Art Inspiration - Klimt

 I continued to work on my art-inspired painting from Gustav Klimt. I was discouraged that the black marker pen showed through the white but knew I need to push through and not let that inhibit me. While working on the second piece a "light went on" and I opted to stencil over red (using an underturned McD's plastic drink container lid) and the hole was almost the perfect size. I choose to allow slight imperfection in my work and feel really proud of that fact!

I was sure I'd taken photos of my processes for this but unfortunately I didn't (I must have been too caught up in "the doing" of it!) I cut up pieces of sponge to create the desired shapes and randomly stamped them to create the patterns. I had planned to outline in black but was really worried I'd wreck it and be disappointed. This in itself annoys me that I am STILL caught up in fear of exploratory creativity.

 I was invited to go to the members-only opening of the Whangarei Quilt Show. As always, there was an amazing display of quilts and I restrained myself in only buying a $2 bundle of craft magazines. Lots of ideas which I will probably never have time to do unless I live to 150!

 Ricky and I continued to work on the wooden assemblage (planter box) for his Mum. He has become so much more confident and skilled in wood-working since we began which is great to see. 

 A book that was recommended to me by Catherine at TLC. I was talking with her (actually crying!) at my sadness to be finishing up my Diploma, Honours programme when I was down at the encaustic art workshop in April and she said this book was really helpful to her. I jumped on Fishpond and ordered it but yet to read it.

 My cat is so funny. She likes to sleep on things. I had covered Ricky's planter box with a tarp. Silly cat jumped up thinking she could curl up and sleep on top not realising it was an empty box frame! I couldn't help but grab my camera and take photos as she slowly descended like an elevator going down!

I love taking photos - it makes me happy :o)

Wellington - April 2018 Exhibitions

As it was Easter when I arrived TLC was closed until the Tuesday. On Sunday I took a walk along the Waterfront to Te Papa to see what exhibitions were on.

I was really pleased to discover there was the TOI ART exhibition for viewing, which is Te Papa's new art gallery featuring Michael Parekowhai, Pacific Sisters, and Lisa Walker, with new art by Tiffany Singh, Janet Lilo, Jeena Shin, BodyCartography Project, and Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi, alongside the national art collection.

 What interested me about this was with my involvement in the Waipu Wearable Art 'n Tartan two years ago. This is what the website had to say about The Pacific Sisters.

 The Pacific Sisters is a collective of Pacific and Māori fashion designers, artists, performers, and musicians that electrified 1990s Auckland. The group began on the fringes, but their ground-breaking style and performances brought the urban lives of a New Zealand–born Pacific generation into the mainstream spotlight.

The Pacific Sisters include ground-breaking artists Lisa Reihana, Rosanna Raymond, Ani O’Neill, Suzanne Tamaki, Selina Haami, Niwhai Tupaea, Henzart @ Henry Ah-Foo Taripo, Feeonaa Wall, and Jaunnie ‘Ilolahia.

They once described themselves as being like the Polynesian version of Andy Warhol’s factory – an ever-evolving collective of artists coming together to create art, music, fashion, and film.

“Our work is a reflection of the ‘spark’ we have had as Pacific Sisters – finding our connections to our Pacific stories, peoples, lands, each other,” Ani O’Neill says.“For me, Pacific Sisters is a safe space to push boundaries. We might seem a bit hardcore and serious to some, but we have a lot of fun – we like to laugh and play with words as well as frocks.”  Source: The Internet

 Tapa, made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree (Broussentia papyrifera), is found across the Pacific. In Fiji, it is known as masi and is made exclusively by women. Masi is made by stripping the bark from the plant, separating the inner bark, and beating it with a wooden mallet, usually on a wooden anvil. The method of decoration differs from place to place, and has changed over the years. The different kinds of masi include masi kesa (stencilled), masi kuvui (brown or smoked), seyavu (white or plain), and masi vakarerega (yellow). The different colours reflect a person's rank in society, with white or brown masi used by those of chiefly blood. The uses for masi are also very diverse.

 Filipe Tohi's work is based upon the ancient Pacific Island art form of lalava(lashing) that was used for joining and binding materials together. Meters of colored sennit(kafa) were wound and tied so as to create distinct geometric patterns that were a well-established part of daily life. 

These works by Lonnie Hutchinson's caught my eye too and was stunned to learn they were done using builders paper. They reminded me of the hand-cut "snowflakes" I made with folded paper as a child.

Colour affects me in different ways. As well as exciting and energising me, it calms and gives me a sense of peace and grounding. I really liked this display for this reason as the rainbow holds all the colour spectrum. I googled vertical lines and like this description of them...

The vertical suspension of the work  lifts the eye, mind, and spirit upward.  They convey strength, stability, and security.  They inspire awe and tend to diminish the significance of human scale. This is why historically churches have always used vertical lines- to lift your eyes heavenward.

[source: the internet]

 I was also fascinated by Helen Calder's artwork. She experiments with paint and ways of applying it to give different surfaces, to see how far she can push the medium. In an earlier group of paintings she poured paint on to panels and then off again to leave shallow relief surfaces. There was a particular day when she was in a hurry and left a panel still draining its surface on to plastic. When she came back the next morning there was a beautiful pooled paint form. It was a wonderful accident, and actually typifies what happens in her studio, a process that is a mix of control and accident.

Found this REALLY INSPIRING especially given my interest in doing the Advanced programme and challenge my fear of experimentation!)

Love the combination of craft and art - clever display of textiles.

This was quite mesmerizing to watch (random pages flipped over within the display - I'm now wishing I'd videoed it in action)

Work inspired by Colin McCahon's "Scared" paintings. While I'm not a huge fan of McCahon's work I do like his bold use of text - I guess that's why this one caught my eye as I was passing.

"The sign of our times - social media"

TLC STUDENT EXHIBITION

While I was staying in Wellington I learned there was a couple of TLC students exhibiting their work at a pub up Cuba Street.

 I found it a bit overwhelming but was glad I went - it was a good experience.

What caught my eye as you went into the bar and restaurant venue was the printed handmade paper light fittings and screens. Something I'm very keen to try doing myself (and hopefully before I complete my Honours Programme)

Art Exhibitions (viewing time) - 4 hours
Photography/editing/blogging - 10 hours

Soaps, salves and paper-making plus Markets, stalls and exhibitions

Harvesting/Processing Plant Materials for soap

 I forgot I had a box of home-grown harvested bay leaves drying in the boot of my car.

I put half them through the processor (the rest I'll keep whole)

I completed filled an ice cream container so that'll make up many batches of Gardner's Soap - Bay and (ground) Pumice. I've still got a boxful of manuka trimming to process but it's needs more drying to easily remove from the branches.

Paper-making

The beginning of June heralded in some beautiful fine weather - to good to be indoors!

The banana palms had grown like Topsy again so I cut them all back in preparation for a big "cook up" - I chopped up enough to fill my two stock pots and added the partially cooked pohutukawa leaves as well.

 

My new-to-me BBQ! I scored it for $15 from the SPCA Secondhand Store when I recently dropped off some unwanted items.

  It's bigger than my other two old BBQ's and comfortably allows both stock pots at the same time. 

When time permits I'll rinse the fibres out in the outdoor bath seen in the top photo.

 While the abaca and pohutukawa leaves where cooking I processed a preserving pan of precooked and rinsed harakeke fibres with my insinkerator.

I got real excited to see a kingfisher, was able to quickly retrieve my camera and just managed to take this photo before it flew away! 

The following day after pressing between two pieces of wood I hung them on the washing line in the sun to dry.

Then to finish them off so I could label more soap I found an ingenious way of completing the drying process...

 

...they fit perfectly between the fins of my oil heater!

 To flatten the batches of dried paper for I usually place them between the two pieces of wood again, weighting them with a concrete brick.Not very high tech but I'm learning to be resourceful and use what I've got. I've now got a really good stack of handmade paper again and was able to label soaps for The Bach, Putiputi Ra and for the upcoming TLC end-of-term Pop-Up shop and Exhibition. I'm also really interested in making book - so watch this space!

Balms (Salves)
So, I've been thinking about how I good divide up the kilo block of wax and it suddenly came to me to use a silicone cupcake mold that I'd picked up cheap.

If I remember correctly each block 

weighs approximately 50 grams. 

With some of my salves sold out and requests for 

more I spent a couple an afternoon making more.

I designed and printed the labels for the balms and used my xyron adhesive tool I bought second hand off trade Me for the labels These are destined for the "Matariki Market" and the TLC pop up shop.

Markets/Stalls

Labelling, pricing and packaging my soaps always takes way longer than I thought it would. I designed and printed out some information pamphlets for people who wanted to know a bit about my soap. I also designed a business card template to print out on my handmade paper. I found this much quicker to do with all I learned making info pamphlets so that was good!

The Matariki Whanau Market started at 10 am on Saturday
 17th June but stall holders were asked to be set up by 9 am.

These photos were taken before it started to get REALLY busy!
So busy I was almost having a panic attack - I've never seen
SO MANY people on the bridge at once!

It was a beautiful mild sunny winter's day
and this was my view from my stall.

I found the reflections in the water calming -
a tiny therapeutic window amidst the busy-ness!

Silly me didn't take a photo of my stall though.

Exhibitions

Periodically I learn of an exhibition on at the Geoff Wilson Gallery at NorthTec that interests me.  Abstraction - Latitude by Longitude caught my eye as it was an artist that used tapa cloth as a support for paint. This is how Filani Macassey's work is described...

"A specific connection with land is the theme of an exhibition of new work by Northland artist Filani Filina Macassey."

Filani has used materials sourced from the earth – paper mulberry fibre from Fiji, natural mud pigments from Northland and Fiji, charcoal, traditional dye and printing inks. The natural elements are sourced from regions with which she feels a connection to.

Fijian-born Filani is a graduate of Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland, she has been involved in many community art initiatives and has exhibited in New Zealand, Fiji and Europe. Her work is inspired by the duality of having been born in Fiji and living most of her life from the age of six and a half in New Zealand. “I suppose it is a way of creating an individualistic identity” she says. Filani recently completed an internship at the Geoff Wilson Gallery, North Tec, and is the Coordinator of the newly opened OWL Community Hub in Wellsford. After having travelled to South America and Cuba, Filani moved to Kaiwaka during October 2015 and is currently setting up an artist studio.

[Source: http://www.northtec.ac.nz/events/2017/abstraction-latitude-by-longitude]        (Photos are mine)

I had the opportunity to speak with Filani and it was really good to hear about her creative journey. She briefly shared a little about her colouring processes on tapa cloth which was what inspired me to attend the opening of her exhibition. I would like to experiment more with painting/printing and dyeing on my handmade paper. Something else to work towards.

November 2016 - week 3 creativity

November 2016 - week 3 creativity

November 14th - 21st

 It's that time of the year again - Pohutukawa time.

I've heard that if the trees flower before December

then it's going to be a hot, dry summer.

 I love the aroma of the pohutukawa flowers

and they have healing medicinal properties 

which is why I use them in my products.

 Processing the flower in olive oil

 This mixture will be used for salve-making.

I'll let it seep for a couple weeks to extract 

all the goodness from the flowers.

 More forging - this time for totara Again, I use 

this in my soap and salves.It has anti-microbial

anti-oxidant and anti-inflammation properties

 Podocarpus Totara is another New Zealand

 native tree with medicinal properties.

Harvesting/Forging and Preparing Plant Material - 2 hours

RICKY TIME

Planter Box Construction

 With my supervision and encouragement Ricky 

drilled holes in the base of the planter box.

 We measured and marked where to drill the holes.

 Last one!

 Then it's on to sanding....

 ...just a light sand was all that was needed.

 Ricky is using a tin of paint that was in the sales bin 

but as the lid was difficult to remove we got it for free!

Incidentally, the paint is called "Conifer" 

and a lovely rich dark green colour.

Ricky time: 3 hours

(teaching/encouraging/construction)

POTTERY TIME

Wendy Cunliff who is a potter at the Firebirds Pottery Group is currently running beginner pottery classes. Unfortunately I can not attend due to other commitments but she said she was happy to show me what she taught and this weeks class is Making a Pinch Pot 

 Rolling two equal pieces of clay into a ball, patting to remove air etc

Each piece gets "pinched" that is, thumb pressed

 down into the clay ball and the edges gradually

 thinned as one pinches the clay. The top rim is 

"roughened" with a fork and moistened ready 

for joining the two halves together to make one.

 The two halves joined together, smoothing with a little 

water around the join and carefully patting as you turn it.

Then dry the clay off a little with  heat from a hair 

dryer so you can make cuts in the hollow ball of clay.

 My first attempt went wrong (trying too hard!)

so I had to start the above steps from scratch again.

This time I just play with the shape..

 ..and let whatever was going to happen, happen...

 ..and this is what I ended up with.

Pottery time - 4 hours (5-9 pm)

EXHIBITIONS/ART GALLERIES

Reyburn House Art Gallery holds exhibitons of artist's work. I happened to be passing when I was distracted by some colourful paintings visible to the passerby. I popped in to have a coler look.

The artist was of dutch descent and invited me to

 come and have a look at her work. Turns out it

 was the opening of her exhibition.

Margriet chatting with some folks.

The colourful painting on the left

 is the one that "caught my eye"

I didn't stay long and ask if it was ok to take a few photos.

Exhibitions/Art Galleries - 1 hour

ARTISANS MARKET 

 Whangarei Canopy Bridge Market

On Saturday the 19th I ran a second market to confirm my feelings and yes, I have learned a lot about myself. I have come to realise I don't enjoy being in public eye and I get stressed being asked questions about my product, This has been really clarifying for me and positive.

I sold soaps wrapped in handmade papers.

All made from forging and home grown plant 

materials

Handmade soap with pottery leaf dish.

My "Soap'n Salve" ketes, which also contain a handknitted 

cotton face cloth and NZ pumice. I've designed and sewn

the kete (baskets) as well, with material using

New Zealand designs and hessian.

I'm considering having a "sales assistant" for the next market. One of the artisans said her mum might be keen. This will mean I can maintain my public profile whilst focusing on the creation of my soaps rather than public interaction.

 Market Preparation - 12 hours

Market setup - 1.5 hours

Market 9 am to 1.30 pm - 4.5 hours

Market pack-down - 1.5 hours

TOTAL: 19 hours