Earthsea Gallery

The land flanking the Southern Alps of NZ for all its beauty and isolation, is fraught with problems. Intensive farming has persisted almost unchanged in an environment which is marginal. Soils are thin and poor, often infertile, and usually unstable under excessive stocking. On our last trip up Tasman Valley we found the splendid mountainous scenery at odds with the flocks of merino sheep & rabbits grazing the tussock grasslands, cattle wandering through the Tasman River and vast numbers of wildling pines growing on the foothills. This Tasman Valley painting captures the beauty of this fragile landscape and raises questions about its changing ecology and protection.