Italian truck

I meant to post these two pics while we were in Italy. We saw the first little Abe (Bee in english) in the village of Assissi, and the second, which had met a nasty fate, in Rome.

Ethos fashion

Lucy Thompson (top left) and Fiona MacKinnon (top right) have an exhibition of sustainable design at Chronicle Glass. Their clothes are created from environmentally friendly textiles and recycled materials. Fiona's little models were the stars of the show.

Castlecliff Beach

We are now living out at Castlecliff Beach. It's great to be just one block from this...

and the grad student show...

A big crowd turned up to support the graduating art students. The work seen here is by Damian Rangiwananga (top left) and Andrew Reilly (top right).

Michel Tuffery installation

Artist Michel Tuffery ran workshops at the Sarjeant Gallery for high school students who made individual artworks on umbrellas. These umbrellas were then installed in the Gonville swimming pool which is no longer in use and has acquired its own imagery.

UCOL 3rd year show

Last night was the opening of the Whanganui UCOL 3rd-year student exhibition. I followed the trail of green arrows (great idea!) and the first work that greeted me was an installation by Mike Marsh. Then I found lots and lots of people listening to speeches, making the most of the refreshments, mingling and perusing.

the fastest cat in the west

This is the fastest and cheekiest cat in the west. It was checking out a property where two very large dogs usually reside.

Bason Gardens

Our friends Ange and Jeremy held their wedding in the beautiful Bason Gardens which are on the road to Kai Iwi beach. It was a very cool wedding and those cupcakes tasted even better than they looked!

Sets and Roots Provider

Winner of the 'Best Venue in the World' Award 2007' - The Eye of Night in Wanganui has the plaque on the door to prove it. Here are some of the performers from the Friday night gig - Sets and then Roots Provider. They went off.

sand dune city

It's amazing how much of central Wanganui is built on top of a giant sand dune.

collage workshop

I took a collage workshop with some 8-12 year olds. Here are a few of the results. They were a lot of fun to work with and did some awesome out-there pieces.

all things pass...

... I hope my sense of optomism wasn't premature. Right-wing governments do not have a reputation for supporting artists at the coalface, but our National MP here in Whanganui is himself an artist so maybe that bodes well ... or not, we shall see.

Election Day

It was such a beautiful day here in Whanganui after a week of heavy rain - I felt really optomistic heading off to the voting booth. The New Zealand flag was blowing in the breeze, but I reckon this flag itself will change before too long.

A grand entrance

I was told that someone once drove a car through this entrance way - must have been a small car.

Spring

I'm really into flowers at the moment. It must be spring.

some Wellington street art...