It’s a big year for artist Elizabeth Cunnane.

It’s a big year for artist Elizabeth Cunnane.

Elizabeth moved from Hamilton to Whanganui to study art at UCOL’s Quay School of the Arts: This month she will celebrate the completion of her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with thirteen other students at their Graduation show.

Then, in December, she is off to Auckland to donate one of her kidneys to a complete stranger.

Eight years ago Elizabeth first heard about what is regarded as the ultimate random act of kindness. In New Zealand, the first such altruistic donation took place in 2000, with 15 donations of this kind since then.

Elizabeth says it is giving purely for the act of giving. “The donors are not donating to a loved one or even aware of who the recipient is, and there is no financial gain,” she says.  She finds it hard to fully explain her motivation but says “when you aren’t focused on yourself you get so much more back, and if you can help, you do.”

As Elizabeth reflects on her decision she realizes her art has been about this issue; the making of big decisions and the consequences. Her decision to make the donation will have a huge impact on someone she will probably never meet.

At present, she is focused on her Graduation show. The 14 exhibiting students have majored in all studio areas: Their work includes Printmaking, Painting, Photography, Glass and Sculpture.  Programme Leader for the Quay School of the Arts, Katrina Langdon, describes the show, A Bourgeois Spectacle, as an intriguing mix of personal, political and theoretical investigations. She says the school has a proud reputation for consistently producing BFA graduates of an extremely high calibre, “and this year is no exception.” 

The BFA Graduate Exhibition opens Saturday, 6 November at 6.00pm and runs until Saturday 20 November, 10am-4pm. It is held in conjunction with the final year show for the Diploma in Glass Design and Production, with six exhibiting students, and for the Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts (three final year students) at the Whanganui UCOL campus at 16 Rutland Street.

Contacts:  Judy McIntyre 027 245 4466  Jenny Jones J.Jones@ucol.ac.nz