Text from Helen Mok to Christine Imlay-McLean

Uncertin gift

I just loved my words. “empathy not apathy” my mind swarmed, designs flowed. I was exited and inspired, big ideas came to my pencil end making me sulivate.

Then i received my gift. Here i will quote my Nephew . I gave him a gift he didn’t like one time and he screwed his face up and took a breath before saying… ( my dad says i have to be thankful for what ever i get…. so Thanks) But I got a stone………… yeah yeah i get it give a kiwi a stone and they will love it. Bone stone shell. YAY

I was deflated . So i lost my stone and applied apathy to that. I then made a bone necklace  out of material and pearls, a make shift stone out of leather pearls and resin ( that i had all ready made before…. that’s how much i didn’t care) then i made a shell broach with leather pearls and silver….

I am sure everyone can relate to that frustration … empathy

what it says…

transparent, rectangle, curve, container, dome, six centimetre, hard, soft, round, fragile, clear, pair, liquid, one, mirror, curve, trash

beginning and mid point statement- Dia Cristina

Beginning statement:

The project is a really interesting one as it opens up a myriad of different  interpretations. The text is unique and it reminds me of a sentence from a poem.  It’s very graphic and immediately I begin to vision various possibilities.  The corroded piece of metal (received material) makes me think that i could go really crazy with this project. I begin to notice the metal’s surface and texture, this could be something that i can play with in the development of the piece.  At this moment, with the text and material,  i don’t know what sort of wearable object comes to mind. Although, I’m picturing a large elaborate something with lots of texture, detail and contrast. What will it be? I don’t know….I think its  time to do some research and play around with these ideas!

Midpoint statement:

so……. since the last post, I’ve  developed a few ideas and  a series of  drawings. I’m starting to play around with different materials including brass sheets, stainless steel, and copper. I really want to duplicate the texture of the corroded piece  of metal. W ith the initial piece, I think it’ll be interesting to portray a sense of contrast, just like the nature of the text and given material. Playing around with the metal’s surface should be really intersting. I’ve got a corroded piece of steel, so I’m in the process of trying different things with it. I’ve tried patination, etching and heating. All processes have created an interesting surface to the corroded metal. The piece is a large round shape, so  I was thinking to create a 3 fingered ring or possibly a brooch…not so sure yet. Both require lots to think about….should head off now to plan some more.

From Silvia Potente to Jacquelene Reid

‘Pick up a stem of grass and the world comes with it’.

(Zen saying)

Text From Karren Dale to Rachel Gaynor

Time knows no sense in waiting for you

Waking after not sleeping

Dreaming while awake

Living only half as we wonder all the time

Time knows no sense in waiting for you.

A text gifted from Neke Moa to Caitlin Wood…

Kia ora Caitlin, sorry for the very late exchange no excuses!!

short and sweet and oh so meaningful of course…

text: a continuous dynamic energetic flow

naku noa

Neke Moa

Text from Selena Xu to Angela Porritt

Text from Tegan Catterall to Louise Mankelow

text from MG to Nekemoa(whiti)

The first thing I wrote about was Kiwi and Aussie stereotypes. And my impressions of NZ based on personal memories. I was trying to be funny and light hearted. But it ended up sounding condescending and quite possibly offensive. I probably sounded pretty stupid as well.

I mentioned: Footrot flats, kiwi fruit, mountains, hokey pokey ice-cream, hot springs, accents, ferns. Words I used were: G’day, bloody, true blue, tops, reckon and ‘arse end of the earth’. This commentary flowed easily when writing, but when I read it aloud it felt wrong. For one, I don’t actually speak like that really. This approach just wasn’t working.

We’ve all said and heard these things before. I expect that many Aussie’s have had similar encounters with NZ that I have. Enacting these stereotypes will not start us off on a good foot or give much inspiration. So, instead I will try to be more open when I imagine who you might be and what you might be inspired by. How you see your country and how you feel about your cultural identity. Also, how you see my country and our cultural identity.

I wish we could have a conversation so you could tell me about this yourself. Though since we can’t do so yet, I will reflect on the relationship between Aus and NZ from another angle.

It seems that this project will begin a dialogue between creative people who are currently working in our two southern lands. I’m excited by this. I’d recently been pondering why exchange does not appear to happen more often, when we seem to have a lot in common.

For example, I’ve witnessed very few NZ productions featured in Aussie media. Although, there are two NZ grown acts that I have heard about and really appreciate. One of the things I like about both of these acts is – I get where their coming from! Here my thoughts on how their take on things is similar to some of my fellow Aussies.

Flight of the Conchords

Two comedians in a band that parodies music genres and their adventures are extended into a situation comedy where they:

• Don’t take themselves or others too seriously.
• Turn adversity into an amusing anecdote.
• Are loyal and willing to give a helping hand.
• Muck around and avoid work except when necessary.

The Black Seeds

This band plays a mix of reggae, dub, funk and pop music which is:

• So cheesy it’s not clear whether it’s actually joke or not.
• Infused with a positive attitude and upbeat energy.
• Laid back and chilled out, so you can’t help but slow your pace.
• Lyrics are underpinned by egalitarian values.

I acknowledge these are generalisations. They are also constrained by my personal point of view that is not necessarily exemplary of others here. However, there seems to be more common ground here than in the initial stereotypes I wrote about. Hopefully the points will generate ideas, whether it is to expand upon or disagree with what I have put forward.

text from Yung-huei to Spring Rees

text from Linda Huang to Keri-Mei Zagrobelna

“The gates of hell are open

night and day;

Smooth the descent

and easy is the way:

But to return,

and view the cheerful skies,

in this the task

and mighty lador lies.”

poem by Virgil’s Aeneid

 

Starting Point Text – sent to Silvia

LATERALUS (written by TOOL)

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must

Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see there is so much more
and beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving all these opportunities behind.

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human.

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I’m reaching up and reaching out,
I’m reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one’s been.
We’ll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one’s been.

Spiral out. Keep going … going….

Material from Camilk Walton, Text from Louise Mankelow

Welcome to the edge of things
where sky sea land
and wandering souls
snatch a brief
embrace

(Words installed at Wellington waterfront during the Arts Festival.)

Helen Mok (SCA), text from Sunni

-There’s a reason the sun shines on New Zealand before anywhere else – every new day in Aotearoa is something to cherish! Small, remote and thinly populated, 
yes, but NZ punches well above its weight with its outlandish scenery, fabulous festivals, superb food and wine, and magical outdoor experiences. Equally impressive 
is NZ’s potent, mainstream Maori culture. This is a country that recognises and celebrates its indigenous people – the world is a kinder, gentler, more respectful place 
down here! And while the fanfare surrounding the Lord of the Rings trilogy is waning, visiting the real-life Middle-earth still has a geeky allure - LOTRdirector Peter 
Jackson’s filmmaking prowess still holds Wellington (aka ‘Wellywood’) in its thrall-                                                       

© 2010 LP. All rights reserved. Introducing New Zealand

B. Text from Spring Rees to Michelle Batten (SCA)

Promise me nothing…

Text to Melissa Byrne (Whitireia) from Kate Walls (SCA)

Starting point Text: Saori from

im sorry for the very  delay, this was in my junk email box!

this is the poem.

how beautiful.

“rain” its been raining sydney almost a week, would be nice to see the sun too!
Rain

I can hear you
making small holes
in the silence
rain

If I were deaf
the pores of my skin
would open to you
and shut

And I
should know you
by the lick of you
if I were blind

the something
special smell of you
when the sun cakes
the ground

the steady
drum-roll sound
you make
when the wind drops

But if I
should not hear
smell or feel or see
you

you would still
define me
disperse me
wash over me
rain

Hone Tuwhare 1922-2008

Text sent by holly spoon to ali mckellar…

“The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous”

Text to Mieke de Court (Whitireia) from Rachel Gaynor (SCA)

text – from rui todoroki to sarah read

“STAY FOOLISH”

TEXT To: Michelle Genders (SCA) From: Zak Pitfield de Mille (Whitireia)

Hi, my name is Zak.
Here is the piece of writing for the the exchange project or in this case word:
“side-effect”
Good luck!

Text from Sam Kelly (Whitireia) to Yung-huei (SCA)

Amelia Pacoe (whitireia) to Tegan Catterall (SCA)

“penalty for inappropriate use” text taken from a sign above the emergency brakes on the train from wellington to porirua (where the whitireia campus is).

B. TEXT from Angela (SCA) to Amelia (Whitireia)

Text from Saori Kita to Karren Dale

One   two    three and four     nine     ten and zero      six     seven

Peter Hard at work….

From Dia Cristina (SCA) to Jude Carswell (Whitireia)

Text – From Natalie Gock (SCA) sent to Vanessa Arthur (Whitireia)

Lyrics by the ‘Mostar Diving Club’

http://www.myspace.com/themostardivingclub

The Honey Tree

Heard the buzzing of the honey bees

Making honey just for me and lifes alright

 I think Ill end in feeling fine

 Just another perfect day

I think Ill walk this way with the trees I do sing

 Im feeling apart of everything

 And all my troubles seem to fade away

They disappear with everything that you say

And now my weary head dont feel the same

 The skies look brighter I can feel, feel the change

Feel the change

All the money in the world

Could never buy this soul lets go to where monkeys dance

The music floats throughout the land

 And all my troubles seem to fade away

They disappear with everything that you say

 And now my weary head dont feel the same

 The skies look brighter I can feel, feel the change

 I can feel, feel the change.

TEXT – from Mieke de Court (Whitireia) to Rebecca Jane New (SCA)

“Jewellery as strange as it is beautiful.”

(Mansell,A. (2008). Adorn. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd)

On Tuesday 18 May we received the impressive stamped cardboard box full of goodies from our SCA jewellery buddies.

The sudden excitement in class among the receiving novices was noticeable by the strange crackling sounds made by their  empowered minds.

Text from Rebecca New(sca) to Carol Dacre(whitireia)

 Identify the traps you set for yourself

TEXT- Natalie Gock (sca), from Carol Dacre (whitireia)

For The Fallen

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Forth verse taken from the commemorative services on Anzac Day

Text- Kate Hutchinson from Jacquelene Reid

Circumstantial

text – Jacqueline Bell, from Kate Blake

Tanhauser Gate: From the film Blade Runner (1982). The film was derived from the book “When Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K Dick. (1968). Although this text was not part of the original book.

This line can be attributed to David Peoples (screen writer) and Rutger Hauer (actor) it was said by the character Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) as he dies.

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. [pause] Time to die.”

Julia(Whitireia) to Rui(SCA)

Fortify or Disintegrate?

Contort or unravel?

Radiate or Mute?

Text from Michelle B (SCA) to Sophie (Whitireia)

“We are all made of star stuff”

- Carl Sagan

Georgia Graham (SCA) text from Sarah Read (Whitireia)

cleave

flowery text from vanessa (NZ) to sean (Aus)

“We know that the ‘necessary’ alone is not sufficient for man and the superfluous is indispensable…or otherwise let us also surpress music, flowers, purfumes and the smiles of ladies!” – Paul Fallot (1931)

lovely!  to push me into making something beautiful, and less cold or geometric….  yikes!

Sam Kelly (Whitireia), text recieved from Emma Watson (SCA)

“I don’t need a compass to know which way the wind shines.”