I started this sculptural piece while we were waiting for our New Zealand Citizenship applications to be approved (November last year) and I have incorporated some NZ icons (two Kiwi, the Pohutukawa flower, a fern leaf and Koru/fronds which are repeated as curls in her hair) into the design, so it seemed appropriate to call her 'Lady Aotearoa'. Now she is finally finished, here are four different views.
The core of this sculpture is a polystyrene head, which I used a few years ago as display prop, covered in several layers of papier mache and modelling paste and then sealed with acrylic paint and PVA glue. Onto this base I glued round mosaic tiles, made and baked from polymer clay, and then filled the joints with white tile grout.
Lady Aotearoa will be one of my three entries in the forthcoming Members Merit Awards Exhibition at the Estuary Arts Centre at Orewa (north of Auckland, NZ).
