Gold Like Mountains

After a brief blogging hiatus due to holidays and a lack of motivation a friend of mine has inspired me to get back into it with the recent launch of her jewellery line Gold Like Mountains. The jewellery is made in New Zealand and inspired by geometry, colour and nature. Check out some of my favourite pieces. 

Amy also makes a range of pieces out of polymer clay which is proving to be a very popular medium for art & crafters. All of her pieces are hand made and all are one offs! She also makes to order if you wish. Amy's an artist by trade and has had work featured in a number of different exhibitions over the last few years, her jewellery aesthetic definitely reflects her artistic style which is based on colour, shape and pattern. Check out Gold Like Mountains or Amy's blog .

Gift Guide

A girly gift guide I put together to help with Christmas shopping. It features a cool range of NZ stuff and everything you can get online which makes shopping even easier! 

Art print, necklaces and earings from Foxes. Nail polishes from Ruby. Shades from Karen Walker. I <3 Macaroons recipe book and purple satchel from Wocolate. Diana Mini Camera from Lomography AUS/NZ. Happy gift shopping!

Field Essays

At the last First Thursdays a new project emerged titled 'Field Essays'. The group collective focused on documentation (hence the title) across a range of mediums and the work spoke on the process rather than the result of art making. I grabbed this publication not long after the exhibition and have been using it for inspiration since then. A big thanks to Yolunda who left me a sweet little note inside thanking me for the support. For more on Field Essays head over here.

Auckland Art & Craft Fair 2011

Last Saturday I helped out with the Auckland Art & Craft Fair run by the lovely Kylie & Jess. I had so much fun doing things that barely felt like work (i.e. giving out "I support Handmade" stickers and wrapping gifts) and shopping for little Christmas/Birthday gifts too. The stalls at the fair were pretty amazing, with really unique designs and crafts at super cheap prices. So many people seemed to walk out with at least one arm full of gifts and many seemed to be employing the 'one for them, one for me' policy when it came to the jewellery. The things I bought are either wrapped or have already been given to friends which makes for a not so special photograph but I do want to urge you to check out Jess' online shop Foxes where she sells a collection of her own handmade goodies as well as bits and pieces from a range of AACF artists.  

Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers - Amy Potenger's Side Way exhibition

A couple of weeks ago I joined a Youth Art Committee which gathers to manage and curate Artstation's new Side Way exhibition space. Amy Potenger took our first exhibition spot and wowed us last night with the opening of her Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers installation. It's made of expanding foam and totally represents a youth art perspective; fun, vibrant, energetic and organic. We are so proud of Amy! If you're in Auckland check out the exhibition at 1 Ponsonby Road. It runs until January.

AUT Raw: Graphic Design Exhibition

So roughly two weeks ago AUT opened up for the RAW show which featured the work of art, design and fashion students. The talent in the exhibition blew me away a little bit. There were so many clever designs and interesting new ideas which were very inspiring to a non-graphic-designer. I collected a bag full of business cards, postcards and publications (only some of which is shown in this post..) and thought I'd share some of my favourites. Here's a little info about some of them:

• Briar Mark's work comments on handcraft versus graphic design and the processes of each
• Jane Park produced a book that explores mourning and loss. It has submissions about these experiences from anonymous contributors and their identity is signified by (the perfect metaphor for life & death) a lock of their hair
• Rochelle Vranjes created 6 rules to produce happy design by identifying elements of visual communication that evoke happiness in the viewer
• Tamsin Jane created a typeface using negative space and produced posters & wallpaper using her design
• Ashleigh Lara Hill explored the intricacy of a moment and produced a short film documenting specific moments and the details in them that we usually overlook

As you can tell I am as much impressed by the design as I am by the ideas that influenced them. So proud of my friends that exhibited - they are all ones to watch!

Art in the Dark 1

Art in the Dark last Saturday was so inspiring! This is my first lot of pictures from the event (I took waaaay too many photographs). I chose these shots because they all showcase how amazing the different trees in Western Park look. I love how some of the artists used their art to show off nature, it really made the park look gorgeous. The last snap is of Amy Potenger and Jessamyn Gemming's piece which was inspired by Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test book. Check them out x

Art Making for All of a Heap show

All pictures by Liv from entertainme.co.nz

Some pictures of the live art making All of a Heap show from last weekend. This event was so much fun! It taught/reminded me a couple of things about art making:

• Art is best when its fun
• Anyone can do it and better yet the potential for magic comes from letting go
• Dark chocolate and popcorn make delicious smelling art but dog hair and seed art is more pungent and overwhelming
• Collaborative art produces something neither of you could have dreamed up
• So the magic is all in the restriction itself and using it to your advantage rather than trying to overcome it

Big thanks to Liv from Entertain Me for the pictures, and Artstation's Youth Art Committee for the event. This event is also part of Art Week Auckland.

Art for Saturday & Bjork for Sunday

Yesterday was spent making ridiculous/fantastic art at the Artstation Youth Art Committee's All of a Heap show. A bunch of art lovers got involved and helped the YAC crew celebrate the opening of their new exhibition space Side Way which faces Ponsonby Road. Each of us were given restrictions (i.e. two of us tied together, making art behind our backs or making art blindfolded) and encouraged to let go of our inner critic and embrace an experimental art making approach. The art was installed in the Side Way space later in the evening whilst we ate chocolate and rocky road cake and listened to some crazily talented young musicians. I'm hoping to get some pictures soon :)

Today I'm feeling bjork and sunshine in the process of beginning a couple of new projects.

Art & Music @ The Basement

 TO MAX

I have searched for a phrase to put beside your name

but I have not found it

maybe there is not that phrase

so let us leave it at - 

TO MAX

-Young Men in Love by Michael Arlen

BMD Photo Credit Cleo Barnett

Tanya Jayde Photo Credit Cleo Barnett

Photo credit Cleo Barnett

Spent Wednesday night at The Dirty 13 opening in the Basement Theatre. It was curated by the lovely Cleo Barnett and featured NZ street artists as a collaborative show which brings the outside in and celebrates an art form which rarely gets the praise it deserves. The art was so inspiring I think I'll have to go back and see it again...a few times!

The show was accompanied by spoken word poet Tourettes who blew my mind a wee bit with humour, intensity, thought provoking messages, and an impressive knack for stringing words together. Matthew Crawley opened for Tourettes with a freakishly nice voice and mellowing love songs with a pinch of politics. So good.

And to top things off we got to take hand selected books from the BMD piece (in the first pic). And that's where 'TO MAX' has come from. I urge you to check out some more pictures and a much more informed account of the event here. 

Pop Up Circus + Sven Valentine

We caught Sven on Darby St in Auckland on Thursday pulling a big crowd to show off his crazy circus antics. Fire, acrobatics, unicycling, juggling, and generally making people laugh are all part of Sven's act. I had a chat to him after the show and turns out he is a circus clown at the children's hospital and also teaches his trade at a drop in centre in Otahu. What a guy!

Excuse the bad photo quality :)

Breakfast week

 Finally got a sit down breakfast which meant reading vice and getting to use my birthday tea pot/cup. It is so cute and the cup is enormous which I love! Art Week brochures are hot off the press so I'll be distributing some today and maybe (finally) starting some Uni work :/ If you want to know anything about Auckland Art week ... check it out: Art Week Auckland

Sunday bests

 I'm a little obsessed with this Joon & Jung Pillow Blanket. I hope to own it one day when I live in my loft apartment with 3/4 walls, huge windows and cold floors. It would be perfect for Sunday afternoon naps in the sun :)

And here's a tune for Sunday too. I've never heard of Miami Horror before and don't particularly like their other songs but this one is nice for Sunday :) I sense a bit of m83 influence creeping into it as well which makes it ten billion times better than their other tunes. I love Sundays :)

Falling for Bettina Krieg

Reading this interview by Freunde von Freunden has contributed to my art crush for Bettina Krieg. I would love to have some of her work! It's the kind of art that would never get old on you because there is so much detail to discover and mull over. Bettina is definitely an inspiration :)