Wednesday, January 27, 2010

salt water

So I stumbled across a new summer job. My friend Tom has been working on Manawanui Ecocruz in the Bay of Islands since October last year. Turns out he couldn't work the last 2 months of the season because of University commitments and I didn't have any summer work so he gave me a call.
Ecocruz operates in the Bay of Island and provides a 3 day 2 night cruise. The focus of the cruise is to show people the amazing wildlife and areas around the Bay. We look out for pods of Dolphins, Whales, Sharks, Sea Birds and we catch fish and collect Kai Moana for dinner. At night we anchor in sheltered bays around the place and take people for bush walks, snorkelling and kayaking. I am working full time on Manawanui for the next two months so I hope to see lots of whales and exciting sea creatures, eat amazing sea food and meet some awesome people from around the world. Dream Job!!!
Shearwater
Searching for Whales
Brydes Whale

Bottle nose Dolphin

Grad Show 2010


Every year the Dunedin Gallery 'Blue Oyster' puts on a show including a selection of works from the SITE show of the previous year. The gallery committee go around SITE and select works based on a certain guidelines and concepts that fit together in a way that the guest curator has based the show on. This year my work 'World Navigation' was chosen andlong with 5 other graduates shown on the above poster. Luckily the dates worked well with my summer plans and I had time off work to make the trip down to Dunedin.


I was given the entrance corner of the Gallery which meant everyone who came into the gallery would see my work first. After a few days of setting up my work and re-printing a few images I was all ready and the gallery was looking set for a party!

The opening went really well and lots of people showed up. I got a lot of nice comments about my work and had some of good catch ups with friends.



Alex McKinnons work.

Lars Pressier's work next to mine.

Wide angle of the entrance to the Blue Oyster and my installation.


Entrance.

It was a real good experience to come down for an exhibition and it was good to get back into art mode as I hadn't given it much attention over a summer consumed by being outdoors in the warmth. The show is on for a month and then I'll have to think about what is happening with 'World Navigation' next.