Long time ago, in a town called Nelson, there was a fun annual event called the Wearable Arts Awards; it started in someone's paddock in Brightwater in 1987 with the help of locals, most notably Eelco Boswijk. People flocked from near and far in September to see this strange and dreamy extravaganza, but the show became more elaborate and expensive, and finally in 2005, it moved to the big smokes of Wellington. (And pity, the origins are not detailed in their web site.)
In 2005 and 2006, an art exhibit called "Fine" was held in Wellington, at Shed 11, to showcase Nelson artists and their work, to coincide with the renamed World of Wearable Art shows. This year, the exhibit has been renamed "Re:fine", the venue moved closer to the WOW shows, to the lovely NZ Academy of Fine Arts, and I'm taking part in it.
I was at the Expo on Wednesday 30 May; the proposal to be considered for Re:fine was due on the Friday. Of course we'd had plenty of information on the proposal in the preceding months, and I had been thinking about it, it wasn't until the Thursday that I started on the proposal. Typical.
I had never submitted, or even seen, an art proposal, but the TOC given to us was pretty comprehensive, so I wrote some words, and because I can't draw, I cut/pasted images and attached beads/yarn samples. Long story short, I was able to submit a proposal, (though the glue was still wet, and it looked more like a 7-year-old's art project), in time. Except one of the curators had seen my stuff at the Expo, and rather than to create what I had proposed in the proposal, (a one-off, strangely enchanting and decadent red garment based on Arabian Abayeh), she urged me to weave more of the sea/sand type shawls. Easy, I thought.
Well, life, lack of imagination, or bad time management, call it what you will, something got in the way, and then I had "more pressing" projects, and then I ran out of yarn the other day, but later this week, I will be weaving on the first warp I've designed for this exhibit, and I have an idea for the second.
I understand most participants in Re:fine are finished with their work by now. Typical.
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