Getting serious again

In New Zealand we are coming to the end of our annual summer holidays. Schools will be returning soon and radio/TV programmes are reverting to their normal routines after the alternative programmes which, I might say, I do enjoy. However, it is always good to get back into familiar routines, a very human thing perhaps. And our weather hasn't been too bad this week. Once again I am wondering whether summer has finally arrived, but then I have thought that many times over the last couple of months.

All this leads up to that I am about to start on some new work. I have of course been working since my exhibition last October/November, I have completed two in my series on well-known women artists, and have played with a few other things. But it is time to get serious again and prepare for happenings in 2010. I have now ordered more linen/silk fabric from Thai Silks, USA, as of all the silks I have used this heads the list as the favourite. As usual, Thai Silks has great customer service and within 24 hours I am informed that my shipment is on its way. It may seem extreme to get this fabric from such distant shores but it is unavailable here.

In the meantime I have been playing on some muslin/calico and although not intended as a 'proper' piece, there are a couple of segments which have worked okay.





These will probably be cut up and the best bits placed into a work book.

Exhibition Visit

Last week was a very cultural week. I had not been to Pataka Museum of Arts & Cultures, Porirua, for awhile and all the exhibitions were new. I timed my visit so that I could attend a talk by American Academic, Joelene Rickard (Tuescarora Nation lineage), titled Art History and the American Indian Programme. She is an artist and art historian from Cornell University, and has been active in curating American Indian exhibitions. While in Canada last year I spent time viewing such exhibitions so her talk gave me an additional insight into what I had seen.
An artist and Associate Professor (photography), Joelene informs her students that they have to take 10,000 photographs before they start seeing, taking photographs that are uniquely from their own vision. Until then, they are simply photographing what everyone else has photographed already.
I wonder whether we could apply this to our own textile works. The quantities could be reduced somewhat, say 100+, and after that perhaps, just maybe, we would be working with our own artistic voice. Worth some thought, I feel.

On display in the Blue Pacific Gallery at Pataka is new works from the Port Nicholson Handweavers, until 14 February. This local group consistently produces work of a high standard.

Other exhibitions are Mua ki Muri, six contemporary Maori Artists (February 7); Sleight of Hand, impressive charcoal drawings by Lorene Taurerewa (February 7); Matawhero: Bullet Holes and Bandages by Peter Adsett (March 14); and Dispora, six contemporary New Zealand Artists (January 31).

Shane Cotton, Eden to Ohaeawai 1998 - 2000



Lorene Taurerewa, charcoal drawing

Art images from Pataka website