Burwell House, Invercargill
It’s a month since I moved here. Immediately upon arrival I realised that one of the main pleasures of my stay here was to be living alongside the airport’s flightpath. I like aeroplanes very much.
Here the airport is almost in the suburbs. From my upstairs kitchen window I can see the runway and the control tower. 50,000 people here, same as New Plymouth.
On one particular day, Boeing 737 jets from Air NZ and QANTAS began coming in. It was cold and snowy weather and Queenstown was closed. The diverted passengers were going to be bused there. Twice this happened but the heavy jets had passed before I could find my camera. The sight and sound of them was exhilarating.
Air NZ Bombardiers from Christchurch visit here every day. A couple of weeks ago I raced down the down the stairs and out the front door, just in time to record this. It wasn’t the photo that I had imagined but somehow it might be better.
Tony Bishop
Since being in Southland I’ve met many delightful people, all of them with very different interests.
One of these is Tony Bishop, here seen posing in front of a portrait of himself. The painting, quite a strong likeness, was made by someone else.
His house is a goldmine of diverse objects. I quite like this photo and because of the flat planes of colour I can see it being made into a tapestry, something I’ve wanted to make for some time. I would have to pay someone else to actually stitch it because my stitching always looks tormented.
A sign on the front door says NO EFTPOS.
Tony is an actor, painter, collector and wit and best of all, a friend.
Riverton, Southland
At the bottom left of the South Island is some very powerful landscape, dramatic by any standards. The sea is wild, the rocks black, jagged. Riverton is one of the main settlements in this area. From my studio, luckily it is only about 30 minutes drive.
Stewart Island looms in the distance, its hills topped with snow, something that surprised me. Somehow I hadn’t imagined that.
Invercargill, Southland.
Greetings to all my visitors. At last I am back in action. I’ve been away from New Plymouth for a month now, and in that time have not put up any posts and it has worried me.
A few days I bought a Mac laptop, until now I have used PC’s. There is a lot to learn, they are very different, but I am beginning to find my way around it.
Right now I am in a cafe in Invercargill connected to the internet by a 3G wireless modem. Such freedom to be able to go online wherever there is coverage.
Now I have to go to Queenstown for a couple of days. About 2 hours drive away, I haven’t been there for 20 years.
Voyager 2002
In 2002 I went to visit the Whanganui Museum, and was invited to see what their storage area held. One of the specimens in their collection was a monkey that had apparently originally arrived as a skin and been treated by a taxidermist who had never seen what the monkey that the skin belonged to actually looked like. The eyes are not right for a start.
This was an era when museums swapped material. Museums here swapped items such as moa bones and stuffed Kiwi.
I made a work based on the monkey which I called Voyager. Can’t remember exactly why. One thing that I did at the time was to have about 1000 badges made, and eventually over a year or two they were all given away.
I decided last week that I would like to take some South with me. Two days after ordering them, 500 arrived on my doorstep.
Tecomanthe speciosa
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The Taranaki Festival of the Arts is starting soon and as a part of it , this large scale version of a photo of mine is being put up on this building here in New Plymouth. This photo was taken yesterday.