Flights booked. accommodation booked, courier sorted, lists written, artwork packed and ready to roll! Off to the big city! Well, that’s a bit how it felt, I’m not sure how I got to this age without ever having been in Auckland, except to fly out of the airport!

I’ve done a few of these art show in the last couple of years and always come away invigorated and inspired. Being surrounded for a weekend by people who believe in the importance of art, who treat art as an essential part of life is a wonderful feeling. Tips and ideas are shared between artists, but it’s more the feeling that we are in this together, and everyone is sharing a similar story.

Kate, John and the team at Art Shows Across Aotearoa do a fantastic job of organizing and promoting the events they run in 4 different cities in New Zealand. As I get to know more of the artists and supporters of these events I find there is a real community feel to them.

An earlier show. 2018 Dunedin, with my Paper mâché works

I was surprised how well my works travelled. I couriered two packages and the rest I packed into two hard-covered suitcases to go on the plane. Plenty of bubble wrap was used, and I packed them in firmly so there was no slopping around. The only mishap was a slightly bent toe, which was easily rectified. The work, being made from wire and polymer clay with a flexible air-dry clay is fairly robust though!

Al my trusty art assistant flew up with me and we set up Friday Afternoon. No setup is without its problems though! Because my work is quite fine it tends to disappear into the charcoal-grey panels so at the previous show I tried white fabric attached to the panels, with white shelves. It looked Ok, but I wasn’t satisfied with the look, still looked a bit drapey and tended to crinkle. I had what I thought was a genius idea to use bug netting, which was white, wouldn’t crinkle like fabric and would travel easily.

Only problem was… in reality it looked cheap and nasty……and it took me rearranging everything at least twice before I came to that conclusion. I was fixated by the fact that the shelves were white and didn’t actually step back and look properly until it was all set up! funny how you get stuck on an idea!

Al my trusty assistant was very patient while I had a small meltdown, simply took the shelves off and put them on again (several times) without saying a word.

Setting up Wellington 2024, where I used white fabric as a background.

The white mesh looked horrible! Approaching meltdown here!

Once I realized the white shelves looked fine against the black, it didn’t take too long to get finished.

I should also mention that all the tools and drill bits were scattered randomly throughout the bags and the one bit we needed we didn’t find until the end of setup, having had to borrow one. Why I packed the tools like a crazy person, who knows! It has led to Al’s suggestion of a tool bag for future shows.

Once I decided the white shelves would be fine, we got set up!

The artists around me were lovely to talk to, we shared heaps of ideas and kept an eye on each other’s spaces. Showing off your work to the public is only part of the benefits of doing these shows, the sharing of ideas about presentation, work practices and the sense of support amongst artists is awesome. Amongst the ideas I discovered that I can easily get a QR code generated and printed on the back of my business card. Something I didn’t know I could do!

The public were great, I love that people came in, asked questions about the works, and enjoyed people smiling when they looked at the quirkier pieces. ‘Goodnight Spider’ came along as a piece the kids (and adults) to play with. Most art is ‘look don’t touch’ so it’s nice to include a touchable piece. (Goodnight Spider is made over a music box that plays ‘Stairway to Heaven”). It’s so ingrained to ‘not touch’ in art that when adults are intrigued by the materials, I really have to convince them that it’s ok to touch and see what it feels like.

‘Goodnight Spider’ came along as a playful addition.

Now, I don’t generally mind people taking photos of my work, I kind of figure if I have a website with images and social media, my work is out in the public arena anyway, but there were a couple that threw me a bit.

Breezing past me and slowly videoing up close everything in my booth….. I thought that was a bit off, so wandered over and said “Hello”….”Oh good…..the artist…..can you stand over here so I can get a picture?’ So, I dutifully go over and stand behind my work on a plinth. “Just over a bit please…..that’s good it blocks the background clutter”. Somewhere out there is a nice photo of artwork with my clutter-blocking torso.

Approaching people is a fine art,, a few times I walked over when the person was really focused on the art, and gave them a huge fright when I suddenly said ‘Hello” Or I start to make my approach and they start walking away, apparently timing is everything.

Had a great time and looking forward to the Queenstown show in October!

The Auckland Art Show

A busy few weeks