Well, I feel a bit like I haven’t stopped running since before Christmas. Now that we are well into February, I thought I’d better do a quick recap of 2025 and an update on upcoming events.

I’ve hardly even been posting on social media, and usually I’m quite regular with updates, but as I get back into a rhythm of working it’s easier to post what I’ve been up to more regularly. Mind you, I haven’t been home making art so much during January anyway, I’ve been holidaying in the caravan, tramping and enjoying family time. It’s great to take a break and have found in hooking into it again there’s been a few ideas fermenting away…….

( I looked back on my blog to remind myself of what I’ve been up to, and about this time last year I said about the same thing. Guess I just need to forget about January and start my year in February!)

Anyway, first, the recap.

I started playing around with interactive, rearrangeable sculptures, making small characters that could be ‘played with’ and moved about a larger structure.

I had a ball with these and still would like to play around with stop motion video more, making the characters climb up the structures and jump off, creating a little story around them.

Speaking of stop-motion video, that was the inspiration for the ‘Wheelies’, boat-type structures made on to of toy cars.

I’m in my element when I’m fired up with a new idea, problem solving and working out the structure. I made a few videos of them racing and I had the smaller characters jumping out and hopping into other ‘boats’

I took part in the Auckland and Queenstown art shows. Run by Art Shows Across Aotearoa, I enjoy the atmosphere of these shows, surrounded by other artists and talking about my work to the public. I flew up to this one and was happy with how easily my work travelled. It helps that its mostly made from wire and a flexible air-dry clay, so fairly hardy.

After the Auckland Art Show, I pondered on making some bigger pieces around a mask idea, thinking that I would like to have a few larger, eye-catching pieces for the next art show in Queenstown. It’s funny how the inspiration for pieces comes, sometimes a small, more personal drop of inspiration like the ‘wheelies’, and sometimes wanting to make a bit of a public splash.

I went on to make a few of these and am still playing with the idea.

I took part in the Otago Art Societies’ Demonstration week, Featured artist week and ran a workshop. The workshop was great fun, I was blown away by the creativity of the participants and felt I got as much out of it as the people taking part.

Demonstration week at the OAS is always fun.

It was a good exercise for me also, working out the different stages of creating a sculpture and how to communicate this to others.

I revisited Dragons, and made a few more, well-I should say am still making more! I do love a good Dragon, I can have lots of fun thinking up names like ‘Molten Myrtle” or ‘Fireball Fred’.

Oh- I also made a Time Machine. It has glow-in-the-dark clay dots and who knows what will happen should anyone wind the winder!

So that’s pretty much where I’m at. Gearing up now for the Wellington art show, frantically trying to finish the last pieces in time and regretting the time I have been spending procrastinating.

Leaping into 2026

Featured Artist 2025