REMINISCENCE ART

WATER MOMENTS, AMSTERDAM . . .

Light and Shadow Dance, Gay Games, Cologne

• Whilst some very spectacular Drag Queens performed on stage, I photographed below stage!
• Worth noting that whilst these are digital photographs, they appear as captured on the camera - no effects added. Photoshop has only been used as a Dark Room to crop & adjust contrast . . .

Holland Water Collection

Cosan Glas: Donegal Sculpture Trail

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• A photographic peek at some of the amazing illumintions found on a Donegal beach in July - it's an annual event: http://cosanglas.com/sculpture/

Groggan & Parkgate Primary Schools Illustrate!

Here is a PEEK at some of the great illustrations pupils at Groggan & Parkgate Primary Schools have created. I'm also posting a link to VIMEO, where an animated sequence of each school's creations has been posted (click on the LINK menu to your right).

http://vimeo.com/12820577 (Groggan)

http://vimeo.com/12820876 (Parkgate)

• All pupils did brilliantly & both schools made me very welcome.
• These illustrations are part of a bigger project, called Origins. At this stage there were 5 primary schools and 3 artists involved - all illustrating stories local to their areas.
• Before us, there were photographs taken & memories from local folk recorded.
• After us, there will be a book and a website!
• This has been a great project & already we can all see how much more we could do with all the wonderful artwork created. It has been great to have a decent chunck of time with the schools, so pupils have had time to become familiar with materials & develop their very unique & creative ideas fully. It's also been great for me to have enough time to get to know the pupils during the project. I hope funders still remember the importance of time in the creative process in these challenging budget times ahead of us all & the importance of creativity . . .
• A big thanks to Desima for a great project & to all the pupils who engaged so brilliantly with this process!

En route to Derry!

• Needing a coffee fix, this place caught our eye & I just had to photo & share!
• Check out the artwork - love it! These designs were part of a school's competition & the winning design got created, baked & eaten!
• The coffee is great, buns bountiful & staff's friendliness encourages a return visit!

(One of) The Day(s) There were No Planes in the Sky

• Taken on the morning after the ash cloud annoucement - felt the need to record the moment . . .
• Little did I know the moment would stretch into days!
• Taken through a window from a moving bus.
• Appropiately on such a strange yet on-the-surface quiet normal day, the morning has an eerie mist over it . . .

From NZ to NI, from AiR to WMH (wearer of many hats!)

• Another River Path - the walk's not as warm as the Karamea one - the camera though is equally inspired . . .

• It would seem that my eye & camera lens can link any geographical location, even those from opposite ends of the globe . . .

• Spring . . .

• . . . is sprung!

Diamond Harbour . . .

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• A wee peek at my chilled out time in Diamond Harbour & Lyttleton!

Residency Draws to a Close

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• Everything ends sometime & so it is with my time here and my role as 2010's Resident Artist in Karamea - what an adventure!
• But not everything ends - so much will stay with me. The friendships I've made, thoughts inspired by people I've met & experiences shared, memories of my many walks up and down Waverley Street with those mountains, hills & low clouds, and the connections between life and art - they have the potential to be very far reaching . . .

• I have found Karamea a very peaceful and busy place - a good combination that will be calling for my return.
• Visiting Christchurch & Auckland, would love to come back to put up my second NZ exhibition . . .

• And of course, I've had 2 full months with my art work - who knows where that'll lead?! What a great, wonderful start to 2010!
• Special thanks to Paul & Sanae - this residency offers space and time to be with your work but has really nourished my creative soul.
• Special thanks also to Dan & Dee for their warm welcome, hospitality & friendship, and also to Terry & Brian.

Residency Response Photo Animation

To view follow the VIMEO link on the links bit to the right of the screen . . .

Residency Response is well & truly Launched!

• View showing the space and the art - I still haven't captured thee pic of these very photogenic lights . . . yet!

• Two of the four canvases plus the collaborative photo-textile-wood pocket.

• Dan's Wall! From left to right diagonally taken by Dan (of Dandee Designs), other 2 corner images inspired by him.

• Me, hoping bubbles will calm butterflies and that people will come and maybe even enjoy the art!

• In the process of loading the digital projected sequence on-line, so hopefully a link will follow soon!
• Monday night - 22nd of February 2010 - a night I will remember!
• To put on a full show of work that only started out from the 5th of January, included 2 collaborations with people I've only met since then, included watercolour prints, canvas prints with digitally repeated images, textile & wood pocket pieces & a fully realized photo-animation projection with exclusive soundtrack created here in Karamea - and have the space prepared, lights sorted, everything hung, people informed of the launch night & exhibition - well . . . it's been a busy build up to Monday 22nd - not just for me!
• Thankfully there was a great turn out for the launch night and a great atmosphere was created. I've worked with digitally repeated images before but never shown them - the pockets were a new venture and I've shown some projected sequences before but nothing like the one I've created during this residency - all new.
• I'll ponder upon this more later but this residency has been a very unique & powerful experience. Possibly partly due to the number of residencies I had in 2009, so my work was already at a certain point. The big impact of this residency has been that art & life connection. And Monday night really sung that tune clearly - lots of hugs ensued!
• Very simply put, people here have had a big impact - they've inspired my art, and helped me get deeper into it - and I am very grateful for & delighted with the great turn out on Monday, the fantastic atmosphere & all the efforts behind the scenes before hand to ensure the work was up & looked it's best - THANK YOU!

Residency Response is well & truly Launched!

• Sanna expertly hung all 52 watercolour prints!
• A big thank you to her for a superb job - all these prints are suspended off the wall surface - not an easy feat to hang. This cluster is in Saracen's Cafe, the rest are next door in the adjacent Bush Lounge.

• UV Portraits of residents & visitors of Karamea, mostly taken during the Community Jam night & one from an additional UV face painting night at Rongo Backpackers.
• The watercolour prints really come into their own here with rich velvety blacks really supporting the vibrant UV colours.

• This wall has mostly macro shots in it, one from the local orchard, a couple from the street corner at Market Cross, 2 from the Cactus Garden at Rongo & the controversial 'bird flying out of the picture (instead of into it!) on the beach.

• Those who know me & my work will not be shocked to see some fire shots up - I don't think I will ever tire of photographing fire!
• Lots of people were spotting lots of things in these flame shots.
• Again the watercolour prints really enhanced the colours and help this body of work step out of the photographic world and into the art world.
• I'm beginning to realize that my artwork has feet in both camps - I am not following current trends in contemporary photography & really believe in pushing the creative eye of the camera - responding to & translating the world around me. And the art world is still - not always thankfully - wary of photography as art. It seems people are more secure purchasing a painting rather than a photographic print.
• I sincerely hope that will change - these photographic prints are my artwork!