Not long to go now, Desire Lines is opening in just over two weeks at Artstation on Auckland’s Ponsonby Road…

Curated by: Jill Segedin
Artists include: Marion Bawdon, Angela Carter, Susie Crow, Amanda Levey with Rachel Grimwood, Zoë Nash, Becky Nunes, Lyneemaree Patterson and Caroline Powley.

21 July to 7 August 2010
Opening: 5 to 7pm, Tuesday 20 July 2010

The term desire lines refers to lines (traces, tracks and pathways) that show where individuals choose to travel, which might challenge the officially established routes (Bachelard, 1994). Lines of desire can form for many different reasons – perhaps for expediency, efficiency or due to laziness (short cuts) or as challenge and subversion or habit and for fun. Arguably an artwork is or at least can be such a trace or a path. It develops and reveals a preferred or chanced upon navigation of materials, space and ideas, and accommodate subjectivity, spontaneity, intuition, process and expression.

Marion Bawdon, Holding on to nothing (Detail) 2010.

Marion Bawdon, Catch me when I fall (Detail) 2010.

Becky Nunes run, repeat, 2010.

Hey this looks fabulous darlings!

Would love to join in, and I might have to head on down for a look, or even a ride (if someone holds baby for me!).

Make sure you visit the website for the details…

The Crochet Coral Reef installation is over and has been taken down…  good news is it is not over!  Glenys is keeping our Seagardens Aotearoa project alive. 

This is one of the pieces I have been working on for Desire Lines, a group exhibition happening in July this year.  Actually I’ve been quite frantic and distracted by the Crochet Coral Reef Project happening at the Auckland Museum as well, so these little babies have been on the sideline, but serendipitously both projects work really well together and I want to make even more weird crochet forms!

For Desire Lines I have been thinking a lot about how we humans mess with our environment and the possible ramifications of our destructive behaviour.  This was highlighted by the recent  toxic sea slug scare in 2009 after a few dogs died apparently after eating the little slugs on beaches around Auckland Habour, these sea slugs now are possibly an ever-present danger! Not that anyone wants to be panicking about it all.

This news of toxic sea slugs reminded me of John Wyndham’s novel, The Kraken Wakes, (here’s a good review by another reader..) one of my favourite reads.  The deep sea trenches are colonised by aliens, aggression between ourselves and the aliens ensues resulting in catastrophic environmental changes, remarkably similar to what we are experiencing due to global warming and the damage we are doing to the marine environment.

So little is known about the deeps and the creatures that inhabit them, yet we continue to overfish and degrade the oceans.  Perhaps it is no surprise that there may be creatures that can be a threat to ourselves and our enjoyment of the marine environment?  Or perhaps after thoughtlessly dumping toxic, and even nuclear waste in the oceans, the sea itself or the animals that inhabit them are now becoming more toxic to our own life?

A bit low res, but here is a photo of the Crochet Coral Reef at the Auckland Museum.  The exhibition will close on the 16th of May so you have a few more weeks to contribute and go and visit, also entry is free until the end of May this year for lucky Aucklanders.

With the arrival of baby imminent I decided to have a go at making a ‘groaning cake’, a delicious spicy apple cake perfect for new mammas.  Check out the recipe here.

Here are a few photos of the new pieces I have completed…

I’m just so excited about this one, the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project is at Auckland Museum right now!  This afternoon I dropped in to do some work with the lovely ladies busily hooking away and spreading the stitchy love.  I brought in with me the little one above, I had finished it off today and couldn’t wait to see how the project was growing.

So if you are even slightly crafty and nerdy, or into maths or art, or craftsy community projects, or the environment and ecology (that should actually be all of you) best you get yourself along to the Auckland Museum over the next few weeks to have a look at the crochet coral reef that is growing on a wall in the oceans gallery.  Better yet, take your crochet hook and some fibre and get making!

For a really good clip about this international project (and a much better explanation about the mathematics behind the hyperbolic plane than I can give you!) go to this TED talk.

Come and say hello at Kraftbomb today, I have a fresh batch of Tuty Fruity Choc Chip Cupcake Pincushions available today.  It might be the last for a wee while as baby is due in a month, I will have some new listings up on Felt.co.nz while I’m away from the markets if you need a special present.

Kraftbomb is at the Grey Lynn Community Centre, main hall – 510 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland, from 11am til 2pm.

Crafternoon Tea was a little quiet on the weekend, but as usual lots of fun seeing all the clever crafters and I even came home with a little treat for myself!  I swapped a cupcake pincushion for a cool octopus necklace made by Karin from Exter Creative.  SO exciting as I had been drooling over one I had seen listed on Felt.co.nz ages ago so all in all it was an excellent day.

Here are some more of Karin’s necklaces…