Art Village in Gambia.....check it out

Far and away the highlight of this adventure so far is the people we are meeting. One of them, Etu Ndow, has set up an amazing art village in his home town in Gambia. His website is great and he is an inspiring fellow....click here to check it out Tunbung Art Village

A Blank Canvas...sculpting begins

All the artists are working together at the back entrance to the Changchun Sculpture park. There's a big warehouse building with 4 rooms - sounds like a lot but the artists are packed in pretty tight and spill into a large outdoor area as well - where all the dirty work happens, the stonework, carving and welding. The first photos here illustrate how it looked on the day we did our tour of the site, before the chaos began. The next step has been model making.....here's just a few examples Eieanor and Alan (Northern Ireland), Theodor (St Martin), Lankonde (Niger) and Ryan (Aruba, in the Carribbean).

The Dream Team

Its our pleasure to introduce some of the folks helping to make the Hinake sculpture happen - each artist is spoilt with a number of assistants. We are particularly well off, with two interpreters ("Kathy" & "Peggy" on the left) and a very capable 4th year sculpture student, Chou, as our technical assistant. They are turning out to be quite a team as the initial shyness fades and the cheek starts to emerge.

There's also an army of people around the worksite mixing clay, welding for sculptures, cutting stone and carving wood. If they have a moment to spare they are quickly put to work washing the cars of the officials.
The fellas on the far left were extremely excited about their photos and have extracted my promise to print them out copies. Could be a slippery slope as I fear many don't have the luxury of a camera.

The Oscars!

The opening ceremony was certainly an experience. We had to parade down the stairs (on red carpet of course) one by one as our names were read out over the load speaker. And yes, there were paparazzi, well the Chinese version anyhoo. The speeches went on and on....and on but it was all very warm and welcoming, if not a little formal. I was announced as "Janine Cherie" the Ogg bit got lost somewhere in the translation. The food rocked though all the artists hardly got time for a bite in between posing for shots with our devoted Chinese fans. I am famous by association, which is just fab although may be starting to get a little tiresome on Day 4. This is J9, over and out.
Artists toeing the line

The government officials up the front

ps. oh yeah, they unveiled a copy of Rodan's "The Thinker" very dramatic and theatrical!

hmmm......

Well we wouldn't want things to be too simple now would we?

Arriving in Changchun

Kia ora from China.

So a couple of days ago we arrived in Beijing and from there we were whisked of to Changchun city(a 2hr flight). We were welcomed with two huge bouquet of flowers and a whole lot of smiles and hand-shakes. It was a warm and efficient welcome which is what we needed because we were both dog tired. We were taken straight to our 4 star hotel room with a view and after a little adrenaline driven exploring of our room we were out like lights.

View from our hotel room 18th floor

Since then Artists from all over the world have been arriving till now, our numbers have swelled to the full capacity of 50. There is a fair distribution of French, English, and Arabic speaking nations amongst us with exception of a couple of guys who speak Russian and some local Chinese artist too. All together we make up a very interesting bunch.

Changchun Sculpture Park

The last three days we have been swapping stories from the Pacific to the Atlantic, Russia to the Caribbean, Dubai to Sierra Leone. It has been a humbling experience to be counted among this people sharing our culture, our heritage. Talking to these great people of the world I have realized once again how lucky we are as kiwis to live in a country such as ours, Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The Big Sculpture- Marquette for Hinake Wairua (Kaituna)

the eels are starting to fill my Hinaki(work in proccess)

Almost done,I just have to cook her. hope she makes it.


She made it! Happy, happy.

New Direction with Sculpture

The Changchun Organising Committee has invited artists to bring a second, smaller piece to Changchun to exhibit alongside other works. Check it out....

Cooking

Glazing

Posing.....

for the Wairarapa Times-Age!

Kaituna Sculpture Proposal (for Changchun)

Click here to check out Sam's design for Changchun. It's Design 1 that has been selected.

Kaituna Sculpture Proposal

UTube Video of Last Year's Opening Ceremony

Selected for 9th Changchun International Sculpture Symposium in China!

Dirty Fingers Pottery recently hosted a delegation visiting Masterton from China and they confirmed that I have been selected to represent the Wairarapa as a sculptor for the 2008 Changchun Sculpture Symposium yee ha. In mid-July I will travel to China to be hosted by Changchun city for 2 months along with 30 or so fellow sculptors from around the world. My sculpture will be part of a large collection of sculptures housed at the Changchun Sculpture park as part of a Sister City garden there.

Masterton Mayor Gary Daniels shakes hands with a delegate from Changchun
after the Sister City documents are signed.