Ludicrous, a combined art show from October 20 to November 2, features the work of 13 artists and all sorts of crazy. It is the brainchild of Jodi Collins, local arts ninja and coordinator of Ahoy Studios.
Jodi has been scheming up this arts project since 2017. Her own work, clay figures and Skully-wags, will be featured. Each artist has been given the title of the show but no other direction, so the work will be represented by a wide range of media and variable compositions. The show opens on October 20 with wine and nibbles and good music from Halcyon Birds and Justine Francis coming all the way from Okato.
Some of the 13 featured artists include:
Jodi Collins. Media arts at Waikato institute of technology. Clay shed and Ahoy Studios. Inspired by childhood nostalgia, fairy tale themes and the “beauty of discards and unwanted possessions”. Ahoy creative crew – studio/gallery 11 Bankart Street Raglan, http://www.facebook.com/misspopinjay www.facebook.com/HelloGalleryRaglan
Betty Tills. From the Tron since as long as she can remember. She enjoys found words, discarded beauty and the feel of earth’s clay. Her work aims to unsettle and puzzle.
Naomi Roche. Artist in Residence at the Waikato Society of Potters. Ceramic craft is a particular passion. In the last two years she has been in nine group exhibitions and selected as a finalist in the National Contemporary Art Award and the National Number 8 Wire Award.
Wanda Barker. Artist/writer, MFA. Paints fabric, destroys canvas, makes poems and stitches old tapestries, embroideries, aprons, tea towels and any old shabby things she can get her hands on. Distorts and wrecks dolls in sculptures with building foam. Wrote a book, All Her Dark Pretty Thoughts in 2017.
R.G. Shaw. Kawhia-Hamilton-N.Z.-Pacific-Mongrel Avant-Pop painter of new New Zealand landscapes ‘n’ headscapes. Works in national and international collections.
Lesley Robb. Graphic Artist and Textile Designer working in Tauranga. Her works include painting, illustration, woodblock carving and a variety of printing techniques. Inspired by a love of pop culture, architecture and nature, in particular the extraordinary beauty of our native birds and plants of NZ. So much beauty in our world, let’s take care of it!
Chris Vallet. Commercial Screen printer and lover of painting. Prints drawings on T shirts, and has shown paintings in group works with Jodi since art school. Moving towards print-friendly illustration for bands, including his own and one-off works to hang.
Pearl Hotene. Artist, musician, writer, actor. “And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul” – John Muir. Based in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton, works with nature, explores a sense of mystery and self-reflection. She has a desire to contribute to her creative communities fuelled by study in Tikanga Maaori and Te Reo Maaori and Uni of Waikato. Pearl has worked on a series of poetry zines called ‘Take me to bed’ and ‘XOXO’, started song writing and formed Halcyon Birds, with partner Tonamu Namioka. “It was necessity that got me drawing, it got me painting too… I believe in doing what you love so here we are.”
Susanne Giessen Prinz. Sees herself as a creative woman rather than an artist. Takes a creative and loving approach. A self-taught clay worker she devotes time to organising the Raglan Community Clay Shed. Work for Ludicrous is created to make the viewer smile and interact with the clay. Clay is a great teacher in accepting failures and moments of serendipity. All of my work is created at the Raglan Community Clay Shed.
The show will be an eclectic mix of paint, sculpture, clay pieces and Ludicrous whimsy. It will be playful, theatrical, inspiring, quirky…something to engage with and remember.
