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.

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?

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.

If you or anyone you know is in Tauranga over the next few weeks go and take a look at this exhibition at The Laundromat Art Project Space.

The exhibition will run from 18^th March 2010 – 6^th April 2010

War 
Installation

‘Aces in the sky, Spitfire and Hurricane,  Fokke-Wulf and Messcherschmidt.

The defining battle of one generation in the western world and we called it a world war.

Vietnam another generation. And the cold war. Goodies and Baddies. Black hats and White. Right and wrong always relative and perspective dependent.

So far its always been just one lot of people vs another lot; battles of willpower, tenacity, inventiveness and technology. There are individual triumphs and tragedies, strategic gains and losses, but it has been the overall massed effect that prevails, numbers, commitment, sacrifice, leadership, working together for a common goal, Oh and maybe some luck? How much have we been prepared to lose to gain victory?

Now its global more than ever, the sides are less defined but the stakes are very high. We could call it the earth war.

 

There are no sidelines, we just think there are.  Our actions are cumulative.

 

Its all of us, but most are sleepers.’

 

- Susan Crow (nee Pickernell)

So baby is due in about six weeks and I’ve been winding down somewhat in anticipation of the madness to come, unfortunately I have also been neglecting my blog.  I have also been frantically making as much as I can while I can, with a good pile of sea horses cut ready to sew and a batch of cupcakes ready to assemble, I am wondering just how much I will be able to get done!

This Saturday will probably be my last Crafternoon Tea for a month or so, so come along and say hello, the market is on from 10am-3pm at the Trinity Methodist Church, on the corner of Sandringham and New North Roads in Kingsland.  As usual there will be lots of lovely crafty goodies to get your hands on.

I will also be at  Kraftbomb in Grey Lynn the following weekend as well, so it’s to market, to market!

Aside from all the craft market goodness I am putting together some crochet pieces for an exhibition opening at Artstation in July this year.  Entitled Desire Lines I will write up more details over the next week…  all very exciting!

Mermaid’s Purse will be there…  will you?

Kraftbomb

Sunday 30th August, 2009
11am-2pm

Grey Lynn Community Centre
Main Hall – 510 Richmond Road
Grey Lynn, Auckland

This is so exciting!  Wellington Creative is bringing the documentary Handmade Nation to New Zealand for three screening sessions, two in Wellington and only one here in Auckland at the Academy Cinema – so get there!

Mermaid’s Purse will be there with a wee stall of a select few items hand picked especially for film goers, visit the website (above) for the trailer and more info about the film and we might see you at the Academy on Tuesday the 4th of August at 6.30pm.

Sue Pickernell did a beautiful job of installing The View From Here at the Reclaim to Fame exhibition last week – here are some photos.  If you’re on Waiheke this month do visit the gallery, the exhibition theme was around the idea of our footprint, and all work submitted needed to be at least 80% reclaimed material.

The View From Here is made entirely from Foodtown plastic bags, and yes, it took months and no I did not count the number of bags I used…