Tuesday, August 31, 2010

WOW leather



I'm now going to fill up my blog with WOW for the next month! Tis a passion of mine...and somewhat of an obsession. Luckily people share it with me and Konev Leather is no exception. In fact they are going to have one of my pieces in their Wellington shop window from Tuesday next week.

'Love is Temporary Madness' was inspired by the wonderful 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' (the book is wonderful, the movie was rubbish- go read the book). The quote above says it all. The Bizarre Bra I made is below. If you are in town go check out the window at Konev in Featherston St... and then go in and drink in the leather. They know their art...


Thursday, August 26, 2010

WOW 2010

Kanugi Kodama- back detail

Well August is just about shot to pieces and that means September is nigh, which brings the calendar into sharp focus for me because... yes it's Wearable Art month. I have my 17th piece in show this year. And I can't tell you ANYTHING about it except that it was inspired by a New Zealand Author's excellent novel. I can't show you pictures, I can't tell you what I made it out of because it would spoil the show otherwise. But I CAN tell you that once the show opens I will plaster it all over my blog! So you'll have to wait until the 23rd September.

In the meantime I can show you some working drawings (because I think it is always interesting to see the process) and photo of my piece from last year- Kanugi Kodama which will be on display at the Welllington Botanical Gardens (in the Treehouse) during the Spring Festival.

There are often a few pieces of wearable art around the Capital in shop windows where you can see pieces up close and personal which is a fantastic opportunity to see how things have been made and out of what- especially if you are thinking of entering the show yourself. Kanugi Kodama was made from recyled kimonos from 'Made in Nippon' on Courtenay Place. I'll also be showing how I made it on the Good Morning Show- so keep watching TV1 on Tuesdays around 9.30am from September 7th.


Kanugi Kodama- working drawings

Kanugi Kodama- photo courtesy of WOW

Monday, August 23, 2010

Fabo again!


Well the secret is out...it was me who was the mystery author for last week. We got a good response from fabo kids all over NZ vying for the top prize- which is the one featured here- a signed egg carton bull terrier with snappable jaws (read the story) and a copy of my book 'Glory' and a badge went to Andy Xie; read his story here. 8year old Georgia Fyfe from Maungawhau Primary won the junior section 8 and her story is here.

Get your kids involved- all they have to do is read the chapters to date a feel for the story and write the next installment by Friday- email it to us and they could win books and other cool prizes.

The best 5 writers at the end of the fabostory experiment win mentorship with one of 9 new Zealand Children's Book authors (us). We have prizes for juniors (7-10) and seniors (11-13). High school students are out of the running and so are adults masquerading as talented kids. We are after NZ's next generation of writers!

I want to say a huge personal thank you to Gavin Bishop who illustrated my chapter with a very fine 'frozen' Pit Bull. Each week a famous New Zealand Illustrator heads a chapter. How lucky are we?!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Biting news



In the absence of anything very much to report this week (prizes, publishing deals, general fame and fortune), here's a picture from the archives. I did it for an advertising campaign a few years ago- for a cabling company...all about large Cat cables. It's on canvas and it's BIG- A1 sized on a white background. It is also for sale.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Lianzas



So...it's the LIANZA awards tonight and Glory is shortlisted and it would certainly be a touch of Glory irony if I got the Esther Glen so I am not writing an acceptance speech, but AM looking forward to to dinner with all my writing peers, to good times, old times and new times to come. I'm completely honoured to be there, thankyou the librarians of NZ... mwah xxxx

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Fifi who?



There are sometimes great benefits for having an unusual first name. Fifi is not really my given name; I was christened Fiona in a grand Scottish tradition, but have been known as Fifi ever since I tried pronouncing the former as a toddler. I was convinced that I was the only Fifi who was a children’s book illustrator…that is up until a week ago, when Dianne from Nelson contacted me, because of, simply, my name.


“I have a painting by a Fifi Wynn-Williams. It came from my husband's aunt Meg Everton and I even have the bowl to go with it.  I am pretty sure it was painted before 1970 but how much before I don't know.
There is also a children's book called 'Mr Moa' by F Wynn-William given to Meg's mother with the author's complements in 1946. There is also a manuscript for a book called 'The Wonderland of Mr Moa' but I don't know who wrote or illustrated it.  Meg may have written it but it's in child's handwriting so must have been a long time ago as she just died aged 90.  Meg was a well known teacher and Ardmore Training College lecturer in Auckland. 
The manuscript and book are accompanied by a letter from Heinemann Educational Books (NZ) Ltd dated 1976 saying they are sorry they can't publish the manuscript or republish the book (ah…does nothing change 70 years later?)
The Mr Moa book has an article from the NZ Woman's Weekly stuck to the inside cover from 1946  written by a Count Etienne Micard.  He is agreeing with 2 men who protested about the V&A museum in London showing Picasso's "crazy-guying of Mankind".  He says "all the praise and clatter around Picasso's 'surrealism'  can only be explained by the Western world's decadence." (!)
There is also a sentence that has been underlined and 'Fifi' written in the margin:  
 "I wonder if the man in the street would hesitate between the odd naked bodies of Maoris on the wall of the Public Library in Auckland , for instance, and the charming faces of the children in a Shortland Street studio which remind one of Raphael's Jesus?"

Well, we are burning up to know who this other fabulous Fifi is. Can anyone elucidate?  

Monday, August 02, 2010

Gorillas?!

Miranda & Giles as I envisage them

We have our first FaBo winners and our next chapter up... 
go check it out!