in the Cook Islands
Alma Mater:Auckland University of Technology
Notable Works:The Nuku (2008)

Joan Elisabeth Gragg (also Joan Rolls-Gragg, Joan Rolls Gragg; born 1943) is a senior artist and educator from the Cook Islands, with painting career spanning five decades.[1] She founded the Cook Islands' first and only premier art gallery, Beachcomber Contemporary Art (now Bergman Gallery), in 1991. Gragg graduated with a Master of Art and Design degree from Auckland University of Technology in 2010.[2] There was an opportunity for Gragg to work towards a doctorate in art but she has discounted that for the meantime.[3]

Gragg's practice centres on the changes to everyday life in the Cook Islands,[4] exploring changes over the decades, with people drifting further apart with the introduction of new technology such as new forms of transportation as opposed to walking, and single plastic chairs instead of traditional wooden benches. According to Gragg, she aims to showcase the "joy, camaraderie, love, and all the other great things that happen in a community in the Cook Islands",[1] and to visually express the humour of the Cook Islands through her art.[5]

Gragg has been exhibited extensively in the Cook Islands, as well as in New Zealand. Her work is held in numerous private and major public collections throughout the Cook Islands as well as New Zealand. Such as Cook Islands National Museum, University of the South Pacific,[6] and the Belinda Fletcher Collection.[7]

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

Notes and References

  1. News: 2023-04-11 . Religious celebration basis of Gragg's new exhibition . 2023-09-30 . Cook Islands News.
  2. Web site: Check a graduate's qualification . AUT . 1 October 2023.
  3. News: Joan-artist of the "now" . 2023-09-30 . Cook Islands Herald.
  4. Web site: 2021-03-28 . ‘Work here and enjoy living here’ . 2023-12-19 . Cook Islands News . en.
  5. Seeing the funny side: focusing on Cook Islands humour in the experience of the religious pageant Nuku . Auckland University of Technology . 2010 . Joan Elisabeth . Gragg.
  6. Book: University of South Pacific Public Art Collection Catalogue . University of South Pacific . 2022 . Rarotonga, Cook Islands . 22–23 . en.
  7. Web site: williams . Kate Davidson and alden . 2014-04-30 . Off the Wall . 2023-12-19 . Stuff . en.
  8. Web site: The Nuku . 2023-09-30 . artguide.artforum.com . en-US.
  9. Web site: Underneath the Mango Tree . 2023-09-30 . Artnow . en.
  10. Web site: Joan Gragg - CV . 2023-09-30 . Artsy . en.
  11. Web site: Horizon . 2020-09-30 . The Big Idea.
  12. Web site: Magazine . Verve . 2023-10-15 . The Art of October . 2023-12-19 . Verve Magazine . en-NZ.