World of WearableArt 2014

Is it only a week ago that we were in Wellington, preparing to meet fellow designers for a pre-show drink at the Intercontinental Hotel?!! Already it seems a lifetime ago, as usual.

We arrived in Wellington to a personal pick-up arranged by the Wellington Council - I will never, ever, tire of seeing this on my arrival....

Although we had been warned of severely horrible weather,  the week was warm and sunny - perfect once again! Wednesday we spent walking all around Wellington, shopping, and tracking down the large Studebaker sign Matt spotted on our drive in from the airport. Of course, he was wearing his Studebaker of Australia shirt to maximise the photo opportunity!!

In the early evening, we picked up the programme and headed to the Preview show. Although I had travelled to Wow this year with some fairly high expectations of success, on seeing the show I have to say I felt a little deflated - here was some stiff competition! Not only that, but for the first time I had gone through quite a nervous wait to see my piece Fènghuáng in motion. (Previous entries have been static - this one was capable of dynamic movement). I think the rollercoaster of emotion took its' toll on me!

On Thursday we spent the day in the sun down on the dock, where I enjoyed the opportunity to do some design work for my assignment. Yes, I was doing my homework!! With beer!

On Friday morning I tried to atone for my sins by taking a run out around Oriental Bay. It was another beautiful day, but every time you turned the corner the weather was different! I was very glad to have my ear warmers on (Wellingtonians in singlet tops looked at me somewhat strangely). Just look at this lovely seat set into the hill for looking out over the bay......

I was also motivated by the treats that I knew were heading my way at the Brunch with Bubbles at the Australian Embassy that morning, where the Australian designers would be hosted by the delightful Lynda & Michael Potts. They did not disappoint - a warm welcome, free-flowing bubbles, delicious noms and a great catch-up - what a wonderful way to start such an auspicious day!

In the afternoon, we wandered down to Te Papa to see the current WOW exhibition before heading home for a nap before the BIG NIGHT! Great news - a WOW exhibition is headed to Australia next year!! To Townsville, of all places!! Check out this link to see dates - see you there!!

And here we are, ready, or rather, not ready to

see the show. After waiting all these months, finally, it was here, and I wasn't ready! I knew it would be over all too quickly!! Nooooooooo!!

We enjoyed a wonderful pre-show session at the Intercontinental sipping on bubbles (except for that time I picked up an apple juice by mistake!! Shhheeeesh!!) Also delightful noms - ooohhhhh, the wee goats cheese tartlettes - I can taste you now!! (A similarly good spread of noms was put on at the same venue for the post-show drinks, although it was hard to get into these in between conversations! However, I did manage a few beautiful mushroom pastries....mmmmmm)!

And then.... showtime!

During the show, I gave my feet a break from my killer heels knowing what a long night it was going to be. When it came to the section awards, I put them back on, living in hope. When these passed, I took them off again - but then came the special awards!! I might have a chance!! I put them back on again just before hearing my name called for the Wellington International Award for Australia/South Pacific, and walked up to collect my award with them ON THE WRONG FEET!! And NO-ONE NOTICED!!!! Never going to live that one down.....

I think we got home around 1pm - not really sure.......

The next morning, I was continuing the celebrations with some bubbles in bed, when Matt received a message from my sister wishing him a Happy Birthday - we had totally forgotten!!! We finally emerged to visit the markets and then catch up with other International Designers at Mac's Brewery. (We'd also enjoyed a few drinks with the gang on the Thursday afternoon at the St John's Bar after the WOW Symposium).

By Sunday the weather had turned again, telling us to go home, and we obeyed. After checking in at the airport, we went and visited BioLumina, who was chilling out in the Koru Lounge. I'm happy to say she was looking pretty good!
After a days recovery, it was back to it - two photo shoots in one day! The brief I was given was that both photographers wanted to shoot me wearing some previous WOW entries. The first one was fairly soul destroying, in that the photographer would have preferred a real model, and basically told me I was too old and not appropriate to be doing this. This was after he made me drag myself in my garment out onto the slimy, skanky Brisbane River bank. Fair point, but I thought I was simply doing as requested. I have learned a lot about media in the last few weeks. I don't have to give my age because it is irrelevant, and I don't have to do what they say. Having said that, the second photographer was an absolute delight, who knew that the costume I was wearing needed nothing more than its' own presence, and took some absolutely ripping shots which he deigned to share with me at the time. I do hope I get to see them in the paper this weekend! ( They look nothing like the happy snaps here - so much more!!)

These media opportunities are due to my involvement with the Brisbane Craft & Quilt Fair next week (8-12 Oct), where I am to be guest artist. I'll be hanging out there all week, and demonstrating techniques from designing, to sketching, leather moulding, felting and hand stitching. Come and say hellooooo!! I;m looking forward to it - I love being able to share the love, and I have a stack of WOW entry kits to hand out to interested parties. So, to wind it all up, here are my exhibited entries for this year, photographed by the amazing Chantal Brennan and modelled by the fabulous Jess Halcrow! Thanks so much, my lovely ladies!! Here is a shot of it on stage as well -  go and vote for Fènghuáng for the peoples' choice  on the Dominion Post website.