Creative ID: 668

My arts or creative practice (including details about my specific focus within that art form/practice and my strengths):

I use a wide range of non-digital and digital mediums to explore ideas around sense of place, identity, immigration, and the environment. As an immigrant to Aotearoa, I explore my own feelings and how they intersect with those of others who may have had similar experiences. The kind of questions I ask are: Do I belong here? What memories and associations connect me to this place? How does feeling connected with a place help to know who I am? Am I looking after this place? What do I know about the environment I live in? Using strategies such as play-explore-clarify, I break down the creative process and problem solving into easy steps, which I use in my own process as well as being able to teach to others.

I am a full-time artist and most days you’ll find me in my studio drawing, mark-making, painting, taking photos, and making collage as ways of exploring and expressing my ideas. Other times, I am collaborating with other artists or helping groups and individuals as a curator, to bring narratives or ideas together in new or thought-provoking ways. Graphic design and writing are also part of my practice, whether that is exhibition graphics, catalogues, stories, or to further explore my own ideas.

My track record of experience and success - or the track record of experience and success of the creative or artist that I will partner with:

My CV outlines these things in more detail, but in summary I am a full-time artist with a BA in Fine Art Printmaking and an MA in Arts Management. I have also attended Treaty of Waitangi and decolonisation workshops. Recent achievements in the field of fine arts are in 2021 a piece of my work was long-listed for art and ecology awards in Auckland. In 2020, I was selected to be mentored by an artist-jeweller-sculptor with funding from Creative Coromandel and Creative NZ for 9 months, as an artist worthy of development and investment. I have also previously successfully supported my local school with several art projects.

Describe the experience you have had working with children or young people, teaching or facilitating creative processes:

Since 2014, I’ve been supporting my local school in many ways. I have championed for creative thinking and the arts in the classroom as part of my role as a parent trustee, and I’ve also had more hands-on experience. In August 2015, I volunteered to support a teacher to run a pottery project with her class. We designed, made, fired, and decorated small pots. In 2021, I volunteered to support a teacher to do a design process with tamariki for a mural design. We talked through the process of getting your ideas down on paper and how to develop and evaluate concepts. As a parent, I bring experience of encouraging a young child to thinking creatively and to feel empowered to make art and craft.

Art is everywhere in our home and making, thinking, and talking about it is an everyday activity. I have also taught my own four-week Photoshop course to a group of 10 adults, and a four-week photo-editing course. These were both funded by a local social development agency through Adult Community Education funding. I think the themes I’m exploring in my art practice around identity, the environment, and immigration are subjects that young people are interested in. Working out who you are, how you define yourself, and how you interact with people and the world around you is at the core of all our development, and young people find themselves in a crucible as they change and develop quickly, moving from childhood to adulthood.

Why I want to be part of the Creatives in Schools programme and how my involvement will link to my creative practice:

I want to be part of the Creatives in Schools programme because I know that the school timetable can make it challenging for teachers to have the time to prep, teach, and clean up after creative activities, and I really believe that all children should have this opportunity. To be able to access your creativity and use it for problem solving is such a useful skill to have in your kete. I have also enjoyed a very happy career as a creative, so I would like to inspire young people who are wanting to work in this sector.

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