A gift of greenstone

When I arrived in New Zealand, I bought a little ponamu (greenstone) Koru in Greymouth to signify new beginnings. I like it a lot it but somehow whenever I wore it I felt there was something wrong. The Maori Elder who helped me with my identity project last term told me that greenstone should only be worn if it is a gift and that my koru had been telling me that.

Today I received a gift ... some very cute earrings from friends at school made of greenstone, paua and silver. I have worn them since I got them and this time I feel delighted and comfortable.

Techie shopping

>>at the tuv shop.
Something to smile about. (Thanks Pia!)

Springtime in Dunedin

Spring has sprung. Blossom petals waft down onto the Leith River and students stop for a minute to look as they hurry between classes.

Sculpture workshop

I am learning sculpture techniques by making kiwis ... first a model in cardboard. It had to be at least one meter long and not use glue or other sticking/stapling mechanism.

Then a metal kiwi ...

Then a wooden kiwi...

Ceramic magic

Music again. Music of course.

Yesterday we unloaded the kiln. The good, the bad and the ugly. The ceramics that had been given up as failures were often the ones with that 'zing'. The magic of ceramics is a magic difficult to control. A bit like watercolours really.

Up and down again

Yesterday was 22C and out came the T-shirts. Today is 7C and there was snow on the hills when we woke this morning.

Transformation

Ceramics is magic. Just a bit of heat and smoke is all it takes to transform this:

To this:

Late winter blue skies

Today dawned clear and blue. I haven't painted outside since autumn but the day was too nice to waste so I took myself up the High Road on Otago Peninsula.

The view over the morning harbour was stunning.

By the time I left the mists had risen and the view was crisper.

Prunus

Spring is arriving. The Prunus beside the ceramics studio is in flower. Yaaaay!

Ceramics

I have never had much of a feel for ceramics and I found the first week in the ceramics workshop rather underwhelming. Slowly though, I realised that you need to develop an eye to appreciate ceramics.

Then yesterday, when we got our first work out of the kiln, I suddenly understood ceramics-enthusiasts. Magically, our mundane pots were transformed into works of art, with crackled pinkish glaze with green and reddish tinges.

These pots were produced with a Raku firing, a Japanese method. It is like an alchemists laboratory with lots of smoke and fire and it turns exposed clay black.

Boots

I have progressed to the ceramics workshop .... from digital art to ceramics, it is quite a jump. We are having a cold snap and the ceramics workshop is not well heated so I have taken to wearing my hiking boots to class. Like everything else in the workshop they get their share of mud spatters. Today I noticed a lot of hiking boots in Queen Street. Sensible footwear for Dunedin in August.

Bubbles

This is a little bit of a poster I made with photoshop on the way to making a movie. In my movie the bubbles float over the Otago landscape.

Movie making

I have been glued to the computer these last two weeks, creating a 2 minute movie and learning the software in the process. My first effort was a movie illustrating that where ever we are, we take our history, our friends and family with us. Now I have started on a second which simply creates a sensation similar to the music.

Once I have finished them I shall put them in a box and leave them for a couple of months, then get them out again to see if they were successful.

Bach's Partita in B Minor

In the 'Digital and Moving Image' Workshop we were asked to choose music to illustrate the words ' A shy incongruous charm'. I have decided to use the Sarabande from Bach's Partita No 1 in B Minor.

Now we are collecting images for a moving image to illustrate the atmosphere imparted by the music.

When kids like reading

This was the scene at the local bookstore in Dunedin this morning. At 11:00 am they all cheered as the boxes of Harry Potter books were opened.














This is probably the first time since Thackeray wrote 'Vanity Fair' that the next installment has been so eagerly awaited.

"Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?" —Vanity Fair

Bruckner or Bach

I spent 3 weeks in Sydney over the semester break. There was snow falling as I left. Sydney has winter too but a different sort of winter and I had a wonderful break.

Now I am in the Digital and Moving Image workshop. We are creating moving images to music. Music without lyrics as they don't want us making music videos. I am choosing between Bruckner and Bach.

Gales and snow and brrr...

The words the weather forecasters are using for the weather in Dunedin are 'raw' and bitter'. It is because of the gale force winds. Yesterday there was snow - this pic from the Otago Daily Times. Today it is just bleak as you can see on the city center webcam.

New guidelines stipulate that new housing must have double glazing and proper insulation. About time too.

Ring Cycle Jewellery

I finished the jewellery workshop yesterday. I worked in copper with gold leaf and based my work on Wagner's music.

Raum/Zeit (Musical notes in Copper)

Hojotoho!

The eyes have it

Part of my art school project: 'self portrait with Ta Moko' .I learned how to paint the eyes by looking at paintings in a recent exhibition of portraits of women at the Dunedin Art Gallery.

Snow

Well we didn't have to wait until evening. A storm blew through a minute ago and covered my south window.

I can see big snow clouds billowing to the west so it must be snowing hard in inland Otago. There is a hint of yellow on the horizon which would mean hail if we were in Sydney. Maybe a hail storm is on the way.
The windows of the buggy are snowbound too. The running water on the window distorted the picture.