travelling North

went to the North for a while

to make peace with the red dust

[but across the salt lake from where i once lived]

filled my pockets with stuff

[image shows the contents for one day]

marvelled at the sky

and made a bit of new work

fieldwork

one of the wayfarers who wandered with me

on Waitangi Farm in Waiuku last week

has volunteered her own precious sanctum

for a workshop in Brisbane, Queensland

we've decided on September 18-22, 2010

and this is probably as close as I'll get

to teaching in NSW this year

here's the plan

we'll work with bio-regional dye sources and gentle stitching during a week-long explorative journey in a private garden in the tropics, taking windfall walks to collect leaves so as to print beautiful samples and then gradually piecing them together to construct an exquisite textile work

i'm extremely excited about this, not just for re-connecting with a friend but also for the possibility of exploring an entirely new flora

as

i haven't worked this way in a tropical garden before

please drop me a line if you'd like more details

petalplum

Ellie over at PetalPlum has put up some rather lovely photographs

of the week at Waitangi Farm

lots of other good things to see at her pages too...including her website

Red Seed Studio

no prizes for guessing where the grass is greener

they do say it's always on the other side

and this time they're right

that's a dusty home paddock up there

as my students know i love unwrapping presents

this morning i found one that i had forgotten

a dress from the 40s or 50s [possibly a nightie]

that my lovely friend Marion had sent me

in a parcel of treasures

it turned out to be synthetic of some sort

and didn't appear to have taken much colour

after the first boil.

i left it in a corner of the studio

when i pootled off to NZ

a tad grainy [batfone image]

but some good colour

which deepened after rinsing and on exposure to air

aWhitu

in the faerie tales there are plenty of warnings

about staying too long

eating magical food

and letting places get under your skin

oops.

not for nothing does the name of this place

Awhitu

mean

'a longing to return'

i stewed cauldrons filled with harakeke bundles

and

was permitted to ride a horse

around the country in these pix

and even

along that beautiful beach [above]

they let me plant a tree

and not just any tree

but a Kauri

and i now know who mixes the world's best Margaritas

[not telling, word gets around anyway]

i didn't even mind being eclipsed

[THAT good]

but

what a coincidence

that the one crumpled piece of paper i found

[and pocketed]

while walking the windblown road with my friend

thinking it might be interesting

to use as a page for a book

turns out to be this...

it's not quite

'of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world'

but it's getting close.

similar but not the same

looking through my photos i was struck by the similarity in pattern between Madeleine Delany's exquisite shibori-zome sample [below] and the inner part of a black taro leaf [above]

the cloth was dyed using Paulownia leaves in a copper pot

sea to shining sea [wandering in fields and forests]

my journey through Aotearoa began well

on stepping off the plane the first person who spoke to me offered

"Kiaora, is it a welcome home?"

certainly feels like it

i drove to the Coromandel

making a small detour to visit the McCahon cottage

at Titirangi

where i found that i have something in common

with the artist

beyond a fascination with this country

- we have the same washing line

the Coromandel retreat took place in a secret garden

which looked like jungle from the outside

but within was a quiet oasis

with an abundance of beautiful plants

curious chickens wandered in and out to inspect our samples

at the conclusion of our four days together

i wandered onward

and found myself in paradise

at Hot Water beach

arriving at Waitangi Farm, Waiuku i discovered more magic

the scenes above and below, part of my daily walk to work

this cowshed was our workshop space

one of the more romantic places i have taught in...

piggies visited us in the workshop at regular intervals

and enjoyed a tummy-tickle

but were discouraged from chewing on our boots

[i always recommend students wear stout shoes...but not everyone takes heed]

some participants' work samples from the local flora

- true bio-regional dyeing

and this is where i've washed up now

in Awhitu

pictures worth a thousand words

ain't life grand.