Block 2, Term 3, 2010
September 6th – 10th

* Encaustic: Painting with Beeswax and Pigment, Marci Tackett
* Holding Up Seven Fingers, Robert Franken
* Everything you wanted to know about Paint. Part 2, Marc Hill
* Raku Firing, Hanne Eriksen Mapp
* Cold Connections. Jewellery/Body Adornment, Craig McIntosh
* Putting It All Together, Perry Scott

By Rhiannon Stone

I hated high school. I scraped through getting NCEA level 1 and that’s all I have when it comes to qualifications. That bothers me. It’s not that I’m not smart; I consider myself quite intelligent (when I choose to be!) – it’s just that high school and I never agreed and because of my rather colourful history I have always been very scared to get into the whole education thing again. I have just stuck with working. I am also very cautious with money and have, so far, never bought anything on hire purchase or got a loan. The idea of paying interest irritates me. So the decision to start studying again was not one I took lightly.

I remember the day I first found out about TLC. I was at the hairdressers getting my hair chopped off and getting it re-dyed bright red. I was looking through some magazines to fill in time and came across an advertisement for a school that focused on ‘art and creativity’. I looked into it a bit more for about six months and toyed with the idea of quitting my job and studying from home full-time (the school is in Wellington and I’m in Auckland). After working out that financially I wouldn’t be able to do that I started to think about studying part time while working.

Three weeks ago I made the decision I was going to do it - I was going to study again. I found out that the next intake was 31st May so I needed to sort everything out quickly. After a few emails, filling out an application form, a trip to get documents verified by the Police (a relatively interesting event in itself) and applying for my loan, I sit here with a box full of materials and my first drawings in years.

The first exercise was to draw a face; a simple instruction. Draw a face – any face – however you want. I put it off for hours, convincing myself that bad TV (’Wife Swap’ to be more precise) was more interesting. I realised I was putting it off because I was worried about how terrible my face would be – I haven’t drawn in years and have never considered myself a drawer. Once I realised that and re-read “the purpose of this is to show where you are NOW in terms of drawing” I thought “for Gods sake just do it and get it out of the way.” I did and it was a little bit better than I thought it was going to be, but still not great. It was surprisingly hard for me to do, but I did it.

Once I had that out of the way, everything else was more fun and easier to complete. I am still embarrassed by some of the drawings I have done for the exercises but have forced myself to show my partner and have a bit of a laugh over it. In the end they will never be great, because you aren’t allowed to look at the page when drawing it! You focus on the object (in this case your hand), not the lines you are drawing. It’s teaching your brain to recognise what you see instead of what you THINK you should see (much harder than you would think).

My favourite exercise I have done so far is drawing what I see with a giant white waxy crayon (so far I have done a self-portrait) and then using watered down food dye to do a light wash. The paper absorbs the ink but the crayon repels it, revealing your drawing. I was going to try and draw one of our cats (the lazier one) using this technique but he wouldn’t sit still this evening, so maybe tomorrow.

I keep thinking back to my past and am looking at how far I have come in the last six years. I still can’t believe I have enrolled in this programme. Some people I knew would not believe I am the same person. By beginning my study with TLC I feel like I have overcome an incredibly huge and scary hurdle. It feels like a new beginning. I feel like a new person.

I will be sharing my experiences and discoveries in the art world through my blog. Everything from my experiments to my triumphs and my disasters; art is something that should be shared and I intend to do so!

http://rhiannonstone.blogspot.com/

Looking for a quick tip, short project or creative inspiration? Try Quickart!! TLC’s answer for boredom and inspiration. In this episode of Quickart Lucy Adams demonstrates felt making. She shows how you can pummel and beat straggly pieces of wool into a smooth and magical piece of cloth, ready for all your creative needs. Look out for more Quickarts, coming soon.

Wellington artists Judi Jenkins and Lucy Jerram Moore share a passion for expressing the experiences of New Zealanders separated by war. Judi’s series of paintings and assemblage, entitled ‘Letters Home’, is based on actual WWII correspondence from her father-in-law, Southlander David Sutherland Jenkins. During his service in the Western Desert, Italy and Europe with the 23rd Battalion from 1940-44, Dave corresponded regularly with his sister, brother-in-law and father, back home running the family farm. Drawing on the history and emotion of the time, Judi has created a series of canvasses and assemblages that capture the mood of these poignant letters.

Judi specializes in paint and mixed media and has exhibited, sold artwork and taught in Wellington for many years. In April and May of 2010, this collection was shown in Southland, bringing the correspondence between brother and sister home.

Lucy’s works in paint and textiles also explore the emotional impact of separation, absence and the difficulty of communication under wartime conditions. Against a background of fragments and images reminiscent of WWI, simple symbols such as dots, dashes and grids take on a code-like historical significance. The stitch in particular becomes a poignant symbol of the desire to connect two worlds – masculine/feminine, military/domestic, home/abroad, then/now.

Lucy was trained firstly in psychology and subsequently in textile design, jewellery and illustration. She has exhibited nationally since 2000 and now produces work on commission as well as furthering her research into the history and effects of New Zealand’s involvement in World War 1.

MISSING/LETTERS HOME
Paintings, textiles & assemblage
Toi Poneke Gallery, Abel Smith Street
July 23 – August 14 2010
Preview/opening 5.30pm Thursday July 22

Exhibition block week for the Advanced Diploma students is not only to experience first hand what it is to present the culmination of their year’s work, but an opportunity to engage with each other and share critically what the year has meant to them.

Mentors John Cornish and Ewen Anderson enjoyed an informal and invaluable  conversation with the three students who were able to travel to Taita and participate in the block course - Rebecca Shawyer, Miriam Ruberl and Rebecca Dodds. These three also took on the responsibility of hanging their peers work.

The discussion came ostensibly from two main questions: “What have you gained from the Advanced Diploma?” and “What has this week given you?”. The group thought it might be of interest to other students to read the their responses.

MIRIAM RUBERL

What I’ve gained from this Advanced Diploma on a personal level:

Dissatisfied with the prospect of an art making future that seemed to consist largely of acquiring improved technical skills, I set out to immerse myself in a process and approach to art making that was radically different to anything I had done before, but was also associated with the work of a few of the artists I admired.  This provided me the permission, space and tools to now make art that I feel comes  truly from within me and, at the same time, can be linked to a historically traceable context of thinking and responses to life experiences that are relevant to mine.

Within that wider context, perhaps the most important things I learnt about my own art within this Diploma is that allowing a material to speak and following it where it leads me is an endless process if I let it be. I do not come to the end of a material’s potential until I decide to stop pursuing it and that working within pre-set guidelines such as the choice of material and process enhances my creative expression, rather than restricts it.

What I’ve gained from this Advanced Diploma as a member of the group:

I have been able to relax much more into being the particular human expression that my life experience has moulded me into; to enjoy the uniqueness of the others on the course, and to trust the safety of that environment.

What I’ve gained from this particular week on site:

I have been able to affirm my commitment to myself as a professional artist, to re-connect with students that I’ve formed very fond connections with over the year and to connect with the tutors and other artists on site. Just as  art work without viewers has no content, a creative life without other creators is a barren life.

Miriam Ruberls website

REBECCA DODDS

What I’ve gained from this Advanced Diploma Year:

I really enjoy the fact that I have space to work alone and not be bothered. The feedback from Ewen always benefits me and encourages me. It seems most people at TLC live and breathe art which is refreshing; everyone is always interested in what you are doing and where you are going.

Exhibition Block Week:

It is interesting to work with others (even though it has been a small group), in hanging an exhibition - good to know others’ views with that. It’s nice to hear other students’ thoughts on the course and what they have been doing over the last year.

Rebecca Dodds Website

REBECCA SHAWYER

What I’ve gained from this Advanced Diploma Year:

Initially, I resisted aspects of the Advanced Diploma Programme. Process and materiality sounded great for someone younger; new to their medium. Little was I to know it would affect my approach to my art profoundly and permanently.

Prior to the Advanced Diploma I believed I was pushing boundaries in a medium (clay), historically rooted in functional ware. The breakthrough came when I finally realised there are no boundaries in art except those we choose to erect for ourselves. This epiphany was facilitated entirely by the course content and my incredibly patient, supportive and knowledgeable mentor, John Cornish.

The result of this revelation was the unbridling of my imagination, for which Ancient Creature is just the beginning.

In a different way but of equal importance is the fact that who we are has a huge impact on our process. I had actually got to the point of not mentioning my previous career in Patisserie, as it wasn’t an ‘arts’ background. However, I now see how my process is based directly in those years. I now not only own it, but value it for what it has turned out to be – the perfect apprenticeship and an important point of difference in my work.

What I got out of being here this week:

Meeting the mentors and other artists; getting advice from tutors in other departments on techniques I want to incorporate in future work; receiving feedback and seeing people’s reactions to the different works, including my own; seeing other work from the main school exhibition; making new contacts and recognising this week as a marketing opportunity.

Rebecca Shawyers website

This term we have upgraded our computer suite with beautiful new imac computers, the latest versions of the Adobe Creative Suite, Final Cut Express and animation software Dragon.

We are proud to showcase some of the fabulous work that was created in our documentary class in the computer suite from last term. Here are four new documentaries from TLC Students Tony Ludlam, Adam Minter, Hayley Gastmeier and Courtney Stubbins. Enjoy!

THE ELECTRIC PINK COMPANY

The 48 Hour Experience/Written By Vanessa Patea

The V48 hour film competition is a national competition held once a year. In essence you have to write, shoot and edit a short film in 48 hours. The prizes are very alluring and the competition attracts over 500 teams nationwide. I think the most amazing aspect of the weekend is that after the weekend there are going to be around 500 new Kiwi short films that didn’t exist before.

The competition is hard - there are many teams who are seasoned 48 hour film-makers and there are many clever script writers, talented actors and high production values. There are also people who enter the competition for the fun of it with their mum’s handy cam and their mates from school. Upper Hutt High had entered 17 teams this year. This is the spirit of the 48 hour film competition.

Our team name was the ‘Electric Pink Company’ which is a name that we inherited from last year. Our biggest goals for this year were to make sure our film made sense and also to have loads of fun. We hand-picked our team of awesome talents from people who we knew could work together, who could make quick decisions, who have a similar aesthetic and could make the 7pm Sunday deadline.

6pm: It was Friday night; I was waiting in a crowded room at the National Dance and Drama Center, Toi Whakaari in Newtown. As I waited, I looked around at all the teams and wondered how the next 48 hours would pan out for them. It was all up to a ping pong ball in a brown paper bag.

Our team name was announced after a string of other awesome team names like Squint Eastwood, the Avatards and Abusement Park. I went to the front and picked a ping pong ball out of the brown paper. Number eight -- we had our genre which was ‘Biopic’.

‘Biopic’ is a term derived from the combination of the words ‘biography’ and ‘pictures’. These films depict the life of an important historical personage (or group) from the past or present era. It can be a short film about some-one real or imagined.

7pm: I called HQ and informed the team about the genre and the elements to include in this year’s 48 hour film.

The Elements:

1. Person -- Sydney Manson (A Fabricator)
2. The Object -- A broken toy
3. Line of Dialogue -- “If you look at it that way.”
4. The 4^th element -- A ‘dolly zoom’ camera shot

By the time I got back to HQ, the main ideas had been fleshed out and Duncan Sarkies our writer had shut himself in the writer’s room to work his magic on the script.

9pm: We had dinner (yes, the whole weekend was a food fest! We even managed to feed another team with the amount of food we brought with us).

Later that night, Duncan emerged from the room with a script. “We’re going to build a machine and there are going to be cats, lots of cats!” he said. I am sure there is a reason why they say never work with animals or children.

Saturday: after 3 hours sleep

In the early hours of Saturday morning, our Art Department had the huge task of building a machine out of hunks of metal, tinfoil, LED’s and motorcycle parts. The first scene was with our main character, Sydney Manson, drawing the plans for the machine. The plans were the first thing the art department has to complete.

They drew the plans for the machine before we could start shooting the first scene. Our camera man kept himself busy shooting cutaways of cats on the street, whilst our two actors Adam Koveskali and Samantha Jukes get their hair and make-up done by Fiona Sole.

The shoot on Saturday went pretty well and late into the night, without any major hiccups, except our main actor was hit in the back of the head with a heavy piece of metal from the machine. There was a strange calm in the air all day… no-one seemed panicked or stressed. Was this the calm before the storm?

Sunday: after 4 hours sleep

The challenge of the 48 hour film is making the film with very little sleep whilst still trying to problem solve, keep your head together, make powerful decisions and make sure your team doesn’t fall apart.

We were lucky this year, as we had three computers and three editors on-site. Fiona Sole our make-up girl arrived early to transform young Sydney Manson into 70 year old Sydney Manson with her amazing make-up skills. I got a call from Sophie, our sound lady.  I was late picking her up. I pulled up to her house in Lyall Bay and she was sitting on the pavement in a bear suit surrounded by sound gear. There was still loads to do! Everyone worked like busy bees in their individual hives. Brent, our voice-over actor arrived. I shoved a script and a coffee into his hand, then I kept moving gear.

4pm Still no-one was stressed out. Was something wrong? Was something going to go wrong? The sound and music went on the edit. I wouldn’t let anyone into the editing room who didn’t need to be there.

It was now 6pm on Sunday. I took the first tape down to the finishing line.

This was a strategy employed by most of the teams; you take a first tape down to the finishing line with a runner around 6pm, one hour before the deadline and then wait to see if your team turns up with a second tape just before 7pm…  the anticipation is thick as you watch teams bowl up to the building with A5 envelopes in their hands and sweat on their brow… one guy rode in on his bicycle with the envelope in his mouth. I was  still anxious as I waited for the second tape.

6.56pm (4 minutes until deadline) Ruth , our Director ran through the crowd and handed me the final tape. We did a quick tape swap and I signed it in…..  Woop woop, we had made the deadline!! Another year, another 48 hours and another film.

Thanks to all our lovely sponsors- The Learning Connexion, the Parade Cafe and Boyles Kawasaki.
Photography by Vanessa Patea

This Thursday at 12.30 in the Certificate room on the ground floor.

TLC Campus, 182 Eastern Hutt Road, Taita, Hutt City.

Jude Nye will be coming to talk to staff and students about the Artists Alliance tertiary membership, and to share tips and ideas for life after TLC. Spread the word amongst TLC students.

http://www.artistsalliance.org.nz/

By Desiree Phillipps

This Stones in the Sea is an outside installation work  whose primary appreciation was timetravel. The travelling didn’t involve a fancy machine just the giant slowness of geographical changes in the land. I wanted to make a whole lot of stones with the date on them and maybe my name and take a journey on the ferry to toss them in the channel between the north and south islands. I found it exciting that someone may find them and puzzle over their origin just like I would puzzle over the finders. We would be apart but together connected by a little piece of stone with some symbols stamped in them. I grandly thought it could have significance in their time like the Rosetta stone.

Then I decided that it would be fun to be contacted within my lifetime and I threw a whole bunch of stones into Lyall Bay with the name of Lyall Bay, the project name Stones in the Sea and the word facebook. I then set up a page on facebook when people could upload photos of their stones and write about it. I got a reply and the audience was excited. The next project occurred when my friend nearly died and during the time of recovery in hospital I made the stones and stamped desiree loves warren. These I then threw in Lyall Bay. The next project was to deposit 20 stones in the 20 bays around wellington. Then Stones in the Sea proudly got a commission to commerate the death of a loved one.

Stones in the sea has many applications: time travelling, remembrance, advertising, spiritual, expression of grief and archaeological hookum. May you find some in the bays around Wellington harbour.

See the comments from people who have found stones and become a facebook fan of ‘Stones in the Sea’ here.

Jim Yellowhawk is a Lakota artist and performer who has been recognised internationally. He works in a variety of media, often using found objects in combination with painted and drawn images of his relatives and family. He celebrates the place of Native People and also questions issues from the past. His wife Ruth Yellowhawk is Wyandot/German. She is a writer, audio producer and co-director of the Indigenous Issues Forums, which works to help families and communities work through complex issues, using art to unify.

Along with their son Gabe, they are spending six months in New Zealand, paying respects to the land and meeting new friends. The Learning Connexion was privileged to have Jim and Gabe Yellowhawk perform at our Festival of Art and Creativity on Saturday the 6th of March, 2010. TLC interviewed them on camera and found out about their stories and background.

For more about the Yellowhawk family click here