Contemplating the Landscape - Stanley Palmer in Karamea

Made for TVNZ arts series Artsville, this short documentary looks at painter Stanley Palmer as he captures the landscapes around Karamea, on the West Coast. The small rural town is located about as far north as it’s possible to go up the West Coast, before you hit the Heaphy Track. Palmer works on a series of five paintings, featuring rural pasture dotted with nikau palms, sandwiched between rugged mountains and the Tasman Sea. He also muses on painting as an artform — what it is, what makes it important, and why it reaches beyond a simple recreation of real life. 

There's big movements in the art world to change painting, to say that it's old-fashioned and it's no longer relevant... it doesn't worry me if it's out of fashion — it's good!

– Stanley Palmer

Key Cast & Crew

Tom Ludvigson

Composer

Karen Bates

Producer

John Bates

Director, Producer

Philippa Mossman

Network Executive

Bryan Shaw

Editor

Chris Burt

Sound Mix