Animals and Us

Animals and Us Workshop
15 - 19 April, 10am - 4pm

Join Margaret Feeney for a five-day art workshop about Glyphs.

Glyphs are elemental units of communication, they think about the idea that other life forms are complex and communicate with each other, we just don’t hear them. The idea plays with the human shift of mind and environment from Culture/ Nature to Culture/ Culture, as if we were the product of culture alone, and are not part of nature. The core kaupapa is to bring people closer to the environment and its creatures - to restore a sense of guardianship towards nature, to recognise the mauri of nature and its other animals.

We’ll explore how different cultures express animal forms, and animistic deities, using clay, ink, paint, and charcoal. We will look at Māori, Pasifika and Aboriginal animal forms as well as local native animals. We will tutu with these ideas to imagine and develop our own animal forms. The forms will then be cut out of plywood into expressive designs to make a series of sculptures.

The mahi will be displayed in a public installation in a nature site to share with the community. The sculptures will form a sentinel of thoughts and feelings about nature and its animals.

The workshop is open to people of all levels of ability, no knowledge of art is needed. Friends and whanau are welcome
The programme is free, with all tools, materials and kai provided.