Helldorado Days Parade

The Las Vegas Helldorado event originated in 1934 and the parade is just part of four days of events including rodeo and a trail ride. It can be difficult to find a sense of community and history here in Las Vegas, but this parade along downtown 4th Street offered both.

zombie apocalypse

Last night was the official opening of Blackbird Studios (previously Place Gallery) in Commerce St, Las Vegas. The Zombie Apocalypse event features Art of the Living Dead, including my Snake Tongue collage, Matt's Broken-hearted Zombie Dream and some awesome 3d zombies by Nightmare Nevada.
There was also some great zombie food, a lot of actual zombies and the Las Vegas Chapter of the Zombie Squad who gave a demo on how to destroy a zombie.

black repertory theatre summer youth program

These photos are posted outside the local Black Repertory Group theatre just around the corner. Looks like a pretty awesome program.

from Napier to Oakland

The top image is waiting for the plane to leave Napier - we had a lovely send-off. The following photos are taken from the shuttle van heading in to San Francisco city, then across the Bay Bridge.

Peter Evans exhibition

A young attendee of the opening of the Peter Evans exhibition at McNamara Gallery in Whanganui.

farewell to the studio

It was great to be part of the creative community that is the Old Chronicle building. Thanks Ross! I set out some artworks and general parephenalia that I didn't want to pack, and we had a few people drop by to help us farewell the studio and clear out some stuff...

wheelathon

A great idea for a kindergarten fundraiser - a sponsored wheelathon where the kids were granted a driver's licence for the day, and after a LOT of laps of the kindergarten carpark, they were awarded certificates and medals. There was a real policeman present to hand out the medals and remind them all to wear their helmets - even when riding round at home. Safety first.

Malfunction Baroque

Matt's show Malfunction Baroque opened at the Rayner Brothers gallery in Whanganui. Some of his paintings have morphed into three-dimensional ceramic objects. There was a lovely, colourful crowd of people there.

festival opening

The Whanganui Open Studios Fringe Festival officially opened with a night market down by the river. There was cool stuff for kids - lots of bubbles to chase, and floating lanterns to make which were then lit in the water. People sliding over in the riverbank mud made for some impromptu entertainment for the crowd safely watching from the walkway above.
There were also bands and cultural groups including some awesome waiata from children from Tawhero School. When it got dark, there was a Michael Tuffery video projected onto a building. If only every weekend was like this, but of course there was a lot of hard work went on behind the scenes to make this all happen - big congrats to the organisers.

moving to Germany

Friends Victor, Sandra and little Vera are moving to Germany. Our loss, Germany's gain. You can see Sandra's current work at Mary Newton Gallery until 27 Feb.