My WOW 2016

The World of WearableArt 2016 season is upon us- and what a spectacular show, once again.

The award night was last night and whilst I didn't win anything, I was honoured to be in such a stellar line up of creations- plus I got to hug the totally gorgeous, terrifically talented and sweet Reuben Paterson on whose work, the show's aesthetic has been based. He said he liked my manaia and that I will hug to my creative heart :)

So here it is, my creation and how it came about.

Poutini's Mother Lode

Poutini the taniwha captured beautiful Waitaiki, laid her down in the bed of the Arahura River and turned her into pounamu before fleeing to the sea.

I was intolerably homesick when we lived in Britain for a while.

A New Zealand friend came to visit and bought with her a piece of Ngāi Tahu pounamu. I wore it every day until we returned; it is my own taonga.

I wondered at the Maori mythology behind the West Coast greenstone and found an intriguing tale of misplaced love and abduction; how Waitaiki became the mother lode of all pounamu in the Arahura River.

I wanted to animate the story and create a manaia inspired by Maori bone carvings, that moved and swayed and held his captive tight.

This is essentially a giant puppet- with the models real arms in the head and the arm of the taniwha.

You can see how I made it on my facebook page here and if you like it, you can also vote for it here  at The Breeze and be in to win something too! They say you just need 1000 true fans to make it in the creative world- I'm currently sitting at about 999. You could make all the difference in the my world ;)

xxx Fifi

Winner- 2014 LIANZA Elsie Locke!

Well gosh, after 30 years in the children's book game (I illustrated my first book in 1984) I have actually WON an award! A real actual 1st place with flowers and a cheque and applause and everything!

It was the LIANZA Elsie Locke Medal for Non Fiction for Wearable Wonders. I feel like it's o.k to crow a bit- I've waited a long time for this and the reward is all the sweeter; I couldn't be more thrilled! There is not much more to say except thank you, from the bottom of my heart. That book is kind of a download of my brain which is buzzing with joy right now.

Acknowledgment  is truly a marvelous inspirational thing :)

It was a great night- many thanks to LIANZA and their sponsors- Hell Pizza and The Children's Bookshop who sponsor the Elsie Locke Award. You have made my year!

Here is me and Melinda Syzmanik who won the Librarians Choice Award with her deeply poignant novel 

A Winter's Day in 1939. If you haven't read it yet, you must!

Mastering Art

from one of the lectures at the IMC

I'm back from my whirlwind 6 weeks and I can tell you, it has been expanding and fruitful and I would like to say exhausting because everyone is saying 'You must be EXHAUSTED', but I'm not. I'm exhilarated. I feel like a kid who has been given a box of Griffins Sampler biscuits and told to choose. Should I have the pink ones, the ones with sugar on, the chocolate, the coconut? So much to devour, I want it all!

I write this blog primarily for those of you who don't use facebook, because if you did, you'd have seen on my public page multiple pictures of the Southland Festival Tour which was wonderful on so many levels (hospitable people those Southlanders), my sketches, travels and works in progress at the Illustration Master Class in Amherst USA, me in my fabulous new dress from New York (yes, how great to say that!!! and no it wasn't from Walmart) at the NewZealand Post book Awards (no I didn't win my category but The Beginners Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Paul Adamson did and it is a fantastic book!) AND...absolutely NO pictures of my wearable art entries for this year. If they get into show the first pics you'll see are after opening night in September and if they don't get into show I'll share them after mid July which is when we find out if we made the cut. Fingers and toes crossed, for everyone who have poured their heart and soul and grocery money into their entries!

Also on facebook, a friend said 'It must be nice to live in your bubble' after I posted a picture of a carnival horse I sketched in Aotea Square whilst musing on life and work. She meant it well; she is a good friend but immediately I felt I had to justify my existence outside of a 9-5 job which I have never really aspired to, and any time I have applied for one, I have barely had a reply let alone an interview. I have no aptitude for a desk in office politics and workplaces with cubicles. I'd be terrible at it- I'd want to make sculptures out of paperclips instead of writing reports, and I'd have a glue gun secreted in my filing cabinet, just so I could take it out and sigh with regret that I was wasting all my creative time earning money. I'd be wasting their money too.

So this is the thing... if I had $10 for every time I have heard it said 'It must be so nice being an artist, I WISH I could give up my job and do what you do,' I'd be buying designer clothes and planning my next holiday in Tahiti. 

I'm telling you now don't want to give up your job. You'd never be with the uncertainty of never knowing when or where your next commission is coming from, whether your books/paintings/music will sell and for how much. You'd even have to stay with your life partner if you have one because they believe in you and make up the shortfall when you haven't earned anything in 6 months, and they think (bless) that one day your ship will come in and you'll both sail away together on it into the sunset with cocktails. In fact, some of the most married people I know are artists and writers, for richer or poorer... and our partners do get the short straw in that agreement. They are our rocks on which our boats get thankfully stuck.

To do anything else is unthinkable, and sometimes I wonder at myself- am I mad? completely delusional? But then, then you go to a place where there are others like you. A Masterclass, full of artists who are obsessed with making and creating. A place where everyone has to draw to be able to think. Who search their minds and their hearts and souls for visual answers, and then put them onto canvas, board, screens and creatures. And some make most excellent money from it, and some do not, but we are all equal in our passion. And none of us ever say 'It must be so nice to be a policy analyst, I WISH I could give up my art and do what you do.' We would rather live in penury than cut off our arms. I came away realising my worth; that I have a rich stream of gold, flowing with ideas to share in the world. Expertly. Like a master.

So here's my invitation- tap that stream; bookings are open for Fifi- I need to pay off that dress! 

photo courtesy of Mark Tantrum

Awards, rewards and paying it forward

Angel's Trippy Trumpet

Well! It's been a pretty exciting week full of WOW- World of Wearable Art. I was absolutely thrilled to get an Honour Award for my piece 'Angel's Trippy Trumpet' in the Man Unleashed- Psychedelic Revival section. It's a Datura flower that opens up to reveal the trippy journey inside! No models were harmed (or stoned) in the making of this ;)

The show was as usual absolutely incredibale and I was was stoked to spend a day with the international designers, have a peek behind the scenes at my old work haunt Weta Workshop and then talk to a very large crowd of over 300 at Te Papa. Hopefully I've inspired them to enter next years show! That evening I did a dinner talk for a corporate group and we had Vena Immaculata, my 2011 entry (which also recived an Honour Award) modelled by Ria Simmons, a wonderfully talented dance and drama student for the duration. The client was also a sponsor of The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation, so it was fitting to have Vena there, as it is about "A battle to keep fatigue and anaemia at bay; red blood cells are knocked back by the treatment. Photos of the cancer cells reveal them to be like delicate frilled bouquets.Beauty Disguising the Beast?"

Last week an old friend of mine from design school days, Joanne Cunningham, a talented artist and photographer lost her battle with breast cancer. She was 52. Two other close friends have undergone treatment for this and it seems that so many people I know have had brushes of varying strokes with the disease. It is hard to know what to do other than make casseroles for family when someone you know is going through this. And heaven knows, I am no great culinary provider. I wondered what I could do effectively to make a useful difference. And then I had it- I could auction off a relevant artwork and have the proceeds go to The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation, who support so many who are affected.

So,Vena Immaculata is going up for auction- with ALL the proceeds going to The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation. We are holding it at The Roxy in Miramar with an auctioneer and if you aren't in town you can participate on Trademe for the bidding. We will have a big screen with the auction page live on the night. Preceeding the auction, I'll hold a workshop on Bizarre Bra making- a hands on fun event with bubbles and canapes.

Go to the Trademe auction page here:

and here is more info on the workshop and night :)

Wearable Art Exhibitionists!

WOW week starts soon and this year is as exciting as any other- particularly as I have a piece in show (that makes 19 garments since 1995). It's in the Man Unleashed section and I will put a photo of it up next week after opening night.

I've got my designer's badge, my tickets and a frock! I spent too much on dresses for the season (one for the preview show, one for a speaking engagement on opening night and one for the Award night) and ran out of budget so am currently blinging a favorite pair to match the outfits. You'd think I could MAKE a dress wouldn't you? But sadly my skills are only good for outrageous costumes and I don't want to turn up to the functions in foam and recycled plant pot holders.

If you want to see some garments up close, I've got a bit of a display of some of my WOW pieces at The Roxy in Miramar, in The Grand Lobby Gallery. I love the Roxy; it's a wonderful cinema with great food and wine and gorgeous surrounds. It's also my local and I'm tickled pink to have my work in there!

On the exhibition front there is also a fine display of garments at Te Papa; The WOW Factor Exhibition. You'll get a good understanding of the craftstmanship and creative thought that goes into our obession. Go have a look, it's absolutely, positively free- as is the Roxy exhibition. You may just be wowed :)

Wearable Wonders!

It's here, my book! I have spent 5 months over spring and summer on it and it is chock full of tips, tricks and ways to go about coming up with ideas, materials and construction of a Wearable Art piece. This is no 'How to make a dragon costume and here is the pattern' book. This is about how to find ideas and resources, inspiration and team. It's for the young designer- aged 10-14 and their teachers, parents and caregivers.

It's out in July, with Scholastic, and this is the first crafty book I've done since Fifi's Crafty Arts years ago. Golly, I'm so chuffed! Hope you will be too :)