a peek into my dyeing process ...

Well, all these weeks later after summer school, with an injury that won't go away, and with the burning need to create, I finally did it. I have about ten new items in my wardrobe including 3 linen shirts, two cotton t-shirts, a cardigan, and some silk scarves. I purchased all of these second hand and didn't spend more than $25 perhaps. I will show photos at a later date. I am tired so forgive my writing skills but I hadn't written for a while. We have been so busy. The next three days will be in Rotorua where we will visit Whakarewarewa, a thermal Maori village. My boys will see boiling mud pools, geysers, and hot springs. We will go to the hotpools,
In the meantime, I thought I would share some of the dyeing process with you all. By the way, I was privileged to be taught by India Flint, during a summer artist intensive at Whitireia. I also have her book (my textbook) to help guide me, which discusses the process India has developed and her motivation for what she does. These are my takes on her processes.
Below is my little pot from Trash Palace, $2. It is the perfect size to stick a linen shirt into. This one is marinating in cold flax juice and some iron links from the railway tracks.

My Eucalyptus Cinerea bucket.
Taking the lid off the pot, one can see the flax flowers and juice all up in there. These were left for at least 48 hours.
Here is my linen dress all rolled up awaiting to be unravelled and exclaimed over.
This dress has a long piece of rusted metal inside it. Below, this is what was in the little pot.
Here is my healing cloth. I came to call it that because I am in a healing time due to RSI.
Open up the shirt and see those dyed parts as well as the undyed lighter parts.
The healing blanket unrolled and investigated. After two and a half days, that seaweed is starting to get high. I just love my bolts.
Great iron metal bolts, screws, and giant nails.
I am happy with this old quilt.
This particular black seaweed left a distinctive black mark on the silk.
Part of my elaborate and highly sophisticated set up. Just need some buckets, metal findings (old cans, bottle tops, to act as the mordant or 'fixative."
Late to the hub craft group but I am determind to prepare two more linen shirts.
And this is how I do it .. Found objects , onion skins, metal bolts ...
Two new bundles ready for the pot.
I will post some photos soon of finished work.

Ko Nina Bagley koe

I have just hopped all over cyberspace visiting some of my friends wonderful blog sites. The sun is streaming in through my completely disorganised study, the coffee is hot, the children are fed and gone, my husband is away and I have a class scheduled this afternoon. I thought I would let you all know what I am doing at art school this year but first, I need to bring you up to speed with how I got here in the first place. I want to introduce you to someone very special in my life, someone I have admired from afar, someone I have yet to meet and someone who's life and work blows my mind on all levels ...



dear dear Miss Nina Bagley. About two years ago, I became interested in 'altered' art after scrapbooking quickly got boring. I did a few local classes but there was nothing edge-y, nothing outside the standard beading and floral arrangement classes. (Bbbbbooooorrrrrriiiiiiinnnngggg. Sorry scrappers and beaders but my nature is too crazy and these crafts were toooo limited for me.) Browsing through my favourite part of the library I came upon an altered art book which featured none other than Nina's work.(pronounced Nine-Ah, not Neeenaaa, but like the number 9, which is important even if we are only reading silently, it still is pronounced in our minds properly). I have always loved books, read at least five a week and browse so many more. I love paper, textiles, thrifting, making by hand, writing and photography. Her work encapsulates all the elements I love and then some. I still love the visual stimulation that mixed media gives and where I can, I try and use 'not art product' products to produce my work. She makes the most beautiful necklaces and incorporates poignant narratives that lift each piece to another level. I must own one of these one day.

Here is a piece of Nina's recent work and below is what is stamped onto the back. You can view more of her work and life on her blog at http://ornamental.typepad.com/ or visit her online store at www.ninabagley.etsy.com. I do such a poor job of presenting her work, she is far more poetic so please do drop by her blog and check her out. She would love to come to New Zealand and teach here, so register your interest if you'd love to do that. She has a workshop coming up in Melbourne, Australia including an intensive. I would LOVE to do that.
Below are more examples of her jewellery. I love the dolls. I have one remember. I love people and words in my artwork too.

NB: For those of you who might think "you could make that yourself Rachelle", well let me tell you, that sometimes it is not just the object you purchase when you buy a piece of art but you also purchase the artists 'hand and eye and concept' that went into the creating and making of the individual piece, this is what you pay for when you buy art. We pay for the hours spent gathering materials, the originality of an item, the hours and money spent taking classes and getting training, the hours spent refining our methods and let me tell you, most artists I know probably couldn't charge their true worth because few could afford them. (I hear you loud and clear India!)

My heart is always expectant as I visit these ladies via their websites. Every day I travel to the West Island and a wee farm somewhere on that continent with a botanical alchemist, then across to the USA and the small quiet place where Nina lives and works, to peek in on her studio and see what creative object she is fashioning. Sometimes they travel, and then so do I, vicariously through their lives. Funny isn't it, I would slap you for looking into the windows of my house, but via the internet we are all voyeuristic and encourage others to do so. Well, I hope it's inspirational voyeurism anyway.

I intro'd India Flint (website: http://www.indiaflint.com/ ; blog http://prophet-of-bloom.blogspot.com/) last month. India is a fabulous source of support and inspiration as well, with her wealth of knowledge in the textile department.

I hear regularly from Sandy Webster (website: http://www.sandywebster.com/), another American artist I met last year who works with mixed media creating boxes, books and baskets (some of her wonderful work is in the book "500 baskets").

I am also surrounded by artists at school in the form of my tutors which is one of the benefits of art school. One is immediately dropped into the centre of the art world. I find out what's happening, who's who, and get to be involved in some exciting things. But visiting Nina's and India's pages this morning is almost like being invited to tea and catching up on the latest and greatest. Be it creations, thoughts, events... Well, you get the picture.

Viewing Nina's work was very much a part of the reason why I am where I am today. I wanted to create in a serious manner, to take my crafting off the back element and move it into a more central location in my life alongside my other roles. It's in my blood to create and think and live and reflect. Having had an overdeveloped sense of responsibility (which I have totally cured based on the haphazard nature of my home and life these days) for all those years meant I did not value the role of being an artist, certainly not for myself anyway. It took me a few months before I could even call myself an artist (there is still a slight cringe too sometimes). After a brief chat with the main man in my life, earning a living is not my biggest priority anymore. Well at least not yet. Suffice to say, we live a simple life, do not have a mortgage, and earn a reasonable living. And nothing worse than pressure to kill creativity.

Today I discovered http://www.felt.co.nz/ -oooo, exciting. Like www.etsy.com but based here in Aotearoa. So my goal is to sell some of my handcrafted goods, to help appease the "second income guilt" that appears from time to time; and just a plain excuse to get making smaller pieces for marketing while diminishing my stash and the 'guilt' evoked from all my art stuff lying around.

I am studying Visual Arts & Design at Whitireia Polytech in Porirua. I am in the first year of the degree course which is a total of three years full time. Being a mother is my other full time role. My big creative energy this year is reserved for three major body of work pieces for exhibition.

Last year was my first year, dipping my toes into the water (actually I threw myself into the deep end and scrambled about madly). It was crazy but helped build a foundation of skills including design, drawing, and research.

Some of the areas I want to explore this year include:

* Finish. Getting those products looking a lot more professional. Also being able to articulate my work, process and identity preferably in my own native tongue with song and protocol also moving into the centre of it all.

* Marketing - making a living as an artist. Ideas I want to explore are workshops, marketable small goods, and travel. Maybe group exhibitions from time to time, but I don't like the way galleries dictate - I don't know enough in this area though I do work in a gallery, so I guess that's what I need to find out as well.

* Te Reo Maori, tikanga and waiata. Finally my language. With Wednesday mornings and all day Friday for self-directed learning and studio-based work, I am wanting to develop my ability to communicate in my own language.

*Writing and storytelling, bookmaking.

* soft sculpture, cloth folk, and mixed media weaving. Loving the work of Danny Mansmith here. http://scrap-dannymansmith.squarespace.com/

* a series on prominant Maori figures "Villain or Hero?" including Brian Tamaki, Tame Iti, Te Whiti, Whina Cooper, and other Maori leaders who have fought for their ideals and people, and been demonised for it. Much like Steve Biko and Nelson Mandela and Ghandi - it all depends where you're standing and what you're standing for.

* the Swamp Queen (based on my great grandfathers Yugoslav heritage and his life here in New Zealand as a gumdigger in 1905) - a costume using felting and dye techniques learned from India Flint plus costume construction and deconstruction which is part of my major this year.

* Intensives with Nina and at the Aotearoa Textile Forum.

* Technology: yup, no avoiding it. Using digital media as part of the art making process. I love sound installations. At Pataka, Porirua's city art gallery, there is an exhibition currently showing that has giant photographs of people's face. They were captured using slow exposure so are slightly blurred. They represent the many faiths of the world. The artist photographed them praying and recorded them, so a slide show shifts the face and the voice of each person praying is also heard. It's evocative to say the least. Even if you are not spiritually-minded, it would be near impossible for this art work not to impact. Something intimate about faces and voices. I love taking photos and so am looking forward to learning how to manipulate images even more and the various applications of applying images to various surfaces.

My degree is a Bachelor of Visual Arts and this year I am majoring in Textiles both 2D and 3D. My tutor Deb Donnelly is great. She has a passion for textiles, a background in fashion and continues to enter shows with her wearable art designs.

My school is the local community polytechnic, not the flashest of campus (that would be Massey and Victoria University's) but it's certainly not lacking in flavour. Porirua is polynesian central in the Capital with a high percentage of Maori, Pacific Island folk - it's a melting pot for all cultures. So my school has lots of mum's, young folk who don't meet the criteria yet for university, people who do not want to be dictated to and want freedom to follow their own directions. We also have a writing school, drama and performance school including dance, a music school, architects school, and multi-media school as well as the visual arts department. We also have a strong jewellery department that is part of the art school and is led by reknowned artist Peter Dekker/ I believe Whitireia has the potential to be one of the best art schools in the country due to the diversity of its peoples and it's location in Porirua.

It's make up can be colourful. Sometimes the administration doesn't flow like it could, the staff are vague and the student body frustrated. I seriously came home with head aches and feeling depressed some days last year because frankly, it was a shambles at times. But the upside of that, is FREEDOM to develop in any direction I choose to go. That is what I try to focus on. I am so absorbent sometimes though, and part of my learning is negotiating myself through this process in the most peaceable manner I can. I am not patient but trust me, I am learning. Deb is helpful here. She has a calming nature, as do most of my colleagues.

So I look forward to posting work as it develops. I know some come here to view art works so I should be able to appease that more as time goes on this year. Just right now, life is so much more important. Balancing the kids, home, sanity and responsibilities. Who has time for art?

dye results, sculptures, fried bread, friends and berries

Back at art school this week at our local Polytech. Here are some of my dye results. This one was using salt water as the mordant, an huge old rusted iron bar I found while walking along the Waikanae River and TIME. Left to it's own devices, I wasn't expecting much but as I unravelled my large bundle, the biggest surprise awaited me. Are they a row of crosses, or a group of people?

A close up of details. I like dye on fabric especially when combined with folding the fabric, time and the most simplest of materials. It's non-toxic, uncomplicated and leaves room for serendipity - the unexpected. I am not the most disciplined person and I enjoy the 'surprise' that happens as each art work is finally opened. This is calico, unwashed. It's about 2m x 2m, so is large and dramatic.
This is a large piece of silk (see below) already has a silver metallic thread and sequin embroidered design on it. How did I do this? It was shibori folded with eucalyptus leaves and put into a pot with harakeke (flax) seed pods and left to cook for an hour. Pot was turned off and the bundle left in overnight. This is my most successful attempt at a technique that India Flint taught at her summer workshop. This is also about 2m x 2m. I found the silk (bridal or ball gown material by the looks of things at Trash Palace for about 50c!). The leaf prints left by the eucalypt are so clear with reds, greens and black spots. Each print unique and individual. I love this sort of thing. The right hand side is darker forming a natural border due to being on the outside and most exposed to dye.
Below is the brightest of yellows. The pattern again created using shibori techniques. Basically I took an old white t-shirt and a huge pot of onion skins, and boiled it all up for an hour, then left it overnight to steep. The more onion skins, the more intense the colour.
Only a dyer can understand the thrill of a clothesline loaded with different experiments. I also dyed some wool, some wool tops, felt, vintage silks from kimono, cotton, muslin, string and other scraps of fabric. I actually achieved more at home than I did at the workshop. It was too distracting - so many things happening at once, I wanted to do everything and ended up with little to show. So pleased that some of that knowledge stuck. As you can also see, a typical Wellington summer day with a nice strong gust of wind wrapping all my fabric around the clothes line. Useful for drying fabric, hopeless for a photo shoot.

I went wandering again yesterday along some tracks and look at all my lovely big bolts and bits, nicely rusted. The 'bowl' is a hubcap found by my oldest son. I love that they find me treasures.
So school started again for me this week. My second year as an art student, this year majoring in textiles. I am both excited and anxious. Last year was complicated on so many levels, both personally as I was new to the art scene and externally throughout our campus. I want to learn and have fun creating art as well as developing the ability to think conceptually. That is a real art. ... Anyways, so our first brief was to create a sculpture based on the four elements: wind, fire, water, earth. Our group came up with five upright structures constructed with bamboo stakes with different strands coming off each one. Handspun flax interwoven with feathers, paua shells, leaves, flowers, twigs. I wove wool tops and tiny branches using silk thread - I wanted to connect the abrasive twigs that I found on one of my morning excursions to a soft branch made from wool. Recreate a natural object using something unexpected. Hence a 'soft' branch.
This is our water one, using paua shells.
This circle web with leaves attached was the creation of another group. I love the way the harbour creates a beautiful background and the leaves swirling just like they do on the ground on a windy day.
I made a big batch of dough today. Seriously big batch, that is a standard sized cup in my giant basin. My arms ached a little after kneading this. We were on a mission, deliver a drumkit to one keen little drummer boy in Upper Hutt and have a big kai with our dear friends.
Here Christine and Sophie are making me a yukka pot plant. How cool is that? She just pulled a little plant off the base of her big plant and stuck it in a pot. Some people are just naturally generous by nature. I left with a brand new olive green scarf she purchased in Oz, a yummy yukka in a gorgeous green pot, and a big pot of boil-up. Uncle Eddie makes a mean boilup - bacon and pork bones, kumara, potato's, watercress. I made a bit of fried bread. And little 'E' played on his new drums for two and a half hours straight. Sophie created a wee butterfly strand and we sewed it onto her headband.
Lovely friends. Sophie is gorgeous in Mum's high heels. Little girls are so much fun. My boys just want to wrestle and skateboard all the time. I am dying to have a wee workshop for all my little friends like Sophie (there's Madison, Melania and Shasha, Zoe and Shalom). We can do 'girl' things - I so need to get this out of my system. Already I am dreaming of a tea party with dress ups and make up and nail polish and High School Musical music and princess themes and little cupcakes and scones with cream and jam, and strawberries. Ok, this I must do. I am drowning in testosterone otherwise because I am the only girl in my family.
Dropped in to say hi with some more lovely friends. I found two more princesses in pink pyjama's, lying in princess beds with princess stuff all over their rooms. Great people live in Upper Hutt. Shame about the weather though. We drove back over the hills and looked north, sure enough, the Bay was shining, with a beautiful clear sky and sunset. Mind you, the air is cold, so these summer days are numbered for sure.
A quick stop. Blackberries. Yum. I know they probably spray these bushes but we just said a hasty prayer then stuffed our faces. It was definitely raining but I want my kids to know what blackberries taste like straight from the bush. They were definitely excited and it was a shame we had to go.
I hope your days are full of exciting adventures and yummy delights. Don't be afraid to live - we only get one shot.

Waitangi Day

Dear Queen
There seems to have been a misunderstanding
Perhaps I can explain.
You see
When I say 'family', I do not mean my mum and dad, my brothers and sisters;
I mean everyone I know who I value and am connected with, tied by love and not necessarily just blood;
When I say 'land', I do not mean this asset I possess,
I mean our land, the place where we belong, our connection to the earth, most vital to our spiritual well being;
And when we said 'yes'
We did not give you permission to strip us of our rights and property; to steal the land; jail our men; and displace us from our homelands.
We meant "We have plenty and you can share it with us. There's enough for everyone."
So please could you put everything back where it belongs
And leave things bloody well alone!

Today was Waitangi Day. The day we in New Zealand celebrate the establishment of the Treaty, an agreement between the Crown (English) and the Maori over 100 years ago. Unfortunately the Treaty was never honoured and still remains a thorn in many peoples sides. It is our own country's internal struggle. My own views are varied on this hot topic - so much hurt and injustice occurred and there's much restitution and healing yet to be done. Our city had a celebration of sorts and here are some pics I took today as I roamed the grounds at the local high school.
Close up of a sculpture in the sculpture competition. Sorry No. 14, I didn't get ur name, but I liked your concept best. Maybe not the tidiest execution of materials but definitely the most evocative given the purpose of the day. A few of my staunch sisters came up alongside, and the European artist nervously apologised "I don't mean to offend anyone" says she. Well, us Maori folk all unanimously agreed this was the best sculpture due to: her use of te reo (our language) and the symbolism of a crown over the words (for us anyway it symbolised oppression). We all rushed over to the table and voted for her piece. I hope she won. (PS. All materials supplied by Trash Palace).
A wall of flower brooches.
Some little taonga (treasures). I bought my son one of the Mother Of Pearly koru (spiral) pieces at the bottom. He needed his own Taonga. It cost me $8.
Some metal renditions of classic Maori designs. I'm not sure that I like these, preferring traditional materials in this instant but I can understand their appeal. My son probably would've liked these too but I like the pearl ones, they have a different glow.
I asked this lovely lady if I could photograph her Pacific Island jewellery stand but I like this photo of her better. You can see why Captain Cook and his fellow sailors were captured with the Pacific.

Some of her lovely wares including a fabric flower and turtle earrings made with coconut shell and a fibre braided through them. Flowers are a big deal for Pacific Island women. They are a symbol of beauty and are worn behind the ear for all occasions, much like jewellery. But make sure you know which ear to put it behind, for one side is for married women, and the other signals a woman is single(which makes it handy for guys to know that a woman is available). These fabric flowers are great because we are not a tropical country and exotic blooms are not in abundance here. Samoan hair clips.

What is it about these evocative sounds and dusky men with long black hair. It's quite sexy actually. I took a photo of their cd, hoping to post their name, but alas the photo was blurry, so sorry lads but you were nice to look at and listen too. I swear, I will one day be able to afford lovely handmade shoes. I will even get them fitted to my feet by the maker. After being alongside a 'handmade shoe' workshop last year, I came to appreciate the value of good shoes, and they needn't be boring either. I must admit, none of these really appealed to me, except maybe those lime green and turquoise ones at the end.
Being a textile artist, I was drawn to this table and this new take on an old idea. Miriona was lovely as she talked about her work. There were at least six people behind the table with her and when I asked if these were her whanau (family), she laughed because she reckons that was only a quarter of them. She did this nifty thing with driftwood and wove some string up it. I think her flowers are cheerful and unique. I must admit, I was looking for Maori artists and crafts - where the heck are they? This is Porirua, Polynesian Central in the Capital for goodness sake! Then my husband pointed to the front of the stage and all the Maori's sitting there watching the shows. "There they are," he said, "they're all eating." So ok. But I do get a bit pissy seeing all the same old trades folk out selling caps, commercial jewellery, balloons etc and I understand you all have to make a living, but given that it is WAITANGI Day, I figure there should be more representation from our side as well.

See, weaving flowers from flax is something I do with my mother-in-law when she comes to visit. We experiment. She's half Tahitian and half Cook Island, and merge this with Maori weaving styles, I have learned some amazing skills from her ...

I found a tiger.
A cool hat.
Some fish.
An Indian!

A flock of Indians. No bull, I really want some of these wing things myself. I can just see myself in these. Aren't they beautiful. They were flogging their cd's from a metal briefcase. The irony. But they really are beautiful.
A fale (Polynesian hut) ...
Where they sold half a pineapple stuffed with ice cream for $5. yum.
And finally, I was determind today to get at least one picture of myself, so theMan faithfully grabbed the camera and caught these shots. My favourite feather earring. I felt so connected to my Native American brothers. Me and theBoy2. Give me some of that slushy! (What is a slushy? Shaved ice and flavoured syrup of course). Notice he wears his taonga.
TheMan sits smiling. I took off to do my art thing while he took the boys on the fair rides, fed them and then followed me around as I finished off my rounds. Unflappable he is. Now finally we are where he likes to be. Being a musician, the stage and music is always his drawcard at these shows, that is, if he isn't standing on it singing himself.
The Wellington Ukelele Orchestra. So kitsch. I loved the girl in the frock on the end with the flower in her hair. She wore bright red lipstick and shoes, and played and sung with gusto. The energy this group gave off was fun, clever and very entertaining.
And finally a bit of Polynesian styles. Admittedly we came late, so we missed all the other acts but here is a church choir doing some form of a siva (dance). ...That was my day at park. There are more photos, but I just wanted to share a glimpse. A bit late posting because my mum read my blog and was so passionate about it, she rang and we talked for nearly FIVE hours tonight. Um, she's in Brisbane, Australia and I'm in New Zealand. I could've flown there and back. My son's are back at school tomorrow after their summer vacation. I need some sleep. Going for coffee tomorrow with all my friend's at Aunty Daisy's, a cafe down by the beach. Looking forward to it. We're celebrating the kids being back at school. Cafe's and long chats are not conducive with children. And the food's so expensive, I can't afford to take my two, do you know how much they eat?? Apopo ra (until tomorrow)...