The BCA Artist in Residence programme was initiated in 2002 and is offered by invitation only, submissions are not accepted at any time.  It has no annual rotation policy and comes into effect dependant on artist and gallery schedules. The BCA residency  includes airfares, accomodation, stipend and material costs. Artists are required to show a body of work with BCA at the completion of the residency period, typical residency's run 6-8 weeks.
Some media work (TV, newspaper and radio ) is required. The BCA residency offers an opportunity for established artists to focus and develop new works within a modern polynesian environment.

R1 - Mahiriki Tangaroa
September - November 2002
Exhibition 4th November 

Passing Through Paradise (Catalogue Available)

R2 - Andy Leleisi'uao
August - September 2009
Exhibition 23rd September

Areatures of the Arctaur People

During August and September of this, year Andy Leleisi'uao was invited by BCA to undertake a six week artist residency on Rarotonga where he created a collection of works based on his groundbreaking series ‘Angipanis of the Abanimal People’. Represented throughout these works are a host of mystical creatures that inhabit the artists created wonderland - a spectacle for the viewer to immerse themselves in an alternative reality.

The artist writes of his residency - “ With the freedom to explore, I discovered fresh iconography and urbane narratives with rampant discipline and inventiveness. The body of work created during the course of my stay is entitled ‘Areatures of the Arctaur People’. The origins of this exhibition permeate from my breakthrough exhibition ‘Angipanis of the Abaminal People’ in 2008. It was an exhibition that unraveled a world occupied with creatures tainted with moral and social ambiguity. It was a mixture of earlier and new iconography with constant dialogues of angst and hope. This exhibition evolves this concept further and investigates the humanscape of individuality in society through a masquerade of enigmatic imagery.

I am deeply grateful to BCA for their support in creating an environment which has allowed me to add a new dimension to my work. This unwavering faith in my vocation has been inspiring.”

R3 - Rick Welland
April - May 2010
Exhibition Opening17th  May

Ina Rides Again

Rick Welland became one the first contemporary artists, living and working on Rarotonga between1962-89.

Welland’s vibrant & expressive realism painting style perfectly captured his immediate environment, images of stunning Island maidens, families & landscapes bursting forth from his canvases.

Welland is perhaps best remembered for his ‘Legend Series’ of which one (Ina & the Shark) is permanently enshrined on the Cook Islands $3 note.

While Welland’s Legend series were delivered in his usual, visually expressive manner, they also delivered a poignant social commentary and can be considered some of the first significant contemporary art works to be produced in Rarotonga.

Welland returns to Rarotonga as BCA ‘Artist in Residence’ where a new series of work will be created and exhibited. While earlier themes will no doubt be revisited, this new series of works promises to be a commanding visual experience, a culmination of half a century of a life experienced in two worlds.

R4 - Reuben Paterson
July – September 2010
Exhibition 13th September

Aere E Akamotu – Start to Finish

In 2001 Reuben Paterson visited Rarotonga and Aitutaki for the first time, immersing himself in our ‘paradisiacal Island fantasy landscape’. The Islands environment had a deep and profound effect on him that readily found its way into his art practice.

A singularly important work is the massive 7 x 5 metre Rarotongan beachscape titled ‘When the Sun Rises and the Shadows Flee’ for the 2004 exhibit He Aha Te Mea Nui? – What is the Greatest Thing?

This work, made from what Paterson describes as ‘Atua’ or God sized glitter pieces, shimmers when activated by an industrial fan. Black silhouetted palm tree’s and a blue/black seascape dominate the painting, the viewer drawn into a  light between spaces, the interaction of sublime yet savage inevitability a spellbinding experience. This work is now housed permanently with the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Paterson was also included in the international show ‘Iki & thanks for all the Ika’ which came to Rarotonga in 2004.

For the 2010 BCA Residency, the New Zealand Mäori Puhoro design, with its own specific genealogical and voyaging applications, is Paterson’s first source of inspiration for a series of 12 small glitter works entitled Aere e Akamotu. Also incorporating Cook Islands Black Pearls, the paintings glistening ‘black water’ effect is reminiscent of moon light dancing across our darkened harbour at Avana.

Two large abstract kaleidoscope glitter paintings with their origins based on Rarotongan sea life offer an exciting sense of cultural transformations. Paterson’s new kaleidoscopic technique is utterly compelling, his renowned prowess with pattern, form and colour is revealed to full effect.

Strongly influenced by whanau and cultural genealogy, Paterson’s current presence in Rarotonga seems inevitable. Aere E Akamotu is a witty acknowledgment of legends and shared origins, of an environment in transition and an adventure yet to unfold.

R5 - Sylvia Marsters
April - May 2012
Exhibition 21st May 

Sylvia Marsters is a New Zealand artist of Cook Islands origin. In 1996 Artist Lois McIvor, ‘discovered’ Sylvia Marsters in a series of art classes in Auckland.  Inspired by McIvor’s on-going support, Marsters continued painting and in 1998 participated in the travelling exhibition Paringa Ou, repatriating her newly discovered talent to her family’s ancestral home, the Cook Islands.

Marsters mesmerizing flower works emerged in 2000, Island Hibiscus and Frangipani dominating her paintings, the artist producing passionate and evocative images – a potent response to pre-conceptions of her father’s homeland.

Serendipity struck in 2003 as Marsters was awarded the Creative New Zealand/Cook Islands Artist in Residence allowing the artist herself to finally return to the Islands that had captivated her soul.  Immersed for the first time within the reality of the culture that she had developed a deep sense of belonging, Marsters  residency culminated in a solo exhibition at the National Museum in Rarotonga - Te Ruperupe O Toku Ipukarea; The Homecoming and the exhibition O’ora Te Moenga, at BCA Gallery with fellow Cook Islands Artists, Mahiriki Tangaroa and Loretta Reynolds.

In 2012, Marsters returns to Rarotonga as the BCA Artist in Residence.

Pictured: Sylvia Marsters, Paradise, Acrylic on Canvas

R6 - Michel Tuffery
July 2012

Michel Tuffery’s Artist in Residence at BCA will see him document and respond to the architectural qualities of the historical churches and buildings that exist in and around Rarotonga.

His intention is to give representaitons to the use of space by drawing a link between traditonal and contemporary structures and how architecture has entrenched itself onto the landscape while looking at human indicators and how we engage within and around these structures.

Michel will realise this new suite of artworks through utilsing a range of mediums for exhibition at BCA at the close of the residency.

Pictured: Siamani Samoa, digital projection/installation, 2011. Image courtesy the artist.