A Review of 2016

This is when I usually review the past year but this year I do not feel like I have accomplished much. Moving home at the beginning of the year took a few months out of my creative time. Four polymer clay workshops at the Estuary Arts Centre were all cancelled due to lack of interest, I had to close the Auckland  Polymer Clay Guild due to lack of participating members, and a few ideas/experiments did not amount to anything. Also, I have tried very hard not to be obsessive and spending every spare minute creating. So all in all it has been a rather depressing year in terms of promoting polymer clay and creating with it.

However, on a more positive note, I have continued with my dot mosaics and received a lot of encouraging comments on the few pieces I have shown, winning the People's Choice award at the Puhoi Art Show and selling a couple of pieces at exhibitions. This year I joined the New Zealand Mosaic Art Organisation (as the APCG no longer exists) and definitely want to continue with the dot mosaics, even if only as a hobby due to the time they take to create.

I do have another 'pocket money' project in the pipeline (Swirl-StoNZ) that needs refining before trialing it in 2017. Maybe this could provide the balance with my dot mosaics, allowing me to create some small items that are profitable to sell, as well as creating the dot mosaic artwork that I am so proud of. 

I made one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2017 to 'be proud of my creative artwork', so I must not lose sight of this in the forthcoming year.

Auckland Polymer Clay Guild - to close

It is with regret that I am taking the decision to close the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild, which I have given my time voluntarily to run over the last three years, since its inception in August 2013. 

Throughout 2015 and 2016 (to date) there have been minimal, if any, members come to meetings and no new interest from potential members, hence my reason for closing the Guild.

I would like to thank those of you who have participated over the last few years and wish you all the best with your polymer clay and other creative ventures. If anyone wants to meet on a personal basis, please feel free to contact me, and of course I am still happy to answer questions or give advice at anytime.

Claire

APCG - change to frequency of meetings

At our last Auckland Polymer Clay Guild meeting, we decided to meet every other month rather than monthly. Still on the first Tuesday (see dates below) at The Coffee Club, Takapuna from 6.30pm.

2015
Tues 6 October
Tues 1 December

2016

Tues 2 February

Tues 5 April

Tues 7 June

Tues 2 August

Tues 4 October

Tues 6 December

PRESS RELEASE: Approximately 6,935 pieces

Local polymer clay artist, Claire Fairweather, is showcasing her first large mosaic artwork at the July exhibition at Beach Bistro. Titled ‘Watching the sunrise over Rangitoto’, this local scene is made up of about 6,935 handmade round polymer clay tiles. The whole artwork measures 102cm wide by 40cm high and forms the centrepiece of the exhibition.

 

“It turned out to be a labour of love but I am proud of the end result,” says Claire “I had no idea how long it would take to complete. In the end I spent over 150 hours and finished it just in time for the exhibition. This is a view that I love and I have enjoyed every minute of the making of this artwork”.

 

Claire won a ‘Best in Sculpture’ at the 2014 International Polymer Clay Awards for a three part sculpture titled ‘Spring Trio’, which was sold at a previous exhibition at Beach last year. Since then she has been developing her own unique style of contemporary mosaic art, making her own round mosaic tiles from polymer clay.

 

‘Mosaics, Jewellery & More’ is a mixed exhibition that has been put on by five members of the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild - Claire, Joy, Kesten, Nicky & Sue. Polymer clay is a very versatile creative medium, which is shown in this exhibition by the diverse range of work from the five different artists. There is jewellery, mirrors, mosaic art and sculpture on show throughout the month of July at Beach Bistro, 1A Beach Front Lane, Browns Bay, open from 7am – 7pm, seven days a week.

APCG Christmas Challenge 2014

 

Tuesday 2 December was the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild's last meeting of the month. Below are the entries from participating members for the Christmas Challenge 2014. The challenge was to make anything with a Christmas theme.

 

Those members present voted and for their top three favourite pieces. The winners were:

 

1st Place: Nicky Herbert (No. 5 - Snowman earrings)

 

2nd Place: Christine Coveney (No. 4 - Christmas teddy)

 

3rd Place: Joy Bellard (No.3 - Christmas bracelet)

 

Here are the rosettes I made for our winners:

 

And the winners wearing them

Thank you to everyone who took part. Wishing you all a great Christmas and hope to see you next year. The first meeting of 2015 will be Tuesday 6 January.

 

 

 



Members' Merit Awards Exhibition at the Lake House

Unfortunately I did not get my first dot mosaic picture completed to enter in this exhibition (still a long way to go, so it may be just be ready for next years) but I did enter two sculptural pieces, shown below.

Colour Rings
(sculpture with tea light)

Global Reflections
(sculpture with tea light)

I briefly attended the opening of this exhibition before moving on for the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild's last meeting of the year, which just happened to be on the same night.

A Review of 2013

When I look back at the plans I had for 2013, some have been more successful than others.

1.    Re-establish a monthly market spot – maybe the Devonport Craft Market or back to Coatesville Market. I started with the Devonport Craft Market for a couple of months, as this was specifically a 'craft' market and only a ferry ride from the city centre for tourists. I hoped it would be better for me than the farmers markets that mainly focus on food, but it did not attract large numbers of visitors. Then I discovered that a new monthly craft market had started in Browns Bay, so I tried that, hoping it would work out for me. It was so handy right on my doorstep and nice to be able to support a local market but after a couple of tries this actually turned out to be the worst market for me in terms of sales. At this point I decided that making lots of small, low cost items to sell at markets was not what I really wanted to do but that I would do the twice yearly Mission Bay markets to sell off old stock. However, the Labour Day Art & Craft Market at Mission Bay was poor  for sales this year and I reluctantly said to my husband that I would not even do that any more, as it was not returning enough to warrant his time as well as my own for the whole day. Although I will miss the customer interaction that I enjoy at markets (hopefully the teaching workshops and the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild will compensate for this), I feel it is now time to aim higher and focus on selling my work through galleries, gallery stores and selected shops.

2.    Exhibit at the Dunkleys Craft Show (North Shore) in October 2013. I had been looking forward to doing this all year but was very disappointed at the number of visitors to the show for all the time, cost and effort. Also the small number of people taking part in the daily workshops and the sign-ups that followed was disappointing. So sadly, I would not do this show again.

3.    Promote polymer clay through slide shows and demonstrations to encourage people to sign up for my workshops. I have not had the chance to pro-actively do as much of this as I would like, mainly due to my time being taken up preparing for teaching workshops and the Dunkleys show - hopefully I can do more of this next year. However, I did set up the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild in August this year (not in my plans!) and I am currently the President of this group.

4.    Expand my range of workshops to include some half day technique focussed sessions e.g. extruding with polymer clay and making canes. I have prepared a number of other workshops and now have five: Introduction to Polymer Clay, Retro Canes, Simple Canes, Polymer Clay Mosaics and Painting with Polymer Clay and am now looking to offer these at other venues, in addition to the Lake House Arts Centre, rather than running them from home. This means I do not have to spend so much time promoting and sorting the administration, which is quite time consuming when I have a limited amount of time.

5.    Complete my “50 clips for 50 years” project to promote CLIPT. This project has not happened as I had intended, in fact it has not happened at all. My original plan was to make one clip a week, illustrating a different technique. Unfortunately work, life, and exhibition, show and teaching deadlines have all taken priority. I would like to think that I will have photographs of the clips that will be featured in this book before my next birthday - but that may be a struggle with everything else that I need to do in the first few months of the new year.

The Auckland Polymer Clay Guild is born

A little piece of history was made tonight: a first meeting was held, between four founding members, and the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild has now been established.

 

The objectives of this Guild, reflecting those of the International Polymer Clay Association, are to educate the public about polymer clay, and to study and promote an interest in the use of polymer clay as an artistic medium.

 

The Auckland Polymer Clay Guild will meet on the first Tuesday of the month for a social get together, to exchange information and news about forth-coming events, ‘show and tell’, ask for advice and to place group orders for specific products. Additional weekend demonstrations or workshops will be arranged to cover particular techniques or topics, as requested by members.

 

Membership is free and is open to anyone with an interest in polymer clay. You may already use polymer clay, perhaps you are thinking about it or just want to know more; whatever your knowledge or ability, join the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild. As a non-profit making group, we are here to help and support our members, as polymer clay grows in popularity as a leisure, hobby and fine art medium in New Zealand.

 

Please contact claire@clairefairweather.co.nz to register as a member or for further information.

Application accepted for Dunkleys

After months of deliberating I finally took the plunge and applied to have a stand at Dunkleys Great NZ Craft Show when it comes to the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland, 18-20 October 2013. I am delighted to have received confirmation that my application has been accepted.

 

My main reason for doing this is to promote polymer clay and advertise my workshops but it will be interesting to see how sales compare with the markets I have been selling at so far, as it will be a different type of visitor to this event. I hope to be teaching a workshop on each of the three days of the show, as well as demonstrating on my stand, and would love to generate enough interest to set up an Auckland Polymer Clay Guild.

Auckland Polymer Clay Guild?

(c) Lara Melnik

If you already use polymer clay, are thinking about it, or just want to know more - meet up with other like-minded people once a month.

 

I am thinking of seting up an Auckland Polymer Clay Guild, if there is enough interest. If you would like to be part of this, leave a comment or contact me. We can form the basis of the group at a first meeting and take it from there.