Printmaking

So we have left Auckland, but this is what I accomplished in the studio.  I worked on it the whole time in wood relief, and am so proud of it! It's an accordian book, so you can either read it like a book, or open it all at once.  The story is one two boys told me in Raratonga.  It goes like this:

(Sorry, they are all sideways.)  There used to be giants on Raratonga.

And they had the biggest mountain in all the Cook Islands.

One time, other giants came and stole the mountiain from the Rartonga giants and brought it to their own island.

But that new island didn't have the biggest mountain because it was cut off, and now that is why Rartonga doesn't have the biggest mountain anymore.

The end!

I have a lot more to update you on, Tongariro National Park and Wellington.  We are heading to Abel Tasman National Park for 3 days on the south island of New Zealand, then we have midterm break (can you believe we are half way through?), and then we are leaving for Australia! Ahh!!

Coast to Coast Walkway

On the last studio day in Auckland, my friend Talia and I woke up at five in the morning, and ventured out to walk across New Zealand (okay, the skinniest part, but still) by walking from one coast to the other of Auckland.  We kinda followed a map, kinda followed the yellow signs, but mostly just got lost, found hidden fruit stands, secondhand bookstores, playgrounds, and AMAZING, wonderful views.

Sunrise from Mt. Eden, a volcano in Auckland.  We thought we had missed the sunrise, we got to the top of this volcano, and we had the most beautiful sunrise ever. There was a man next to us filming the sunrise.  When the sun had risen, he sang happy birthday into the camera - how great would that be for a birthday gift!

Views from the top of Mt. Eden

Melville Park - a cricket field.

Cornwall park - huge and so many cool trees!

One tree hill - a commemoration to the Maori people (I still have to look this up, because the guy who commemorated it seemed a litttttleee strange...)

The best part!!! The playground.  Talia is on the flying fox - which is a zipline, and you swing into tires at the end and fling back and it's so much fun!!!

We ended up walking 19 km for about 7 hours! It was a great way to get a way from the studio and to spend our second to last day in Auckland!

Waipoua Forest

So two weekends ago, we took a break from Auckland to go north to the Waipoua forest.  We stayed two nights with Fred, our professor's, good friends Manos and Alex Nathan.  They are both artists, ceramic carver and metal jewelry maker, and they are both part of a Maori tribe.  The Maori people are the indigenous people of New Zealand, similar to the Native Americans, and they have shared similar consequences that come from being colonized peoples, a big one for Manos and Alex has been the loss of their tribe's land to the crown, which they have been fighting for 20 years and have finally gotten back, although only 7%. 

Learning about Maori culture, art, and their history has been an important part of our trip as we have read many books, articles, been to museums, and everything - so this trip was amazing to learn about their culture personally and to meet new people and learn about New Zealand more!

We got a walkthrough of parts of the Waipoua forest - a beautiful, amazing green area the this Maori tribe, including a man Stephen who is an amazing naturalist in New Zealand - showed us.  This is a hugging tree! 

  This is a Kauri tree. The Kauri trees are very important to the Maori people, but forest upon forest of them got cut down with the European settlers who wanted to use them for masts.  Stephen, Alex, and the other people we met have worked hard to start regrowth forests, and they have been doing amazing jobs so far. These Kauri trees are akin to the Redwoods or the giant sequoias in the importance, and even in their size.  They are beautiful!

We stayed at the tribe's marae deep in the forest.  The marae can be described as a meeting house, where everything from births, weddings, funerals, and important tribe meetings take place here.  We were very lucky to to be invited here and able to stay here and it was an amazing experience.  When we first got here, we took our shoes off to enter the marae, and then the family was lined up on the left wall while we sat down on the right side, for the welcoming ceremony.  They spoke their piece in Maori, then we sang our Maori song we learned, then we walked through the lines to do a hongi - where you touch foreheads with everyone, share the breath of life, and after that you are welcomed in and are no longer a stranger.  And it really felt like this. 

This place is amazing.  Children and grandchildren of Manos and Nathan came back to the marae for this weekend while we were there - even if they live farther away, like in Wellington (a plane flight away, or really long drive).  It really felt like we were at home here.  It was so easy, the transition, it was incredible.  We went swimming in the river, played games with all the kids and learned traditional Maori games.  Alex and Manos shared with us about their culture, the land rights fights they have been through, the stories about their ancestors, and how important the ancestors are to them.  The marae is thought of as the womb of their ancestors, so it really is amazing that we slept in the marae.  Something amazing they said, is that when the welcomed us in Maori at the opening ceremony, they not only welcomed us but all our ancestors and family that were coming with us - because they believe that we are never alone.  We are always with our family and our ancestors wherever we go - and I love that thought - especially being so far from home.

We went on walks, enjoyed the beautiful nature that they work so hard to live close to and to preserve.  We walked to a lookout point to watch the sunrise.

And we went to the beach on their land, and it was the most beautiful place with crashing waves, white sand that had the texture of snow, magical cliffs in the distance, and bluegreen shining silver abaloni shells sprawled on the beach.

We learned about their way of life, and the joy they have of being at the marae with family and having this as a meeting place, for their tribe hasn't always been like this.  At the end of our stay, a few hours before we left, we all were in the marae and we had a ceremony type thing where everyone goes around, stands up, and says whatever they like - thank you for having us, why it has been so amazing, what they have learnt about themselves, the group, and the larger world; sang a song; shared personal things.  In just this one weekend, I felt the group get so much closer - and everyone just let go and had fun and was so happy and joiyful -- I haven't smiled or laughed that much for a while, and I think that's saying a lot for me.

This weekend was really amazing - I learned so much, but at the same time, the learning came in such a relaxed and happy environment it just felt so natural.  It truly was a one of a kind experience I hope I never forget.

Rangitoto Island

For one of my afternoons off, I took a 25 minute ferry to Rangitoto Island, a volcanic island that was formed really recently - I think starting in the 1400's, and the last eruption was in the 1600's! So people were on or near the island when it happened!

I took this trip by myself, and it was the most wonderful alone time in the world.  I really think this is one of my favorite place's on earth. 

It was about an hour steep hike to the summit of the volcano.

The pathway was so green, but also every once and a while covered with giant black gorges of lava rocks! I kept forgetting I was on a volcano - so besides the gravelly path, these rocks were quite the reminder!

The summit was stunning.  All around, I could circle, and see the ocean, the horizon, islands, the amazing clouds, the city of Auckland.  I danced and sang and twirled and sat and looked and wondered - especially because no one was up there I think it was so peaceful and special and seemed like my own spot.

It was the best place - and guess what? I wasn't even totally alone - guess who took this picture?

 A family - FROM ARGENTINA! So I got to speak spanish to them whenever I saw them!

It was the most perfect outing - and this sight was on the ferry ride home - something out of a fairytale! The one little island with its own little cloud. 

 Seemed like the whole day was out of a fairytale...

Auckland

   So for the last 10 days or so we have been in Auckland, New Zealand.  Quite a change from Raratonga, but I'm still loving in!  Everyday I usually wake up around 6 (I know, crazy huh??)  and go draw with a friend, whether at the harbor, at the beautiful parks that cover this city, or the skyscrapers. 

Then I usually head back for dorm food breakfast, which isn't too bad, and then at 9 am walk to the studio about 10 minutes from the door, up and down the hilly streets of Auckland ( I get a good work out just going to and from the studio!) We have a BEAUTIFUL printmaking studio all to ourselves at the University of Auckland on the 7th floor of a building overlooking skyscrapers and a park.  We usually have a movie or discussion at lunch.  Then, usually stay until 5.30, head to dinner at the dorm, and sometimes return to the studio for a late night or just relax for the rest of the night - sometimes playing pick-up soccer or watching a movie, or walking around!

 I played pick-up soccer in this BEAUTIFUL park called the domain where maybe 500 people were playing all different organized and pick-up games, it was so great!!! I played with about 10 guys from Kuwait - it was super cool!

Anyways - for the studio, I am doing wood relief printing, so carving out of wood, inking it, then putting it on top of paper on a table with basically a huge rolling pin and rolling it through! It's so fun and I love it! I will try and put up pictures of the stuff I'm doing when I'm done!

We do, however, take many breaks and have fun :).  One day we went to Bethel Beach, about a half hour drive from our dorm.  We hiked up black sanddunes, reaching a suspended lake - where we went swimming amidst the lime green hills and sanddunes, we caked ourselves in the blacksand, and, my favorite, rolled down the sand dunes and kerplunked into the water!!!

Once we were done drawing, we walked on our on to Bethel's Beach, a beautiful beach with rough waves that stopped us from swimming but were so beautiful

to draw and watch and admire! So we got to the beach, thinking it was the best place, and 15 minutes before we left Fred (the art professor) found us, and said - but you haven't even seen the beach yet! We walked past a cliff, up a sanddune, and this is the sight we saw:

 Pretty amazing if you ask me!

I also went to the Henieken Open, a tennis tournament I think practice for Australian Open in a few weeks.  We were right close to the action, and never being to a professional tennis match before, it was so cool! Kinda hard to stay quiet - at a key point I was about ready to stand up and cheer, like people stand up on the almost-3rd strike in the bottom of the ninth.  BUT it was a really close match, going all the way to the end, and by that time, people were shouting out and cheering - it was really fun! And watching the robotic ball boys and girls was always entertaining.

We have visited the Auckland Museum, a beautiful builing in the largest park - and the Auckland art gallery.  This city is really beautiful and so accessible and so friendly - the only hard thing is running in to people on the sidewalk, because I'm used to moving out of the way to the right, well they are used to moving to the left.  AH!



Land of Sweet Fruit, Sweet Scenes, and the Sweetest People

HELLLOOO!!!!!!!!!   Finally I have found an internet cafe, and I will update all of you! I hope you are all having wonderful winters wherever you are! 

So for the first 6 days of the trip, we were in Rartatonga, a beautiful island in the Cook Islands about 5 hour plane flight from NZ.  This island takes about 30 minutes to drive around, there are green lush mountains in the middle, and the most beautiful clear water beaches on the rim.  Everyday is its own amazing adventure - it really is incredible.  From the day we landed in the airport and jumped off the plane only to be surrounded by mountains and cool air, everyday has been an amazing adventure.

We went to a market on Saturday with tons and tons of food and FRUIT! The fruit here is amazing! Starfruit, mangos, papaya, sour mangos (ever head of that?), kiwi, and passion fruit of course!

 

We hiked across the mountains, a cross-island hike, with a 70 year old barefoot Cook Islander man with dreads who was faster than all of us combined! It was an extremely muddy and steep hike, but felt so amazing to just be surrounded by green at all sides! And this was the view at the top - amazing, huh?

 

I've also gotten to meet some people who live here in Raratonga, and they really are some of the nicest people I ahve met.  The amazing thing about drawing that I've realized is you meet so many people through it.  Almost everytime I've met someone new, it's because I was drawing and he or she came over to see what I was drawing.  At the market, a woman came over to see my drawing, it started raining, actually POURING, and she let me come under her tent! And I could just talk with her about Raratonga.  I met two 18-yr-old guys while I was painting a theological college backdropped by the mountains, and I was starting to learn more how someone my age lives on the island.  And I met a bunch of kids, who were fishing for eels and such, and they colored all over my sketchbooks - which was so fun!

And I'm guessing you are wondering where the heck the school part of this is? Well, that's what is amazing about this trip is that the school time is all the time and seemingly none of the time.  We have figure drawing sessions where we pose for each other, we are drawing constantly throughout the day if I see a hermit crab on the beach or a beautiful cloud.  We had a real test when we had a session drawing some Cook Island dancers.

We go snorkeling almost every day - for gym credit of course! It's the coolest experience - being so close to all the colorful life underneath the water.  The patterned coral, the huge spiky sea urchins, squid, balloon fish with black polka dots, and my favorite fish - Mr. Gup Gup! He has huge yellow lips, and is very territorial so he will come right at you shaking his head back and forth! Whenever I see him I start cracking up underwater and have to surface to clear the water from my mask :).

And then we have a cultural part of the program, we includes everything from seeing Cook Island dancers; to learning the art of tivaevae - a very special art similar to quilting with brilliant colors, beautiful embroidery, and so much care and love weaved into it; to just talking to people on the street!!

I really fell in love with this island - and I really hope I can come back someday!