AOTEAROA
Where adventure meets enchantment.
SUMMERTIME MAGIC
Aotearoa (New Zealand) is a spectacular country. The last time I was here, it was winter, and I was on a trip with one of my closest friends. It was my first time overseas. I fell in love with the landscape. I always knew I'd go back. Seven years later, I landed back in Queenstown with my husband on our first adventure since getting married weeks before. It was a bright summer day when we looked out of the plane window to see the mountains, and I was brimming with excited emotion.
This trip was a long time coming. We were meant to be there well before we ever got engaged. With the pandemic, we cancelled indefinitely. Finally, we picked up our van and were on the road! There really is nowhere else quite like Aotearoa. Going back felt like coming home, in a way. Everything I loved about the country the first time I was there was amplified. The colours are more vibrant. The wildlife is mesmerising. The landscapes are bolder, the air slightly warmer.
From unexpectedly coming across a kea and watching ferns begin their steady unravelling, to seeing seals on a kayak trip in Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) and spending a night camping by a stream, amid fields of lupins, it's not hard to imagine why it is people fall in love with this remarkable place. So many hours have been put into these pieces. Every time I look at them, I'm reminded of happy moments and how fortunate we are to be here.
Every art piece I create is inspired by a moment in time; the smallest glimpse back at a wild experience. At first glance, perhaps these pieces seem simple. And they are, in a way. Linework is often misunderstood as being 'lazy', 'too simple'. Yet finding the balance between simplicity and depth is an art form in its own right. Creating something that looks simplistic to the eye, while revealing ever more detail and hidden meaning, is one of my favourite ways to create. Watching negative space not take away, but rather weave together an artwork is an epic feeling. This is something that the Māori culture obviously does masterfully. I have such monumental respect for it. It was inspiring to see.
Each of the four pieces in this collection is inspired by wildlife experiences and moments with nature in Aotearoa. Kea is the moment a cheeky alpine parrot introduced themselves to us as we chatted to an older couple, waiting for the lights to change and take us, winding down, to Piopiotahi. Lupin reflects the bursting purples and bright pinks of the lupins we camped by and watched pepper the national parks and beyond, set with Aoraki (Mt Cook) behind them. Unfurl represents the interconnection of life in all its forms, depicting a fern in the midst of unfurling, becoming what it is meant to be. And Play mirrors our breathtaking day cruising and kayaking Piopiotahi, watching seals rest and play on the rocky outcrops of the sound.
I never really set out with ideas in mind for what I can turn into a piece of art. I don't like to restrict what I can do, by focusing too hard any set element. Of course, there's always flora and fauna that I get excited about. Even so, I choose to simply experience adventure and create after the fact, rather than paling the moment. In Aotearoa, it's impossible not to be swept up in the bewitching way the world moves. The very landscape lives and breathes a perfect atmosphere of nature and culture. From the smallest leaf to the tallest peak, this is where adventure meets enchantment.
I'll always love my first collection, OCEANS, but there is always room for growth. AOTEAROA has allowed me to explore my craft more deeply, finding the balance between simplicity and depth. It's given me the opportunity to refine and improve the accompanying apparel and totes. And as with my previous collection, every line in each one of these pieces has purpose. Every pattern is intentional. My goal is always to create pieces that you can get lost in. The longer you take them in, the more you discover.
This collection uses earthy tones, patterns and linework of my own design to weave glimpses back at some of my favourite summertime moments in Aotearoa. The playful nature of lifelong companions. The bursting colours of lupins. A moment before life evolves. The cheeky personality of the world's only alpine parrot. The strength, prosperity, health, courage, abundance that flows around you. It's a wonderland. You can feel it.
The colour palettes of fields of lupins, rainy days at the blue pools, the shallows of the sound, and the bold sunsets here embolden the linework in lively ways. I'm happiest when I am bringing stories to life. There are stories in each of these pieces, between each line, in each pen stroke.
A GLIMPSE AT WHAT LIFE ON THE ROAD COULD LOOK LIKE
I will hold these pieces and the adventure that inspired them close to my heart forever. The entire undercurrent of that whole trip seemed to scream, 'timing'. I think it's one of the most wonderful parts of life, to experience the world as art. Spending two weeks on the road with my partner with no timelines, nowhere to be and everywhere to explore was pure magic.
At the time, we had many conversations about how much we'd miss it when we went home (not that going home to our treehouse on a cliff wasn't exciting, too). There's just something about the little enchanting moments and unreal experiences about exploring place to place in a van. Aotearoa is a place we will definitely return to one day.
This adventure planted the initial seed...what would life be like, getting to do that every day? At long last, this collection is yours as well as mine. And now, my next adventure kicks off in a few weeks. And it's going to be a ripper. Thank you for being here, for taking the time to immerse yourself in my work.
