There’s something indescribable that happens when you create a piece of artwork from the heart. It’s like you reach a lucid nothingness, a free-flow connectedness, for what was going come through somewhere, somehow, sometime… you only have to accept it and let it be…
Pietra Dura Stone Artwork, a labour of love
Ye-Old NZ Backyard. The Ladies Shed. Attempted Heist. Pacific Occen. The World, Ocean Liner.
So, there’s this table, right? It’s been in my living room for what feels like an eternity – a charming relic from the 1920s, a Kauri Writing Table “Gentleman’s Office Table.”
Now, how did this table find its way into my home in the first place? Perhaps Candy (not her real name, of course) figured I could use some furniture – who knows? In Kiwi culture, we’re casual about stuff left lying around. Possession, my friend, is 9/10ths of the law, especially when it comes to random pieces of furniture. Anyway, this table, crafted from Kauri wood, boasting turned legs, a drawer, and an old matt-green leather inlay, exuded a certain charm.
Granted, it had a purpose in my lounge, I didn’t own much furniture at the time… but I saw beyond that. It was time for a new chapter in its life, a splash of artistic resurrection was needed. Let’s just say that I had been eyeing the table, I had ideas swirling in my head, and one day, I thought, why not give it a makeover? Yeah, it could’ve been a collector’s item, but I had bigger plans. And that’s how the journey of a 1920s relic turned into a unique Blucky art piece began, right in the heart of a ramshackle quarter-acre backyard, with a rusty corrugated tin shed.
It was obviously in my lounge for a reason
As any creative soul knows, resisting the urge to materialize an artistic vision is like inviting Chinese water torture from your bestie – might as well embrace the inevitable.
The vision was crystal clear in my mind. I couldn’t keep it confined to my thoughts any longer; it was time for some action. First things first, that aged leather had to make its exit. As I tore it out, I noticed it was already somewhat rebated – an improvement already. Just needed a bit more fine-tuning.
On a lovely, sun-soaked day, I detached the tabletop, from the legs, and set it down on the grass in the quarter-acre backyard of Kiwi Rd, Pt Chev, Auckland (my home turf at that time). I was using a router I had browed off my old neighbour (such a lovely guy, he would generously loan me his drop-saw and all manner of fun tools) I had worked out I needed to rebate the top further as I needed more depth for the stone mosaic and inlay to sit flush with the top. I set the rebate to 4mm. Sitting cross-legged by the table, and sometimes on the table, I set to work. I have to say it was fun and kinda liberating weaving the router back and forth, also fucking hot work in the backyard, wood bits and sawdust flying everywhere, when a fellow artisan dropped by… immediately in my face with all the “wtf are you doing!!? you don’t sit like that using a power tool, tie your hair up for a start… and where’s your safety gear!?” So take note, apparently, it’s not a safe way to use a router.
Router:
Confidence level. 9
Skill/Experience. 1
It was ready for the next stage, so I headed inside for a tea break… when the phone rang.
It was Candy asking about life in general and... her antique table!!! Awkward.
Good news & long-story-short she never came to collect her table. Phew.
I worked on this project in the shed. It wasn’t a fancy shed, basically a tin shack… complete with a resident rat! My fave time of working was well into the night. I loved working on this project, I loved the feeling, vibration and sound of the Stone, I relished the medatative flow, the quiet of the nighttime. I guess it’s a really enjoyable process, like solving puzzles… like sitting down with a cuppa’tea and a jigsaw.
I’d pick out all the stone myself and get it prepped and sliced at Ngatea, Wilderness Gems. So many many fascinating yarns about hardness, brilliance, elements, machinery, it was always hard to leave any rockshop. Have you every tried to join a rockclub thats made up exclusively of retired reclusive old men? (ask me about it later) Peoples fascination with crystals and gemstones dates back thousands of years… they are my gemology tribe. There is an irresistible traction to the natural beauty, to the uniqueness and power of nature.
Different people look at the ocean and can come up with different ideas. So I’m not going to go into what the design means to me… because it’s in someones home and it’s what it means to them thats more important – suffice to say, it was an art from the heart, and meant lot to me
Every material has a sound
So there I was with a completed artwork that was highly eclectic and needed to find its for ever home. Not so easy when you’re in a small country like New Zealand, but thankfully I had bigger thoughts and delusional confidence. I contacted the Ocean Liner called The World, and long story short, organized for a full exhibition on the ship, which was on its was to the Pacific Islands. The only problem was I needed to get the artwork and the supporting paintings to Paihia, Bay of Islands where they were stopping in as they had already left Auckland. Not an obstacle for a woman with a rented van!
Be Silent. Follow the Universe.
I was standing on a wharf near waitangi, while the artwork was loaded onto a small boat, to be taken out the The World, a residential ocean liner… When it left the shore I said to my daughter, who was standing next to me, wave because it’s not coming back. The World, and onboard Art Gallery planned to vist the pacific islands Cook Islands, Rarotonga, Fiji Islands, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu… on one of said islands the table was nearly stolen!!!
I was taking a walk around the neighbourhood – when I got a call from Experience Officer (The World) expressing his concern over the table, and why the artwork was being moved off the ship! Obviously, there was NO WAY it was supposed to be going anywhere unless it had been purchased… “F*ck, It’s being stolen!!!… It’s being f*cking stolen, run, run, get it back, get it back!!!” and then I hung up…and walked home! Sometime later (what seemed like ages) I got a pleasant update! Seems the group of thieves had managed to get it off the ship, and were just placing it into a small truck, when The World, experience officer and crew came running up demanding it’s release and return. After much arguing the table was finally given back and returned to the art gallery. It went on to find its new owners and was shipped to its new home, in California, USA. The paintings were also snapped up, I am lucky.
I have a passion for the exploration of diverse mediums, stones, rocks, gems, wood, metal and glass. I find immense joy in discovering the unique harmony that emerges when they come together. How they work together, talk together, how they sit together. Even the tiniest or seemingly inconspicuous elements possess the capacity for greatness and boundless depth It’s a fascinating journey of exploration, uncovering the delicate balance and synergy between these elements.
