Opening night of the Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards

Attended the opening night, which was very busy

General shot

Me with my picture above

Now that the exhibition has opened, I will post a photo and the details about my entry - see next post.

Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards 2016

Mission Bay Art & Craft Market - Monday 24 October

Monday 24 October is Labour Day and the bi-annual Art and Craft Market will be on at Mission Bay. Once again I am having a 'Studio Clearance' to make room for my new mosaic artworks. There will lots of small pieces, mostly jewellery and some small artworks, which would make ideal Christmas presents. Start shopping early and grab yourself a bargain, as most pieces will be priced to clear - I disparately need the space!

Submission accepted for the Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards 2016

I was thrilled to receive the news that my latest dot mosaic artwork, submitted for the Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards, has been selected for the exhibition.

NZMA - a new way forward

Members of the New Zealand Mosaic Art organisation

This was all very last minute but earlier this week I become a member of the New Zealand Mosaic Art organisation, just in time to attend their Symposium and Workshops being held today at the Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa. I had attended the opening of the NZMA national exhibition last night and already met some of the members. Today turned out to be an interesting and exciting event, being present as this organisation (mainly on Facebook) voted to move forward and become a National organisation.

I have always been drawn to stained glass/mosaic work, particularly contemporary styles, but was not sure how my polymer clay mosaics would be received. From the members I spoke to, they were appreciative of anything mosaic, and several actually used polymer clay. I received many complimentary comments on the photos I showed of my dot mosaics. Unfortunately, as I only joined last week, it was too late for me to enter anything in this current exhibition. I will have to be patient, as the next national exhibition will not be until 2018, in Whangarei.

I now feel quite inspired to continue with my dot mosaics, and become involved with this group (as the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild is no longer running). There may even be future opportunities to demonstrate/teach how to incorporate polymer clay with more traditional mosaic materials. 

So many ideas, I just need to decide what to start next - but first my studio needs a thorough clean and tidy! 

My entry has been submitted

Photo coming soon of 'A New Approach' 

My entry has been submitted, for the 2016 Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards, by photograph. Hopefully it will be selected for the exhibition. I will wait until the exhibition has opened before posting the finished photo. It will run from 28 October to 11 December 2016 at the Estuary Arts Centre, Orewa, north of Auckland.

The final tile is in place

Today I stuck the final tile down on my latest mosaic artwork, titled ‘A New Approach’. Just got to grout it now and then it will be ready to photograph and submit for the Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards 2016. 

My tile in the FIMO 50 World Project

Photos have been released of the THE FIMO 50 WORLD PROJECT. The yellow circle shows the tile I contributed. 

This was a collaborative art project, open to polymer artists from around the world, in celebration of FIMO polymer clay being 50 years old. You had to make a 10cm x 10cm (4” x 4”) polymer tile. The submissions were to be displayed on a large framework representing a globe but as you can see, the number of tiles received was way more than the globe could hold. The original idea was that the individual tiles would be auctioned off and the proceeds go to two charity organisations, Samunnat (Nepal) and the Kids Center for Pediatric Therapies (USA). However, Staedtler (the manufacturers of FIMO) have decided to keep the globe together in one piece as a collaborative artwork, and instead will present a generous donation to the two charities. This means the globe can remain a global art piece and will continue in existence as a symbol of unity that links the Polymer Clay Community throughout the world.

Work in Progress - September 2016

I have 3 weeks left until the submission deadline of 3 October 2016, for the Hibiscus & Bays Art Awards. Not only do I have to finish making and sticking all the tiles in place, it then needs to be grouted and photographed, as initial selection for the competition is by photograph. Will I get this finished in time? Yes, I have to!

Great Art Sale at the Lake House Arts Centre

I went over to the Lake House Arts Centre to take a photograph of my two pieces in the Great Art Sale, which has just opened. To my delight, I found my glow in the dark ‘Out-of-this-World’ sculpture had just been sold, so the photo only shows my other sculptural entry, ‘Lady Aotearoa’.