Archives for category: Exhibition
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A Trip to Waiheke

August 27, 2013 //
2

devil on ferry2

Yesterday my friend and I went to Waiheke Island to deliver the Lil’Dedes to their temporary accommodation at the Upcycle Gallery. Here you see Lil’Devtoo on the ferry when he first spotted the island. He was really excited and proudly wore his new dress my friend had made. Doesn’t it look better than the tiger print dress Lil’Devil bought at the two dollar shop?

As skeptical as they all were in the beginning, I think they are very happy now that they have made the trip across. Nora, the lady who organised it all, is absolutely wonderful and loves them to bits (I hope she doesn’t spoil them too much). I am confident they will thoroughly enjoy their stay. I will go and visit them on the 7th when I have a talk at the Gallery about my work and my book.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Competition, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Getting over it

August 26, 2013 //
0

monkey and lilpiggy

I needn’t have worried. Monkey has already found a new friend to confide in: Lil’Piggy.

Lil’Piggy and Farmer John eloped together and set up camp in one of my hoody pockets. They looked so settled that I let them stay. This morning when I came into the kitchen Monkey was sitting on the floor telling Lil’Piggy his life story. Farmer John sat on the kitchen bench and watched them from afar. He reckons Monkey is attracted to the Lil’Dedes because the other Dedes never tired of laughing at his antics and always called him a monkey.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Creative Writing, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

A love that couldn’t blossom

August 25, 2013 //
6

monkeys

Well, I was wrong again. Last time I said the original Dedes and the Lil’Dedes didn’t want to know each other and they keep to their respective groups. Tomorrow the Lil’Dedes are leaving for Waiheke Island to be exhibited. When I started packing up you should have seen the monkeys. They didn’t want to let go of each other. Obviously they had forged a deep friendship in the few days they were together.  They asked me for 10 minutes of privacy so they could say good bye to each other.

I feel really nasty now, that I break them up.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Patience is running out

August 22, 2013 //
6

sander-2

The Dedes are starting to run out of patience. They still haven’t moved into their new studio space. We are still busy sanding down window frames. I want to have the space perfect before I allow them to settle. Surprisingly, it was all good for a while. They seemed to be content as they could see the light at the end of the tunnel – or so I thought. I just assumed the Dedes know me well enough to sense how stressed I am and that it is not a good time to talk to me. I really appreciated that they gave me the space I needed and that they refrained from pushing me. But this morning it finally occured to me they don’t really understand that things take time. No! they have simply given up on me. All the projects that we’ve started came to a screeching halt. They have given up asking me about the tennis film and recording the Dada recitals and all the other fun things we had planned and were so excited about. Instead, they are terribly annoyed that I spend every spare minute making new Lil’Dedes for the upcoming exhibition. Needless to say, there is no love lost between the big ones and the little ones. The big ones keep to themselves and it is now very obvious that they are currently avoiding me!

This morning Devil and L’Artiste decided they couldn’t wait any longer and took action to speed things up. They went into the new space and had a good look at the sander. They discussed it, scratched their heads and figured out it will take at least two Dedes to shift the heavy thing. By the time they had dragged it to the window they were totally exhausted and needed a break. They still haven’t figured out how to switch the thing on. To be honest, I hope they never ever will…

sander

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Categories Absurd, Art, Creative Writing, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Outing in Berlin

August 21, 2013 //
6

lil devil in Berlin

I’ve got an email from Theresa with a brief report how Lil’Devil is doing. He is a bit shy and mainly sitting on her bookshelf reading books in English. Theresa says that with the speed he is churning through the books he will have to learn German soon so he can start on the German books. Learning German wouldn’t go amiss anyway. Otherwise he will have a hard time making friends. But then, most Germans speak pretty good English and are always happy to practise their language skills with a native speaker.

Last weekend they went to Gorinsee in the north-east of Berlin and I’ve been told he made quite an impression with his tiger-print dress.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Relationships, Social Network

King is happy

August 8, 2013 //
2

king and underlings

The King finally has some underlings he can command. So he is happy! Unfortunately, they don’t stay around for long. The cool Lil’Mouse with her sunglasses has already moved on and Lil’Devil will leave us this afternoon as well. I had to promise the King there will be more little mice and more little devils.  Ah well, I’ll put it on my list!

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Categories Absurd, Art, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets

Little competition

August 5, 2013 //
6

lilMouse

When I went to Waiheke last week to look at the space for the upcoming exhibition, I had a new idea. It is more a display than an exhibition. The space is very limited. Don’t get me wrong, the Dedes don’t care. They want to be seen, but I have to select which ones I will show and how many. I don’t think I can have more than eight or ten. However, while I was there, I thought, small space, smaller Dedes! And immediately I envisaged finger puppets with a simple cloth body where the fingertip of the thumb and the middelfinger can be the hands of the puppet. Of course I wanted to see if it works and spent the weekend making these Lil’Dedes. They are not as elaborate as the real Dedes, but they are still cute.

I won’t give them names and they won’t appear on the blog much, though of course they would lend themselves to a film called “Paleface and the Seven Lil’dedes”, a rendition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Now I am getting carried away…

Anyway, this is Lil’Mouse, the first of the finger puppets and she is a very special one. I will give her to my friend who made the black robes for the Dedes. Lil’Mouse is basically a bribe, so my friend will make the dresses for the Lil’Dedes as well. Hope it works :)

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Categories Absurd, Art, craft, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets

Where have all the days gone?

August 2, 2013 //
0

snotty nosed prince

I just realised I haven’t written for a week. Oh, dear!  There isn’t much to report as I am busy tying up loose ends. I think next week the builders will finally move out. What should have taken four months took six. You can imagine what this did to the budget, can’t you? There is still heaps for us do do when the builders have gone. I am really longing to set my studio up and get back into creating.

Yesterday, Snotty Nosed Prince and I went for an outing to Waiheke, an island in the Hauraki Gulf, just 30 minutes from Auckland by ferry. I have been invited to show my work in a Gallery that specialises in art from recycled materials. Snotty Nosed Prince definitely has an issue with the connotation of being made from inferior materials. I had hoped that when I showed him all the other artworks he would become more comfortable with his roots. Gee, he is a funny chap. He just can’t stop pooh poohing everything around him. I assume this gives him a feeling of superiority. When we had a coffee he was constanly making snide remarks about the other patrons and the service. He couldn’t put me off though, I had the best panini in a long time. I am happy that it was a day trip only. There is no way I would like to spend more time with Snotty Nosed Prince. He would drive me up the wall.

Look at this. We went to the beach after lunch. It must be a poor person who can’t have fun at the beach. It was only when I told him a mermaid lived under the driftwood that he became more interested and picked up a few pieces to move them to the side. But fun he did not have! And the mermaid remained elusive too.

snotty driftwood

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Categories Absurd, Art, craft, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, Relationships

Evan’s story

July 14, 2013 //
4

evan

Evan G List is one of the new puppets and it didn’t take him long to get upset with me. He is a very mild looking character with smiley eyes and glasses. Honestly, he looks like he couldn’t hurt a fly and is very forgiving to boot. How could I upset him so easily?

It happened in the gallery. One day I had a conversation with a lady and I asked her which puppet she liked the most. The lady pointed straight to Evan and told me she really loves his eyes. “He looks so benevolent” she said, “but what is the significance of his name?” I read it out aloud: Evangelist, and I explained that his initial name was TV Evangelist, but on second thought I considered it too blunt. She looked at him again and admitted quietly: “I don’t know if I still like him. I really fell for his eyes!” All I could say was “that is how it works!” And we both burst out laughing.

Of course Evan was not amused. He had tried so hard to catch a soul and find someone to take him home. While he still smiled he muttered something about lost souls and redemption and he hopes we get caught by the devil. He hasn’t spoken to me since.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Creative Writing, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

The one that left us

July 9, 2013 //
2

gone

I am very surprised. I thought the Dedes would be very chirpy and keen to tell me what happened at the gallery. We all know travelling broadens your horizons and there is always so much to talk about when travellers return home. But no, they are quiet. They seem pretty exhausted and maybe sad they lost one of their mates. The one that left us for good is Freeloader, the cute little Dormouse. I don’t have many pictures of her. She was one of the puppets I made especially for the exhibition and to sell. I did not want to listen to her story because I was worried I would get too attached to her.

During the exhibition I had a competition going where people could tell me which puppet they liked the most.  The most votes any one puppet got was four, and there were only a few puppets who didn’t get any votes. The favorites were The Magician and Foxy Lady. I find it very interesting that not one Dede stood head and shoulders above the rest. I, of course, think some of them are more beautiful than others, so the voting proved to me once again that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I have so many stories to tell about the exhibition, but most of them need to be told verbally. They need the animation given by the story-teller. But I will recount one tomorrow.

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Categories Art, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Promotion
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