Oh, the places I go!

I went to Dunedin today. Instead of catching the bus, I caught a plane or two. You'll be pleased to know I was on time today. The flight down was magnificent, a few snowcapped mountains, rolling hills unfolding down to the sea, but alas, I didn't take my camera. I went to the Dunedin City Art Gallery. It was on route between meetings, really it was. I hung out with this guy. Wouldn't you love to have a laugh with him?

All’e Same t’e Pakeha (1905) Charles Frederick GoldieMedium: oil on canvas. Goldie usually dressed his models in traditional (un)dress, but the theory is this guy is in his own clothes.

I really enjoyed a large exhibition of the photographs of Arns Westra. An immigrant to NZ, she has photographed Maori with extraordinary sensitivity for many years. She's also been at all the protest marches for many different causes, and photographed many notable New Zealanders.

Arns Westra Opening of meeting house, ‘Arohanui Ki Te tangata’, Waiwhetu marae (detail)September 1960 Photograph.

Here's the results of my very first home dying experiment from the weekend. I washed them all out after the minimum two hours, because I could see it wasn't going well.

The following lessons were learnt. Fabric is not necessarily 100% cotton just because Spotlight says it is. Trust your instincts. Poly cottons dye nice even solid colours, like it or not. Navy and golden yellow make great greens. Poly cotton dyed with navy blue is not at all nice, it looks cheap and nasty. Poly cottons dry really fast! You definitely need gloves but you don't have to make a mess so go ahead and dye in your kitchen. It's easy to scare off the boys from their continuous search for food if you threaten to dye them yellow.