a boy, a room, a show

In a cardboard box, tucked down next to the counter of a funny little shop in Port Chalmers called A Box of Birds, I discovered a selection of great old photos. I liked these three best, so they came home with me and will take up a position on my noticeboard when I've finished tidying my craft room. I regret not buying a second photo featuring the same little chap sitting on Santa's knee, this time wearing a balaclava and big mittens and standing at the edge of an ice skating rink with his big brother. I might have to contact the shop and ask them to send it to me...

Jack has posted a photo-narrative of our Dunedin trip on his blog, The Imaginary Museum. You can see it here.

Empires & Soft Furnishings

We're off to Dunedin next week for an exhibition at the Blue Oyster Gallery by the Museum of True History, in collaboration with artist Karl Chitham and my hubby Jack Ross. If you're in Dunedin I hope you can make it along to the opening of Fallen Empire on Tuesday 19 June at 5.30pm.

We'll be staying with Jack's brother Jim who lives in Dunedin. I've made him a handsome pair of well-stuffed wool cushions with felt detailing to thank him for his hospitality.

I'm sure I'll have lots to report when I get back.

Enjoy your weekend.

Fancy Fools Flight

It's always exciting to receive copies of art catalogues that I've written for. The calibre of design and image reproduction is so fine these days that the finished publications look incredibly slick and appealing. The images above are from the catalogue accompanying a brilliant exhibition by Martinborough glass artists, Jim Dennison and Leanne Williams (The Crystal Chain Gang), which is currently on tour to selected North Island Public Galleries until 2013. The exhibition Fancy Fools Flight, curated and toured by Greg Donson from the Sarjeant Gallery, has just ended its showing here at Auckland's Objectspace and is making its way to the Suter Gallery in Nelson.

The stars of the show in my opinion are the selection of ornate decanters assembled on a cleverly designed multi-leg table. Each of the decanters is sealed by an exquisitely crafted novelty stopper, some with bird forms, some with human figures, and some with strange, unidentifiable life forms.

I was fortunate enough to be given an open brief for the writing assignment, so I opted to write a fanciful pirate story inspired by one of the bottles with a pirate figure stopper. It was the most fun writing assignment I've had for a long time!

For those of you living in the North Island, look out for the exhibition at a Gallery near you. It is a wonderfully conceived and executed show and well worth a visit.

my clever sister

The word around the office is that the very talented, charming and stylish Wellington poet, Therese Lloyd, is having  her first collection of poetry published by Victoria University Press in 2013. CONGRATULATIONS TAZEY!!! What an amazing achievement. I can't wait to hold the finished book and see my clever sister's amazing words between two covers at last.

I couldn't resist putting together a little package of goodies for her to celebrate this milestone. Frankie Magazine supplied the images for a quirky narrative pop-up card featuring a young publishers assistant entering the office holding a stack of Therese's books and asking if anyone wants one. A small pop-up man instantly says "I do" and holds up some money.

 A teal coloured tote bag seemed like a good prezzy for a poet

 containing, of course, a linen book bag with two lined notebooks inside it

 and a bag of Donovans Chocolate Fudge to keep the sugar levels elevated while writing.

Have a great weekend everybody.

yarn

The combination of a nasty head-cold and the final week of teaching meant that it has been a fairly unproductive week creatively. I did manage to cut up some fabric to make some balls of yarn for the rag rug project though. The repetitive cutting process was oddly therapeutic and calming.

The sun is shining today, so I'm on a window washing mission - that's instead of finishing an essay for an art journal that was due yesterday! Tomorrow I'm going to check out an intriguing sounding exhibition by Nick Austin called 'Notebook of a Spider' at Hopkinson Cundy Gallery here in Auckland.

Have a great weekend everybody.