Creative Spaces 2013

Avondale Creative Spaces aimed to encourage, support and install a number of creative projects in and around the Avondale town centre. We wanted to provoke, entertain and amuse locals, visitors and passersby in Avondale as well as encourage the participation and collaboration between local residents and artists. We brought more people into our town centre and created new opportunities to contribute to a more vibrant and liveable place. These project’s were co-ordinated by the Creative Spaces team from Avondale Community Action in association & supported by Unitec and the Whau Local Board.

HERE’S AN OVERVIEW OF CREATIVE SPACES 2013 ( IN REVERSE ORDER )

AVONDALE OPEN | a creative community show

We celebrated the end of our three and a half month pop up “creative space” with music by the local talented “Ruff Key Jam”, shared food and made available many printed pages of the events over our time at the space for people to compile and bind together to take-away as a memento.

Kids Puppet Show with Lucy + Drawing with Peter

11am – Puppet Show by Lucy McCammon (ideal for pre schoolers but all ages welcome!)
11.30am – Drawing workshop with Peter Malone
12.00pm – shared lunch (bring a plate)Full House! what an amazing turnout for a show we only organised at the start of the week! Thanks to everyone who turned up. Thanks to Lucy McCammon for her awesome puppet show and Peter Malone for the drawing workshop – two local talents sharing their skills.. and then to top it off – a supreme shared lunch on the street. It feels good to live in Avondale.

A Crumb Bum Sum Total | Peter Malone

Welcome to the world of a mad man’s rambunctious, crumb bum creative out puts. With works to cater for the silly minded who like a light hearted laugh to those poor tortured souls who need something deeply philosophical to ponder upon, or even the kids that love to draw funny goofy cartoons. This is unpretentious art work for the suburban masses; enjoy!

Peter Malone graduated with a Masters in Fine art from Unitec in 2012 and lives in Avondale with his partner and two daughters. Peter works from his basement studio at home.

Open Mic Night

Come along to play/perform and/or listen to an eclectic mix of local musicians and poets. For simplicity (and venue size) we are keeping this one acoustic.
To all of you locals that have been hoping for some creative action in Avondale – it’s happening! so come and support what could be the beginning of a regular thing.

B.Y.O food + drink + we have limited seating so you might want to bring a cushion. Thanks Rich Manic for being the driving force in making this night happen.

This video is about a suburban stroll- a stroll up and down the town centre of Avondale. Random people have been found, and invited to share their stories. You are going to meet them- the real people of Avondale- the ones you find on the streets. This video project: “Diversity holds us together”, is a chance for you to meet these honest and human people face to face. It is fascinating to look and listen to their stories about the place they call home.

Masina Le’ale’a Exhibition

This show presents the work of three local Avondale artists; Pusi Urale, Dane Taylor and Vaimaila Urale. The exhibition title Masina Le’ale’a is the first day of the traditional Samoan month. It means young moon and is one night after the full moon.

How to hang a painting | Ross Forbes

What is this work about? Aside from the humour of the title, one of the installations most obvious features is its depiction of tension. The physical tension of the string, the taut, stretched lines, the rock counterweights…..all suggest that this sculpture has something to do with an equilibrium maintained via opposed intensive forces. In life there are very many occasions or events shaped by forces in opposition. The viewer could perhaps see in the work a reflection of tense personal or formal relationships, or perhaps see something there of the daily struggles we all have in maintaining some sort of equilibrium given the demands on our time.

Of course, specifically the work suggests a relationship between a painting….. a depiction of a scene…..and elements of the landscape, in this case rocks. What is this relationship and how can the viewer make sense of this? I’m not about to provide a specific answer as there was no one particular idea in my mind when I created the work. However the clash between a manmade finely wrought article….the painting…..and the brute products of geologic forces…..the rocks…hints at something surreal which is nevertheless fixed in an equilibrium that seems frozen in time. Perhaps painting has had its day as an artform , perhaps not, perhaps it can be reinvigorated by its very objectness. In the final analysis this work is simply how I as a sculptor would approach a painting…..as an object to be weighed up and regarded as one would stone for its inscrutable qualities. I love both rocks and paintings, perhaps that’s enough of an answer??

Silhouettes | Paul Woodruffe

THE 1950’S MAN

This figure represents the decisions made regarding Avondale in the 1950 and 60’s. The figure overlooks the Avondale Racecource, and appears to reflect on the golden era of horse racing in Avondale, which has now passed, posing a question on the future of this site.

WOMAN WITH CHILD

This figure celebrates the new migrants from other parts of New Zealand and overseas who have settled in Avondale, in particular the young families. This figure is in contrast to the 1950’s man who represents the past.

The figures have been laser cut out of mild steel by Mulcahy Engineering in Rosebank, these designs were converted to Vector line work from hand drawn images, and have been painted in Porter Paints metallic sheen paint.

The figures have been designed to be replaced at intervals with new designs that are sourced from local artists.

Weaving a Story

During Artweek – (11^th– 20^th October 2013) The Avondale Creative Spaces ran a 2 day workshop and event called “Weaving a Story”. The aim was to open up Avondale dialogue by inviting creative groups, school children and locals to emerge and work together on a creative community project with the end results will be installed at various locations along Avondale’s main street and in a planned ‘pop up’ Gallery space.

Four local schools were invited to send 5 students to participate in a one day workshop hosted by Avondale Intermediate School. The day included learning traditional and contemporary weaving skills using recycled and created materials.

“The students worked alongside mentors to help to word the stories of life and incorporate them into the woven artwork. They worked together with other students and along with learning weaving skills they gained team work, leadership, creative and problem solving skills” The workshop was run by Mesepa Edwards.

The workshop was set up to give the children an experience of weaving techniques and how to work with recycle materials. What unfolds for them will be their own expressions of their individual stories, what Avondale means to them. Mesepa’s role was to inspire them to weave in different ways and encourage the children to give things a go.

The Schools workshop outcomes and documentation of the day will be exhibited at the Avondale Creative Spaces in mid November.

All Creative Community groups and individuals were invited to share their skills and participated in a 2^nd workshop that was open to the local community at the Avondale Community Centre. The group that gathered was so keen we are planning another workshop to complete the designs even further – Saturday Nov 9th 1pm – 4pm at the Avondale Community Centre.

This video is about people in Avondale coming together and “Weaving A Story” of Avondale.