This is the project page for Wikimedia activity connected with the Left Bank Art Gallery, Greymouth, New Zealand.

• User:Giantflightlessbirds
• User:RimuSky

The Left Bank received Te Urungi seed funding in 2021 for a project to create Wikipedia articles about West Coast artists and upload photos from the Left Bank collection. Giantflightlessbirds and Rimusky also uploaded photographs from the Yvonne Rust Archive on behalf of the copyright owners, the Yvonne Rust Trust.

To qualify for a Wikipedia article, an artist will need to have had significant coverage of themselves (not exhibitions) in several reliable independent sources. That means newspaper and magazine stories, a book chapter, radio interviews, academic articles, exhibition catalogues etc. To be listed in Wikidata, the database that underpins Wikipedia, we just need one reference: an exhibition catalogue or a book that gives a short bio, for example. Note: artists cannot create or edit articles about themselves!

In a couple of meetings at the Left Bank Art Gallery we brainstormed a list of West Coast artists that could be covered. The Left Bank Art Gallery is compiling an archive of media coverage of West Coast artists. The ones we wanted to tackle first are:

Source: Out of the Rain (2007) (Q106308127), used to update Alison Hale (Q99304897), Catherine Brough (Q99337106), Sue Syme (Q99337139), Chris Weaver (Q19667053), Andris Apse (Q99337098). Westland District Library has Inspirations, a series of 2010 interviews by Makaira Jenkins (these presumably were also printed in the local paper at some point, but no luck tracking that down so far):

• Jenkins, Makaira (September 2010). "Alison Hale". Inspirations. Westland District Library.

Created: Margaret Stoddart Award (Q106308331), Warren Feeney (Q106308160), Rory McDougall (Q106308428), Tony Manuel (Q106308504). Remaining Wikidata for artists on list done March 2022.

Photographs of local artists taken at a Left Bank Art Gallery opening for Puanga Matariki on Friday 25 June were uploaded into Commons and a corresponding Wikidata item created: Rob Pieper (Q107388027), Grant Hudson (Q107388059), Les Holmes (Q107388087), Evelyn Hewlett (Q107388149), Bob McQuarrie (Q107388193), Barbara McQuarrie (Q107388215)