All posts by maria

Catching up and Waiheke Island

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It’s been ages since I wrote up a post here. Why? Well, I wish it was filled up having to visit galleries and other exciting appointments but no. I think for many of us when we break a new habit, a week, a month, six months. A year and I’m disappointed by that. The sad truth is that I can be a bit defeatist when it comes to expressing myself through writing. I feel that I do make interesting artworks which I enjoy sharing but I do lack some confidence in sharing more than that, so I do intend to try to share more of my thoughts behind this process.

It’s no real surprise to know that we can be our worst critic, sometimes convincing ourselves that we have nothing all that spectacular to share. It’s bullshit.

Since my last post sharing my experience when I took part in a charity exhibition called No Apologies, I have been up to a few things over the last year. The most significant was when I entered into a sculptural exhibition competition, The Small Sculpture Prize. The exhibition was over a monthly period at The Community Gallery in Waiheke Island. It was pretty wrapped to have gained a place into the exhibition, so I took myself up to Auckland over the Easter Weekend to be there at the exhibition’s opening night. I highly recommend the journey there, the trip on the ferry from Auckland is really beautiful.

It was the third time I gained a place in this exhibition. There is a desire to want to win the prize, I think that is pretty normal, yet this isn’t my entire focus of entering. I enjoy the social aspect from being able to chat with other artists which I find pretty unifying and also to get some further exposure to my work.

This time I went up on my own and decided to stay with someone from a website community called Couch Surfing. Years ago I used to be an active member as a host, so this was my first time being a guest. My host Jeff was great. The exhibition was a paid event, so it was nice to be able to invite him as a guest. He was really interesting by the fact that he was also an artist and shared his time living in a Yurt at Waiheke in and summer and travelling overseas to create an endless sense of summer. I was a little envious of his lifestyle despite it really wouldn’t work for me. I did think it was pretty awesome being able to have an endless summer. We pretty much hung out the entire time I was there. I had a pretty memorable time on the beach playing Frisbee as that’s something I hadn’t done since I was a kid with my Dad.

Since then I have had a relapse with my depression due to many external factors happening simultaneously, which at the time, had to take precedence over anything else. I’m happy to have got back on track and making art again.

What I’m working on now? I’m currently working on a piece to add to create a series with Containment Overflow. What makes the piece different is it’s made up or based on hexagons. This piece is also going to be a large, 60cm but I have the intention of making smaller pieces as well. I plan to have this finished in a couple of weeks and so I’ll put up another post to so you the overall piece.

Out of The Darkness | Sold Out

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As most of you already know Monday night was the opening night of, Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP Foundation’s exhibition, NO Apologies, at the Thistle Hall Community Gallery.

I got there a little after 6:30 pm and it was packed. Jan Logie MP was one of the speakers there and gave a moving speech. There was also two performers, Tarns Hood and Mary Rainsford, who shared poetry. I did pop outside as it was a bit triggering for me.

Many pieces including my own sold on the night, yay 🙂 There’s still a chance to grab yourself a bargain in time for Christmas. It’s certainly worth checking out.

TradeMe – NO Apologies Exhibition

As I’ve already mentioned, the fifth and final piece of the series, Out of The Darkness, sold that night. I really enjoyed making that piece and plan to make a similar piece as a larger size.

I’m still working on a piece which I had mentioned in my last post. It hasn’t been the largest piece I’ve worked on but collectively with the twelve layers, it has been the most labour intensive. I’m really looking forward till the frame arrives from Auckland. That’s when I will mount the layers together and then place it straight into the frame. By doing this I reduce any chance of dust getting onto the paper.

Started a new piece, and more news…

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Another week is coming to an end and its been pretty enjoyable. I sold and a piece last week, Out of The Darkness and this has enabled me to purchase some much-needed art supplies. I’m also expecting some business cards to arrive next week.

Yesterday I picked up a small stamp, which is the same of my embossed signature, which I plan to use to certify the back of all my future artworks. I intend to have my written signature underneath, I just didn’t want to show my signature here. 🙂

Most of this week has been taken up cutting a new piece. It’s a bit bigger is 600mm square. Its the first time I’ve done a square piece in a larger size and look forward in seeing the finished results.

Exposure through Colo Wellington : Charity Exhibition in November

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Colo is a business here in Wellington which collaborates with BizDojo. They are big supporters of the people here at BizDojo. Dan very kindly wrote an article about my story up to this point to get some more exposure and to let people know about an upcoming charity exhibition I’m taking part in.

Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP

Opening Night: NO Apologies – Wellington HELP Art Fundraiser

‘No Apologies’ is the first fundraiser for Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP in many years. Please support us and the artists who have listed their work by getting along on opening night! Contributing artists include Sian Torringon, Danielle Burns, Jack Trolove, and more. We will be open during business hours for each day of the exhibition, which runs from 27th November to the 3rd December. Exhibiting artists share a commitment to our kaupapa of envisioning and bringing into being a world free from sexual and gender violence. Our theme, ‘No Apologies’, refers to the heart-felt response each artist has made, through their work, to this kaupapa.

I really hope to see you there!

Opening Night — 27th November. Thistle Hall 293 Cuba Street, Wellington. 6:30pm.

People of Co-working : Maria Colls, paper cut artist

Being inspired…

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I met Dave Greenberg a couple of weeks ago in the BizDojo at an after-work Friday drinks. I really enjoyed hearing how his career brought him to a place to want to share his amazing experiences while working for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter service for 25 years.

Dave spoke more about the experience of being published.

It came across that he was taking stock of entering into a new chapter in his own life and really enjoying the experience. He was so chuffed, maybe humbled at having his book published by Penguin.

I thought it was amazing, Penguin is so well known.

So last night I went to his book signing at Unity Books.

I really enjoyed it, and there were a lot of people supporting him. Dave thanked family, friends and some of his colleagues.

I was happy for him. After Dave’s speech, he was really busy signing books for everyone. I got him to sign a book for me.

He made a mention about my art. I was pretty touched by that and I’m looking forward to reading his book called Emergency Response.

https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/emergency-response-9780143771661

 

Thanking Dave for his kind message he wrote in my book.
Thanking Dave for his kind message he wrote in my book.

Cutting a new piece

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Last week I’ve finally managed to get off my laptop from working on my website and have finished designing my first piece. I started this piece late last week. I’m still prepping the paper with the cutting guidelines at home as I use adjustable spray on glue to adhere to the paper. So I just bring the layers to BizDojo to cut as needed.

To some degree, this is different than most of my pieces due to the number of layers I’m doing. There will be 18 layers in total, including the hidden layers. I wanted to create a similar effect to Out of The Darkness, so every second layer is hidden, so to empathise shadows and each layer.

A new presence online

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The last couple of weeks I have been putting together a small website to showcase more of my recent pieces. This is something I will be building on once I have my website’s online store and new business cards organised. It has been a time-consuming process, as you complete one task it sometimes reveals another. I have now found I partially want to sell some of my pieces as to raise money for a collection I have started to work on. My goal for this is an exhibition here in Wellington.

As I mentioned on my Facebook page I have become a BizDojo’s Artist in Residence member, which has been a great opportunity for me and my work. The vibe here is a positive one with really proactive people working on their collective projects. After losing the opportunity to work in an artist studio, I’m really making the most of working in such productive environment.

I want to have one final play with one of my pieces called Crystallisation, where I create the same effect as Out of The Darkness, giving it a floating type of an effect. I really enjoyed coming up with this design and it’s really enjoyable to have a further look into this piece.

BizDojo, Wellington.
BizDojo, Wellington.