lights and shakes

Sunday night was the last of the newly established three night festival Light Nelson, which was held in Queens Gardens in the middle of the city.  We arrived soon after this free event opened at 5.45, and there were already a lot of people wandering around in the dark. Despite the full moon and all the lights from the illuminated installations, it was quite dark, and we wished that we'd brought a torch.

The first installation to greet us as we walked in the gardens looked like three clumps of spun sugar, was in fact made from fishing nylon. They were hung on wires across the pond with lights above to illuminate them. It was great how the reflections on the water and the gentle breeze added another dimension.

These small paper houses with candles inside them, were made by refugees based on their old homes. They had names and handprints on them, and were set in a quite part of the gardens, and were very moving  in their quiet and simple understatedness.

Another favourite was this large lotus flower installation that was constructed out of bamboo poles and fabric around the Victorian fountain in the middle of the rose garden.

I didn't manage to take any half decent photos of the walk through a rainbow. As we went across a bridge we grabbed an umbrella and were wowed by the rainbow produced by laser lights and a fine mist of water.  It can be seen on this video of the event. My camera and I struggled to take good photos, here's a link to the local newspaper, which has some much better ones.

It was a good place to quell post-quake nerves. We only just got to experience the 6.5 magnitude earthquake that shook the centre of the country at 5.09. If we'd been better organised we would have already left the house and been on the road. But instead we were in the garage going out the door when it rattled us. We then had to go back inside to check the computer to find how big it was. The drive into Nelson was a bit tense as it took the radio station almost half an hour to let us know that Wellington was still standing. There must be lot of people with raw nerves in Wellington and Blenheim as the aftershocks have been very frequent, and are still going.

changing threads

Since the Mapua Makers Market (which was on 9 Feb) I've been beavering away on another deadline - my entries for this years Changing Threads National Contemporary Fibre Awards.  I have entered this award three times and been chosen twice, both with blanket wall hangings. As I blogged about last year here.

 This year I've stepped away from wool and felt into the great unknown - environmental art! Tomorrow I drop my entry into the gallery on CD, so I've been taking photos and writing my artist statement and going slightly crazy. But hey even if I don't get one or two pieces selected at least I can share it with the my lovely readers on this blog.

The first piece I created is an installation, so is quite hard to photograph especially in my garage. It's titled "Coming Home to Roost", and my statement about it is:

This installation is constructed from some of the plastics that I have collected from the beach at Ruby Bay over the last 18 months. Some of the sources of this rubbish can easily be identified, such as the tags off fishing vessels or parking meter tickets, which have flown out of car windows. While these may look like paper they are in fact plastics, the recycling symbol on the back of the parking meter tickets identifies these as polypropylene.

It is hard to imagine the size of this problem. In the North Pacific Ocean there is what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an estimated 11 million tons (and growing) of floating plastic covering an area of nearly 5 million square miles of ocean, swirling in the Pacific Ocean between the coast of California and Hawaii.

Unlike organic debris, which biodegrades, plastics disintegrate into smaller and smaller pieces while still remaining a polymer. They never “vanish” so throughout the decay cycle different sized organisms are affected.

“Coming Home to Roost” is my response to this disaster that we cannot see. While I realise that the amount of rubbish that I pick up is so miniscule in the big picture, it may still help at the individual level. If one bird is saved by my actions that is better than walking past and leaving the rubbish to re-float in the next high tide, and go who knows where?

 

 In the centre of the shelter is a nest I made from fishing rope and twine. I made the top part first, and then added the mound, similar to what some sea birds build. This nest building led me onto using some of the large pile of twine and fishing line I've collected, and I made three vessels loosely based on a basket design. These are sewn together with salvaged fishing line which I had to untangle first.

The second entry is titled "Adrift".

These three vessels have been made using pieces of fishing net, twine and line that I have collected while walking along the beach at Ruby Bay. Originally the materials were used for fishing, and then discarded, cut loose or lost to become part of the garbage system that drifts with the ocean currents.

When fishing nets are left or lost by fishermen they are known as ‘ghost nets’ which drift about continuing to do what they were designed to; catching fish along with sea mammals, reptiles and birds.

By piecing together the fragments I have collected, I have made these vessels as a reminder of how fragile the marine environment is, and the need to care for it.

 

 

 

 

This morning when I went for my daily look at what's happening in the world according to Facebook, I came across Kirsty Elson's post with a link to this video. It's mindblowingly sad, and makes me feel like every little bit of plastic that I pick up off the beach is making a difference. Take the time to watch it, please.

at "changing threads"

One of  my wall hangings "Yin and Yang" which I blogged about back here, was accepted for "Changing Threads" - the National Contemporary Fibre Art Awards. Which I was very pleased about, especially as only 40 pieces were chosen. The exhibition is on until 21 April, so I hope lots of people go and see it as it's a fantastic exhibition - very well curated and the prize winners really stood out.

"Yin and Yang" - needle felted recycled wool blankets.

Here was one of the category winners, "Buck Fever" by Matt Siwerski

The other category winners can be seen on the Changing Threads website.

fibre art

Today I dropped off my entry (via CD) to a national fibre art exhibition that is held each year locally. It's a bit nerve wracking waiting to see if I will get accepted. I was two years ago with my wall hanging "21 Stations", which was also commended by the judges.

“21 Stations” memorialises the twenty-one stations of the Nelson railway section, which were written on the side of the “demolition train” which starting at Glenhope lifted the rails back to Nelson in 1955-56.  Eighty years of railway service in Nelson was over.  Where there once was a railway station there is now just a road sign, or nothing at all. There is a great article on the history of Nelson's railways here.

This year I am still working on vintage woollen blankets, but am cutting them also and needle felting the two pieces together.

"Chi"

"Yin and Yang"

The hardest part was writing my artist statement. How I hate doing those things! It was late last night and I was trying to watch Project Runway at the same time, thankfully the hubby was helpful! He actually helped with the naming of the two pieces - yep, I hadn't even managed that yet!

Excuse the navel gazing, but here it is:

I am currently exploring themes of structure and forces in the natural world. 

I have never been able to walk down a beach or river and not resist picking up a stone.  They can be hot or cold, smooth or rough, rounded or angular. To me they are a tangible reminder of part of the fabric of the earth. They are formed by tension and force, but eventually succumb to time and motion as they erode to smaller and smaller particles.

I enjoy playing with shapes and positive and negative space to find a balance. By cutting into woollen blankets, which have been discarded by their previous owners, I have now given them a new life.

“Yin and Yang” represents complimentary opposites that interact, as each cut out piece of fabric is retained and re-positioned.

“Chi” represents a life force that sustains, as plants grow from the earth.

woolly exhibition

Last night was hanging for the joint exhibition "Past + Future" where I'm showing my textile/fibre art alongside my friend Lynn's gorgeous drawings on canvas. The exhibition is in a gallery called Momentum which is tucked away a bit on Church Street in Nelson. It's in Equilibrium which is a chiropractor, they also have yoga classes in the same space. Anyhow it's an amazing space, long with fresh white walls, polished concrete floors. Lynn hung her works on one side, and mine are on the other, which is a concrete wall, I think the woollen blankets work well against the industrial strength walls.

"Re-discovered" is the first piece, that is on the wall that you see when you first walk in. This is based on the actual map that Captain James Cook made of NZ in 1769, complete with errors! As my grandfather used to say "New Zealand was built on the back of the sheep", well I did it literally! It's hard to show the scale in the photo, but it is large, almost 2 metres wide. It was the first piece I ever did, needle felted wool onto the blanket, which I then made into a cloak for a wearable art costume, which won two awards!

This shows the other five pieces in the show.

 Here's "Clip Art" and "An Apple a Day" side by side. "Clip Art" was done in memory of my father who used to show sheep and would spend hours trimming them with a pair of hand shears. To dad a well presented ram was a piece of art! "An Apple a Day" is based on the signs that orchardists used to have when just about every orchardist used to sell fruit from the gate. So it's the older varieties from my childhood, I'm not that old but only two of these varieties are now grown commercially, Granny Smith and to a lesser extend Cox's Orange. An added twist is that it's an old hospital blanket that it's felted onto! All the blankets I use I've rescued from op shops, alot are in the "dog blanket" pile, so really were doomed, I love giving them a new lease of life and appreciate the holes and flaws for what they are.

Here's "Back to Home", "Lurking Discontent" and "Heather and Fern".
"Back to Home" is about emigration and playing on words that relate to it. I've been thinking alot about my ancestors that left the UK in the 1840-1880's and sailed away for 3-4 months to arrive in a "new" land. My great, great grandfather John Liddell Kelly was one such pioneer, and he was also a journalist and poet. I have a copy of the book of poems he published in 1902. "Lurking Discontent" is two lines from one of his sonnets;

"And yet I note, with lurking discontent;

The dark bush dwindles, the golden gorse spreads free."

How right he was, much of the native bush in NZ was felled or burnt to make way for farming, but the gorse brought by the settlers took hold and flourished and spread.  
"Heather and Fern" is his 'signature' poem, and is very moving. I've already posted here about this poem as used it in one of my art jars.

And here's Lynn and some of her lovely pieces, which are about emigration and belonging. She emigrated to NZ 6 years ago, and we met almost 2 years ago and hit it off straight away.