Kia ora,
I would like to introduce the Leaf Stitch Project today. The project is part of this years Matariki celebration on the Kāpiti coast.
Matariki is the Māori name for a cluster of stars, also known as the Pleiades, arising on the southern hemisphere horizon every year. In Māori culture it indicates the beginning of the New Year, a time for people to come together, to remember the past, to reflect and to make plans for the future year to come.
Reflecting and discussions around environmental issues are an important part of the celebration of Matariki. It includes giving thanks to the land and remembering to respect and protect nature.
I am providing a space for people in the wider community to come together, connect and share time and give them the opportunity getting engaged in The Leaf Stitch Project by creating a piece of art by stitching onto a dried leaf.
The activities will be held in the four Kāpiti libraries: Ōtaki, Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Paekakariki in during the month of June. Dates and times of these stitch activities see here.
The stitched leaves will be set up in an art installation at Mahara Gallery in Waikanae in July. I will post more information closer to the date of the exhibition opening.
I am looking forward to meet you there!
Topophilia – The Exhibition
About 500 leaves were stitched by members of my community in June and have been represented as an art installation at Mahara Gallery in Waikanae, New Zealand. Topophilia is a collective artwork, which conveys community bonding through creative activity.
Topophilia – Love of Land
One month of stitching leaves within my community was a great experience: people met people, strangers became friends, old taught young, young inspired old, stories were told, serious themes and not so serious themes were discussed, gifts have been exchanged, tears run, some sad ones and some happy ones, and I have learnt, there is so little one can do to bring people a bit closer together in our sometimes cold and busy society. Now, the leaves are sitting and waiting to be installed at Mahara Gallery in Waikanae.
I am inviting everybody to celebrate our creative community to come and see the Leaf Installation TOPOPHILIA at Mahara Gallery in Waikanae!
A week of leaf stitching
Wow, what a week.
Three days at Otaki library and Paekakariki library, stitching leaves. Listen to people’s stories, talking, laughing and enjoying company. The library staff was just very supportive and even did stitch some leaves as well. Here some snippets.
Tuesday, 21/6 10am – 2pm
Wednesday, 22/6 1pm – 4pm
Thursday, 23/6 9am – 12noon
The Leaf Stitch Project Kick Off
Today is the official start of Matariki, the leaf stitch activities have kicked off yesterday with a visit at the local market at the Te Horo Hall. Beautiful weather, no wind, so we could do the stitching outside!
The Leaf Stitch Project
Kia ora,
I would like to introduce the Leaf Stitch Project today. The project is part of this years Matariki celebration on the Kāpiti coast.
Reflecting and discussions around environmental issues are an important part of the celebration of Matariki. It includes giving thanks to the land and remembering to respect and protect nature.
I am providing a space for people in the wider community to come together, connect and share time and give them the opportunity getting engaged in The Leaf Stitch Project by creating a piece of art by stitching onto a dried leaf.
The activities will be held in the four Kāpiti libraries: Ōtaki, Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Paekakariki in during the month of June. Dates and times of these stitch activities see here.
The stitched leaves will be set up in an art installation at Mahara Gallery in Waikanae in July. I will post more information closer to the date of the exhibition opening.
I am looking forward to meet you there!
Sculptural felt in Wanganui
I just came back from 5 day felting workshop in Wanganui, organized by Fibre Arts New Zealand. The incredibly talented Pam de Groot thought us to create thee dimensional felt objects with a range of different techniques. It was an awesome week of learning sharing and exchanging ideas with other participants.
Harakeke weaving workshop 30 April 2016 9.30am-4.30pm
I am offering an introduction to the Māori art of flax weaving in an intensive one day workshop in my studio. This is a workshop suitable for beginners.
What do you get
What to bring
All material and tools are provided. Bring your camera and pen and paper if you wish to take notes (recommended)
Workshop numbers are limited so make sure to book as soon as possible.
Price $ 60 (including tea & coffee, and lunch)
Kite making workshop with Yvonne de Mille
This week I took part in a two days kite making workshop with Otaki based kite maker Yvonne de Mill at Whitireia. I am not really a kite fan so I was not quite sure about what to expect and if I would like the result. The first day Yvonne introduced some basic (but important) rules about the structures of kites and gave us a very informative overview about historic and contemporary kites and kite artists around the globe. And she promised that our kites would fly.
This first kite was very basic, made with easy available materials such as food coloring, baking paper, skewers and old video tape for the tails.
On the second day, we designed and constructed our own kites. I decided to use natural materials, I found magnolia leaves on the ground already changing color into browns and yellows. They are very sturdy and shiny, easy to stitch. For the frame I gathered some makomako twigs, they are very strong and quite straight. This version does not fly though and the leaves will eventually fade and disintegrate. It will be interesting to see and document how long it takes them to return to the land.
So I am ready to go to the Otaki Kite Festival this weekend not only watching but also flying my own kite.
Beautiful beaches north of Auckland
During a short visit to Auckland I had the opportunity to visit a few of those lovely eastern beaches north of Auckland. First stop at Hatfield beach, a wide sandy beach with amazing rock formations and little caves shaped by wind, weather and tides. Although only to be admired close up at low tide. Lucky me.
Walking along further along the Puhoi river mouth watching the the rhythm of the waves this piece of wood been tossed and swirled around.
Revitalized…
Bringing it together – solar dyeing
All those sampling is really exciting with often unexpected results. In my studio boxes with little pieces of silks and wool start to pile up so I decided to go one step further and respond in my personal way creating whatever comes out of the flow. Limitation was, only to use the samples of my solar dyeing experiment with exception of the cotton I used as the background.
This piece of backing I stained with mud from the creek running through our farm. I used the thick dark brown mud with a lot of leaf litter, and let the cotton sit in there for about three days. A very tactile and odorous matter…