Studio Insights - November 2024
CREATE: What I’ve created/done & what I’m working on.
INSPIRE: What art has inspired me.
LEARN: What I’m learning to develop my practice.
PLAN: What I’m planning next.
“The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense.”
November was a fun mix of quiet contemplation, experimentation and then chaotic travel time with family for my sister’s wedding down south.
After my quarter-life crisis write-up last month, I’ve been thinking a lot about my future direction. No big surprise that I’ve yet to lock down on what I actually want to do… but I have come to some conclusions. More on that in my ‘Plan’ section below.
I also had the amazing surprise of winning the people’s choice award for my piece ‘Ethereal Moss’ in the Wellington Regional Arts Review, held at Whirinaki. A huge thank you to everyone who voted for my work!
CREATE: Pablo’s Art Auction
Early in the month, I had the pleasure of attending the annual Pablos Studio Art Auction - this year held at the National Library of New Zealand. I was invited as an exhibiting artist, having donated my two works ‘Red Rocks’ & ‘Blue Rocks’
Pablo’s is a free open art studio and community-based in Wellington city, aimed towards those who are Tangata Mātau ā wheako (have a lived experience of mental health). They offer a range of workshops, classes, outings and more with a focus on art as therapy.
I used to volunteer for them back in 2020 and donated the artwork ‘New Beginning’ to their auction that year. I remember that event quite clearly still - it was early in my career and I’d yet to sell anything to someone who wasn’t a friend or family member. I was working out back, excitedly listening as I heard my piece come on and bid up to $800. I knew it was low for such a piece (today I’d sell it for almost 4x that), and I wouldn’t receive any of that money. But I didn’t care at all - I was absolutely ecstatic! Someone who didn’t know anything about me actually wanted to drop that much money on my creation?! I couldn’t believe it.
It felt so rewarding to return again 4 years later and donate some more work, and see how the space has evolved over time. I was also quietly stoked to finally ‘get rid’ of a few old pieces… I made them all the way back in 2019! Getting to watch the whole auction process this time was so much fun, it’s run quite elegantly and having a proper auctioneer with ‘the voice’ really makes a big difference. The range of work for sale was quite impressive, with some pieces from major established artists going for an absolute bargain. I was quite tempted by a few pieces myself… maybe another year I’ll join in the fun and hold up my bidding number!
INSPIRE: Dress-up Box, Artbourne, Dunedin Gallery
The Dress-up Box
The Dress-up Box was a theatrical fashion show created by one of our studio members Olivia Ferguson, to debut her collection under the label ‘Equilibrium’. Held on the floor below us, the whole event was organised and run by Olivia and her team so beautifully. Having seen the crazy hard work and stress that went into this, along with helping set up some bits myself, it was so rewarding to see it all come together! I was blown away by the professionalism in every aspect - lighting, music, design, the amazing models and of course Olivia’s beautiful collection. I felt so much pride for being a part of an art community that made this event possible.
Artbourne
Artbourne is a bi-annual art show held at Wesley College in Eastbourne. This one had somehow snuck under my radar until now. I would have loved to join if I knew about it! I really liked the feel of this one - It’s much smaller than the ones I’ve attended, which gave a very intimate and friendly feel. Initially, I was confused as to why it was in a college, but it all made sense once I was welcomed in and shown around by a familiar artist, Glen Jorna. Glen is the head of visual arts at Wesley and has a studio attached to the art block where he creates paintings, as well as organising this show. I loved the idea of seeing the art teacher engage in their practice, and also felt a bit jealous - I never saw much of my teacher’s work in high school and this would have been incredibly inspiring!
I had a great time wandering around and chatting to a few artists that I know from other shows, and was particularly drawn to the work of Jo Kreyl who I’d never seen before.
Dunedin Public Art Gallery - The Dark Current
I’m making a habit of coming here every time I visit - this gallery always has an impressive range of work on display. I was hoping to see some works by a family descendant Myra Kirkpatrick (explained here) but unfortunately didn’t get the chance. I am however in contact with someone who can show me, hopefully next time I’m around.
I wanted to highlight this absolutely stunning moving image installation ‘The Dark Current’ by Angela Tiatia. I’ll be perfectly honest, this is probably the first moving image artwork that I’ve ever actually enjoyed. I just don’t get them at all! But this was something different - the shots were so beautifully crafted, that I found myself entranced the whole time. I still didn’t really get it, but damn was there some truly impressive cinematography, set design and costumes. I always love to be surprised by something outside my usual realm of appreciation.
Special mention: Exposure
Exposure is an annual exhibition of 4th-year projects at Massey University. I’ve gone along every year since first starting my degree in 2016 and continued after graduating. I was devastated to miss it this year due to stupidly getting the dates wrong! If anyone went and has some highlights to show, please send them through so I can live through your experience.
LEARN: Framing experiments
This month I had a play around with teaching myself how to (badly) frame some artwork myself! I created this painting of my sister’s stunning dog Murphy for her wedding and decided I wanted to have a go at repurposing some op-shop frames. I found this frame which was almost perfect - just a cm or so too big. So I tried to adjust it to fit - it can’t be that hard, right?
This ended up being a foolishly massive undertaking that tested my patience but in the end, was incredibly rewarding and taught me a lot. The painting itself was super easy, done in about 6 hours across two sittings. I then spent at least twice that over the space of 2 weeks on just the frame… along with way too much money on tools and materials some of which I didn’t even use. I sanded the whole thing down, added some extra wood, stained/painted it and bent my own clips to attach the painting.
I’m so happy with the end result. It’s a bit janky in places if you look too close, but from viewing distance, it does an amazing job of transforming the painting and giving it much more presence on the wall. So what did I learn? Woodworking is hard, like really hard. But so much fun! I'll definitely be experimenting with more of this in the future. I also learnt to make the painting to fit the damn frame, not the other way around (for op shop frames that is). But that requires some pre-planning, so I probably won't learn that lesson.
Later on I’m going to make a seperate post detailing every step of the process, in case you want to learn from my mistakes, follow my terrible process or just tell me what I did wrong (please do). I usually find these kind of ‘guides’ quite helpful, rather than those doing it perfectly with all the specialised tools and equipment.
PLAN: Next year & Quirky Fox Opening
As mentioned in my intro, I have been trying to make some decisions about my plans for next year. I have been locked into doing the Christchurch and NZ Art shows for a while now, so I’ll definitely be doing those (April & Late May). I also had plans for a solo exhibition, to be held in November next year. At some point last month during my crisis, I toyed with the idea of putting that on hold, or not doing it at all. Every time I thought about this, I got very sad. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years, so I owe it to myself to make it happen. As a result, next year is going to be a hectic one, but I’m hoping it will be a great send-off to ‘end’ this chapter in my career before shifting to something else.
As for the closer future - In January I’ll be exhibiting in the opening exhibition for Quirky Fox to celebrate their new gallery space. I’ve been in talks with them for quite a while now about exhibiting, but due to a range of unforeseen circumstances out of our control, it hasn’t happened yet beyond just a few prints in the rack. So it’s exciting that I’m finally getting a painting on the wall! This will be held on Wednesday, January 15th, 2025 at Quirky Fox Gallery in Hawera, NZ.