'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

Go here to find out more.

Thursday 12 May 2016

A Break to watch a Tui

Pausing in my headlong dash, the last-minute sprint, the why-did-I-not-do-it-earlier gallop to the opening night in 26 hours' time ... to watch all the tui in the strawberry tree.
He or she has the lacy collar or cape draped casually over the shoulders, and the cravat of a proper regency gentleman ... rather like this:


No, actually more like this.  (Yes I possibly have been reading too much Patrick O'Brian.)



Anyway, after that build-up, back to the tui.  There are about six working the tree at the moment and one always seems to be singing too.  If you call that "graaack peep peep peep peedlepeedle plonk plonk graaackk!" a song.



Leaves

I have closed the gallery for a few days to give me time to deinstall and install the next exhibition... Look what happens when one opens a gallery in autumn... 


Monday 9 May 2016

Trip to Wellington Art

When I was doing my Art & Design diploma we went on a bus trip to Wellington. 

On our return we were asked to create a work about some aspect of Wellington that we had experienced.  There were no other guidelines and it could be any media.
It's no secret that I generally find cities quite difficult to visit for long.  The impact of such a volume of concrete and glass, people and straight lines, is quite overwhelming.  I chose to depict something of this, and contrast it with the scale of a line of school-uniformed children on a school trip to Te Papa.
I drew tiny views of buildings, tramlines, windows, paving, concrete, glass, metal, etc. from the zillions of photos I had taken on the trip.
I drew them with graphite on squares of thick paper, then arranged them in a grid, with care taken to contrast and composition based on tone and line as well as subject matter, and from where (in the field of vision) the subject matter was found.

Then I punched holes in the sides of the paper, inserted metal grommets, and wired the hole thing together.

Recently I framed it up and entered a competition with it and won! a fortnight's display in a local gallery.  Which was pretty neat. 


Trip to Wellington 2011. Katherine Steeds. 80cm x 60 cm. Graphite on paper with grommets and wire.

Trip to Wellington - detail
  And here's a wee video tour of it:

Wednesday 4 May 2016

Autumn




Ah Autumn!
In autumn a woman's thoughts turn lightly to ... snuggling up with a good book .... no

Autumn, autumn, how do I love thee, let me count the ways ... Leaves everywhere, nip in the air, gutters need cleaning out .... nah.

Tis autumn, and the slithy toves did gyre and .... no.