I’m no artist…or am I?

Faber Castell

Blog contributed by Cinnie Sheh, Library Assistant

Have you ever heard yourself saying “Nah…I’m no artist. I can’t draw”?

Do you envy others’ ability to create clever artworks on social media, while lamenting the fact that you can never do the same?

That’s what my elder brother had always been thinking when I taught him Pastel Nagomi Art for the first time. My brother who “monsterises” everything he draws, who always used to fail his art exams…however by the end of the lesson I saw a big smile on his face, chewing on the news that he has made a piece of adorable artwork!

Twenty years ago on a cold winter day, Mr. Hosoya wanted to bring something to cheer up his wife in hospital in Japan. He didn’t want to buy flowers that withered fast. He didn’t want to make origami cranes which were very common in Japan. He was no artist, but he decided to make some artworks for his dear wife, making do with some pastel powders and a unique tool — his fingertips!

Mr Hosoya thenceforth founded the Pastel Nagomi Art, an incredibly easy form of art with magical healing effect. All you need are pastels, sketch paper, cutter, tape, eraser, and/or occasion everyday items like cotton buds and combs depending on the affects you need. Then, carefully peel some pastel powder on the sketch paper, and simply use your fingertips to rub it – colour filling the paper/ creating a shape. Since you’re using your fingertips, which are easier to control than any other tools, anyone from child to elderly can complete a piece of artwork within 20 minutes at ease!

“Nagomi” means “peace” in Japanese. The art is so simple that you can enjoy it and gain inner peace once you put your hands on it. If you’re staying indoors on cold days, put down all your worries and try creating your first Pastel Nagomi Art masterpiece!

Start with some easy templates first! You can also search for YouTube videos for more samples at different levels. https://www.faber-castell.com/tutorials/Artists/nagomi-art-with-soft-pastels

The magical world of Oxford Online

When I think of Oxford University I think of carved stone buildings, gargoyles and hidden passages filled with black caped beings walking swiftly while discussing clever things. My Oxford is a sort of older person’s Hogwarts without Harry, Hermione and Ron.

Oxford University Press buildings (Photo: Fractal Angel, CC BY-SA 2.0)

In reality, Oxford University is a terribly advanced place which has embraced technology as a way to spread its brilliance. We can see this at our library with:

• Oxford Art Online Information on all things artsy including architecture, design, fashion and crafts. Includes a range of New Zealand and Pacific content;
• Oxford Music Online The hills are alive with music reference and research within this resource;
• Oxford English Dictionary Online Find spellings, definitions, pronunciation and examples of use. They even explain the use of the word bootylicious!

Not everyone is blessed with the academic brilliance of an Oxford academic but that is not to say we cannot be warmed from the glow of their collective genius. All the answers produced from their devoted studies has resulted in the above online databases that are just waiting to provide you with answers. All you need is to use your nimble fingers to ask the questions from the discomfort of an ergonomically faulty computer chair or your couch at home. Question everything!

– Colleen Finnerty, Knowledge Advisor.

The Book as Art – Artist’s Book Art Exhibition

Carpe Librum: Seize the book

Books are so much more than the written words or narrative they contain and our relationships with them are multifarious. Whilst books are carriers of information and imagery they are also something higher than their original function. Books have an elegance as an object and feel satisfying within our hands, but in Carpe Librum we see books as artistic enterprise.

All the books exhibited have been conceived and made by artists. To make a book the students have had to learn; hand binding and stitching, and utilise folding and pressing and precision techniques to make artist’s books that have been created as artworks in their own right. They are diverse in their design and materials used as well as subject matter. The artist’s books on display are a selection of works that have been produced by students from Ara Art & Design programme: second year combined print and bookbinding elective and works from a first year Visual Communication class.

The altered books have been created by staff from Ara Art & Design. The artists were asked to select a decommissioned book from Ara, Institute of Canterbury’s Library. The altered books provide an opportunity for the artists to think creatively and work with the book as an object as well as the content that lies within.

Artists: Bruce Aitken, Wendy Clarke, Julie Humby, Carol King, Kim Lowe, John Maillard, Deborah Marshall, Michael Reed, Stefan Roberts, Jane Schollum, Henry Sunderland and Kiri Te Wake, contribute to Carpe Librum.

As an art curator, artist and librarian Carpe Librum is a show after my own heart, and it is a pleasure to be part of the huge variety of events that make up WORD Christchurch 2016 Writers & Readers Festival, sharing our love for words, images and the form of the book.

Visit the exhibition at Art Box on our City Campus

Photos courtesy of Stefan Roberts, work above by Wendy Clarke “…the word became flesh”   (2016) Mixed media

Two Exhibitions at Madras Campus

Arty things to see…be quick or you may miss them! On display until 11^th May 2015

As you enter the Library there is a small display of 3D work from the CPIT Artwork Collection. They are part of a larger CPIT Artwork Collection which can be found on display around the campuses. These artworks have been created by graduates from Art and Design at CPIT. You might like to take a moment to contemplate the different media and techniques used in the five works. CPIT’s Art & Design Department offers students the opportunity to explore and express their ideas in a myriad of ways utilising a variety of media.

Make sure you also pop into the foyer of D Block to see another exhibition – Afterhours, but this time the work is by staff from Art & Design. It’s an excellent opportunity to view work from renowned New Zealand artists at your leisure.

Artist Sandra Thomson – image courtesy of the artist

 

World Wide Knit in Public Day – Not just for Grannies!

Saturday 16 June

World Wide Knit in Public Day was started in 2005, and has spread to include thousands of knitters in hundreds of events.

Details of Christchurch’s contribution to the fibre festivities can be found here

Whatever your level of knitting skill, the library can help you prepare for WWKIPD:

 Teach yourself visually knitting

 Alice Starmore’s book of Fair Isle knitting

 Kaffe’s Classics: 25 glorious knitting designs

 Radical lace and subversive knitting

 In the loop: Knitting now

Art & Design – New Books – May 2012

     Click on any title below to view its details in our Primo Library search. If you would like to request any of these, sign in first and then select Request. (Hint: the sign in is in the top right corner once you have clicked on the resource.

For more resources on art and design be sure to visit the subject guide.

New books:

Suzuki, S. (2011) What is a print? : selections from the Museum of Modern Art

Smith, T. ( 2011). Contemporary art : world currents

Farthing, S. (Ed.). (2007). 1001 paintings you must see before you die

Ingledew, J. (2011).  The a-z of visual ideas : how to solve any creative brief

Art Curator on the move

Recently I was fortunate enough to find myself in Auckland and just had to check out the new look Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.  There are heaps of clips on YouTube of the gallery’s destruction, reconstruction and extension, and you can take a virtual tour of the new look Gallery spaces.

An impressive kinetic sculpture Flower Chandelier by Choi Jeong Hwa hovers over visitors in the gallery’s north Atrium. Choi Jeong Hwa is a Korean artist, based in Seoul.  His work is often bright and colourful, and this work is no exception being quite dramatic and enchanting as the blooms open and close.  Read more about this work and other Asian artists currently exhibiting in Auckland in the latest issue of Artnews New Zealand.