The works in this small exhibition inside the old bank vault are all from the Forrester Gallery collection and all depict the sea near Ōamaru – by the harbour, or just south at Bushey Beach and Cape Wanbrow. Many were created in the late 1800s in the same era as John Masefield’s famous poem Sea Fever, which seems appropriate to the sentiment of these works.
“I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.” Sea Fever (1902) by John Masefield.
Image: 'The Stormcloud - Bushey Beach', Amos Glass, collection of the Forrester Gallery FG1992.5.1
Forrester Gallery