Feature in 'Herald Homes'

My knitted cheeseburger got a wee mention (and image!) in the homes section of the Sunday Herald. Quite a cool feeling I have to say!

Made for Aotearoa

This is some work of mine installed in 'Made for Aotearoa' a show that opened last night out at Papakura Art Gallery. They are all items from my daily routine that I've been working on for a while now. They are all titled according to what time I apply/insert/use them each morning, I do the same things at the same time everyday, give or take  a few minutes.

Mascara, Tampon box with tampons and hairties..

Probably my favourite item of mine in the show, my tampon brooches that I make were mentioned today on bfm as part of a Kraftbomb interview so I am feeling pretty pro-knitted tampons right now!

Size 14 knickers and size 14B bra.. honesty is always the best policy!

It's quite a weird feeling to be exhibiting simply the knitted objects, the C I got for Sculpture in first year at art school pretty much demonstrates how much I suck at the medium, while I love this show and the objects in it it's really inspired me to get back into the photography of knitted objects - it's not something anyone else's doing (as far as I know!) and I think that's pretty cool.

Oh and I had the pleasure of participating in an epic three car crash on the way out to the gallery! 

This is quite possibly the greatest family photo of all time - that's me on the left there trying to pull out my eyeball, that's my mum with one spectacular mullet, my little sis Elizabeth is there chilling out stroppily on her lap, and there's Dad with the comb-over he's had since before my birth which has now thinned out to a few lone strands but back then was thick and luscious.

And yeah.. we're all wearing Mickey Mouse tee shirts.. Excellent.

CARDBOARD BOX - our brand spanking new zine

One of my besties Nicola  and I have started a zine. It's pretty much been a dream of ours since we started art school and it feels so good to finally be doing it and not just because I can now say 'Yeah.. I edit a zine'. We are very excited that we now have an excuse to ask prying questions, get together with our buddies and contributors and have a cool creative outlet outside of our own practices and work. There's nothing like the pressure of a deadline to get you motivated, something that I think I've almost missed since art school.

We want to cover anything and everything arts related and with production well underway (it's getting printed in a matter of days!) here's a sneak preview of what's on offer. We are very cut and paste, as in literally cutting with scissors and pasting with glue sticks so these are all our pages ready to be scanned.

I interviewed the lovely ladies behind Kraftbomb about all the essentials - what goes into running one of Auckland's best craft fairs and favourite cupcakes. Cardboard Box will be on sale for a mere $5 at the next installment this Sunday, Grey Lynn Community Centre 1-4pm so come along!

We placed an ad on The Big Idea for contributions, Lisa Black is one amazing artist who got back to us - she creates 'Fixed Animals' - essentially real taxidermy animals that she then inserts mechanical bits into. We were a bit creeped out at first - I've never seen anything like it.

My friend Jennifer Mayer is in her final year of a BVA at AUT (where I also studied) and she's making some pretty great work. I am so proud!

Ahh.. the sweet hook-ups of working in the printing industry - got some awesome stickers made for the cover pages which will simply be brown paper with a sticker stuck on.

bra and knickers set

This is a knitted bra and knickers set that I have finally completed in preparation for 'Still. Industry' so three objects down, three to go - next up is hairties, mascara and a bottle of perfume.

nipple tassels

I am going to be selling knitted nipple tassels, amongst other things, at Kraftbomb which is coming up at the end of the month. Here they are photographed on a bust.

wool is the new cool

Our half stall at Craftwerk selling all the essentials - brooches (allsorts, tampons and plasters), necklaces (acorns, tampon and allsorts), beanies and cushions. Such a good night!

In Detail

I am currently collaborating on a show to be titled 'In Detail' with Nicola McNabb and Karen Michaud. Here are three images of what is to be expected at the show, while the subject matter the three of us deal with is diverse we are all drawn to techniques and art forms that are time-consuming in their detail and meticulous in their execution. I am working on a piece that involves cross-stitching with hair, Nicola has cast native plant roots in silver and Karen will fabricate a cotton crochet choker. Exciting!

kraftbomb!

Kraftbomb is a monthly fair that's just starting up - the first one is happening at the end of the month and I will be selling some of my knitted merchandise - brooches, donuts and necklaces..Exciting! It's run in association with toggle.co.nz.

craftwerk!

Craftwerk is happening soon! Yuss.

tampon box

This is the first object of about five from my daily routine that I am knitting for 'Still. Industry' a multi-media show that opens mid-September at Papakura Art Gallery.

new brooches

A collection of licorice allsort brooches I have been frantically working on for Craftwerk recently.

skin and stitches

Check out the new mid-winter issue of frankie for 8 images of my work printed alongside a short interview. Pretty cool! 

cross-stitching

This is something new I'm working on - cross-stitching with hair. I have already completed a series titled 'Sunday Tea' in which I've stitched with hair from five female family members and now I've set myself the goal of what feels like stitching forever with my own.

'love from us'

This is 'Margaret' alongside 'Ruth' (by Jennifer Mayer) and 'Carol' (by Helen Andrews) in a show we titled 'love from us' (new work, from us, with love) that showed at dep_art_ment on Ponsonby Road from 22nd June - 6th July.

'Margaret'

This is an image I took basically as a homage to my grandma, Margaret. She first taught me to knit when I was young and without her I wouldn't be able to make the work that I do. It's also a poke at the highly contrived kind of (self) portraiture I like to work with.

'They Were Young Once'

'They Were Young Once' is an annual exhibition that runs at Satellite Gallery which aims to show emerging artists with established. This year I had the pleasure of showing these three images alongside the likes of Marti Friedlander and Harvey Benge.

'a fleshy self : consciousness'

After alot of stress, tears, sweat and really late nights this is where my work ended up. These are images from my Graduating Exhibition. They combined everything I had worked with over the past three years and I am still so happy with the result. I knitted the objects and adornment and then photographed them on a body (my own) to contrast the softness/warmth of the knitting with the 'unattractive' parts of the body that society may view as flaws. I wanted to momentarily beautify these aspects, draw attention to them. Once again these images were printed large scale (my images are always more effective this way) to overwhelm the viewer.

As well as self-portraiture I started to focus on parts of the body that are viewed as unbecoming or disgusting, a kind of tame version of the 'abject' - flabby stomach, cracked heels, blisters, jagged toenails, cuts and bruises.

I really got into self portraiture towards the end of third year because I was a 'model' who was always there, I didn't have to knit something or organise someone which meant I could take images whenever an idea came. These are rather amateur shots of my standing against my bedroom curtain wearing an old nightie.

I gave a small plastic doll some epic pubic hair made out of thread and then photographed her spotlit.

The knitted doll work started me on a new obsession with bodily hair, these are some images of my mum's armpits.

I came across an old knitting pattern for some truly hideous dolls which I then sewed real pubic hair and little red nipples into, this was the first time I knitted something to then pervert and photograph. These images were printed large scale to completely overwhelm the viewer. I wanted to comment on the objectification of women in society in a fun/creepy way.