Allie Eagle

Allie Eagle Allie Eagle and her team of aetelier have taken up residence in the project space, amongst the artist studios on the estate, whilst they complete a large commission for Waitakere City Council. Currently Allie Eagle is hard at it painting, aiming to deliver on deadline another of her large public works. Commissioned by Waitakere City Council for the reception foyer outside the debating chamber of the brand new multi story civic building, the 7m plus scale of Allie's latest venture has seen her experiement with the revival of the aetelier or co-operative studio approach to the production of big pictures. In former times the commisioned artist would often lead an aetelier directing and working alongside a team of assistants in order to complete large scale works. Allie sees this co-operative strategy as not only, "furthering my own research into how artists studios may have once worked" but also as "developing a rationale for the benefits of a functioning 21st century model". After her aetelier has finished the Waitakere City Council project Allie hopes to regroup and work on developing some of the ideas that emerged during the practical and contextural research stages of the process.

Members of the aetelier team, working in the project space. Three exhibitions for the Corbans Arts Estate are scheduled for February next year (2007) which will demonstrate how the aetelier worked as a group collectively resourcing each other through joint upskilling, training and education. Included with be a group show by members of the aetelier, a solo show by Allie Eagle and a photographic installation by Anabell Cameron-Lewis who in a series of studies for the aetelier's big picture extensively documented the Croatian settlers of Waitakere West Auckland.