'Zines' – and how to integrate them with urban sketching

'Zines' are a raw, sometimes confronting, but truly democratic art form that is thriving in Wellington. Every year there is a mid-winter market, and a Zine Fest (in November), plus at least a few other zine-related events. I've been making zines and sketching at a number of these over the past two years so thought I would share something of the 'zine scene' with you...

Short for 'magazines', zines are self-published booklets that can be made by anyone cheaply from simple folded or stapled paper, then photocopied and distributed to carry whatever message you want to put across. Zines I have known include the educational 'How to save an Albatross'; the random 'People who sit in Chairs'; the whimsical 'Shower Hairstyling'; the surreal ‘An ode to the suburbs' and the completely out there 'Fat Mermaid Shaving Fun' (whose author is pictured below left)....you see, anything goes! 

Wellington zine events attract a lot of people keen to buy, swap and collect. The makers and crowd are generally very colourfully and creatively turned out, so great subjects for drawing! 

Zine-making flourished with the proliferation of copy shops and photocopiers in the 1970s. Sci-fi and band ‘fanzines’ were early forms and many famous series were created by feminists and punk artists. Zines are now studied at universities, feature in many NZ libraries and are collected by the National Library of NZ. 

The local zine scene ranges from established artists who have published their own graphic novels, books and comics, to people of all ages who make zines as a hobby. 

Some of my zines featuring urban sketching (left and centre) and a selection of zines by other artists including the best-selling 'How to Save an Albatross' by fellow Wellington Urban Sketcher Sharon Alderson. 

Zines are obviously a great way of sharing urban sketching too: I've made zines with sketches of local events such as the Youth Climate Protest held here in March 2019 and our Wellington Urban Sketchers meet-ups. Access to Adobe Photoshop or similar certainly makes it easier but you can also make zines using completely 'old-school' technology – just paper, art materials and access to a photocopier. Remember to always keep your 'master' safe and make copies from this. Here is a video on how to make a simple folded zine:  make an A4 zine. Have fun!

Drawing Attention April

Drawing Attention April is available to read with layout by our own Anne Taylor.

'So bad even the introverts are here'

A week ago, a matter of hours before the terror attacks in Christchurch, an estimated 2000 Wellington students marched from Civic Square to Parliament demanding urgent action on climate change. Around 30 similar events happened elsewhere in NZ and over 100 countries worldwide were involved. #climatestrike

I caught a bus from Seatoun into central Wellington and students of all ages were packed in. I was sitting behind a mother and her young daughter who was carefully holding a handmade cardboard sign with these words:  “Stop climate change…it will kill us soon quite soon.”

Next to me, pre-schooler Archie is hugging his friend, helping him stay on the aisle seat they’re sharing. Archie’s mother, who also has two other pre-schoolers in tow, is briefing them about holding hands when they get into town. The man next to her starts up a debate on government spending and the challenges of taking such young kids to the march: “It will have been a good day if I get the four of them back safely,” she tells him.

My pen is starting to fail but enough to roughly capture the crowd waiting to start about 9.45am in Civic Square, central Wellington, with a few spots of rain. 

After running into an office supplies shop and getting a new pen, it was off down Willis St with the marchers; children and young people, with adults also expressing support.

 
Finally, the front lawn of Parliament is packed with people listening to speeches by youth organisers, students from Wellington schools, including Thorndon Primary School, politicians and Generation Zero. GretaThunberg, the Swedish student who kicked off this global protest, is referenced – including the fact she has this week been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

NZ Green party co-leader James Shaw also spoke to the crowd, a black eye from his recent attack clearly visible. Veteran Māori activist and former MP Donna Awatere Huata also spoke – she is the Māori Climate Commissioner.

Earlier in the week, Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft   responded to those who saw the event as a convenient way for kids to bunk off school by saying that in his travels up and down New Zealand, this was the most important issue for the children and young people he spoke to, along with housing and poverty. This was the case whether he was in a decile one school in Flaxmere or a decile 12 school in Wellington, he said.

If this was 'truancy', it was certainly different from the stereotype: young people standing peacefully together for over an hour, listening to the speakers, posing questions, taking action on an issue viewed by many (as one placard read) as: "So bad even the introverts are here". 

At Kilbirnie Mosque, Wellington, two days after the terrorist attack in Christchurch

A man at his Mosque in Kilbirnie, Wellington, weeps as someone in the crowd starts to sing the John Lennon song Imagine. Moments later Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arrives and comforts him and other members of the community gathered today to express  grief over the mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch on Friday 15 March. 

 

There is a continuous stream of people coming through the gates all afternoon to lay flowers on the steps of the mosque. 

“It’s a sniper gun, Mum,” says a boy as he passes one of the armed policemen on the street outside. “I never expected to see police with guns on my street,” says a woman who lives in neighbouring Cruickshank St. The police are never in the same pose for more than a minute, turning to look at different parts of the street – including upwards to scan the hills above Kilbirnie. Meanwhile, children are decorating the footpath of Queens Drive with the coloured chalk that has been put out.

Large numbers of media, here for the visit of PM Jacinda Arden followed by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, wait by the steps. Flowers and messages of support cover the entrance gates. People from the mosque welcome visitors into the forecourt and move through the crowd thanking them for their support. People share tears and hugs.

I talk with a man from the Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ who heard the news of the shooting while in transit in Dubai on his way back from a holiday. “This is the first time in our history that mosques have been closed in New Zealand,” he said. They remain closed due to ongoing security concerns. Muslims have instead been praying at home, with others, he said.

Many of the women who attend this mosque are in Christchurch – traditionally it is women who wash the dead before burial. As of writing, 50 people are dead after Friday’s shooting, with dozens of people in hospital, including a critically injured four-year-old girl. 

New Zealand is in shock.

17 March 2019, Wellington, New Zealand

A week in Northland

A week in Northland

 

 

I was in Northland late January - early February and packed my sketchbook and mini watercolour set alongside the togs and sunscreen. First off, it was great to draw palm trees; we don’t see nearly enough of them down on the Wellington south coast and they always seem exotic to me, evoking Matisse’s lovely South of France ‘window paintings’. 

That's why the facade of Whangarei's Municipal Buildings appealed - the palm trees made it look like it was in Jamaica instead of NZ! Rust St has lots of architectural gems like this.

Ten people at the Oakura Bay beach house, an hour north of Whangarei. Ages ranged from 6 to 86 years, and among us was a card shark (left) who introduces people to fast gin rummy card games wherever he goes.  

 

The view from the beach house. Not many old baches left now at this coastal community on Ngatiwai land. Instead, mostly grand (holiday?) homes.  

 

The shells were one of the special things about this beach. This became a postcard...

 

This was a first - painting fish from life. They'd been caught the night before from kayaks and we filleted them and had them in an amazing ceviche: chopped raw fish, finely diced red onions and tomatoes, salt, lots of lime juice and fresh coriander. Next morning, I rushed to paint their still beautiful colours before they were returned to the elements. 

The Quarry Arts Centre just north of Whangarei is a very inspiring place and I spent an afternoon drawing there. Set in a decommissioned quarry, it was founded by potter and painter Yvonne Rust (1922-2002) in 1982. Along with others such as Barry Brickell, it was rescued from becoming a permanent rubbish dump, and a working arts community was set up. It has kilns, a café, gallery and print studio, and a variety of workshops are still being run here. 

 

 

I met ceramic artist Keil Cas, usually based in Wellington but seeing family and making use, over the summer, of one of the many studios dotted around the former quarry. He was about to pit-fire some of his clay taonga puoro – traditional Māori flutes – so we had the privilege of watching him down at the kiln area. 

Here he is stoking the fire to produce embers for the firing...

 

It's nice to know we don't have to go to Barcelona to see spiraling brick columns.
They were beautiful to behold but induced a kind of visual dyslexia in me
when I tried to draw them! 

The 'Scallop House' was another obvious one to sketch. I met painter Butch Britton while sitting here: “The roof is made from draped hessian with concrete poured onto it; it needs to be fixed every year now!” It might be impractical but we both agreed it looks so romantic. There is work by generations of artists dotted all around.

Butch lived here in the 1980s with his then 11-year-old daughter and remembers a place of music and shared creativity, which also hosted leading painters such as Michael Smither and Philippa Blair.

But he laments the rules and regulations that came into play as the Centre moved towards a commercial model. “You can see some stone walls and the remains of buildings up there in the hills; that’s where some artists wanted to build their own accommodation. But now we can’t go up there and artists are not allowed to stay overnight.” I can’t help imagining what it would have looked like now if the artists had had their freedom.

 

I ended the day with a loop walk round the beautiful sub-tropical Quarry Gardens, created by volunteers, a few minutes up the road from the Art Centre. It’s home to ‘Te Wai U O Te Atakura’ by Northland artist Chris Booth. The boulder will travel down the pole over the next 70 years or so, as the wood stack rots down; this is one of many stunning environmental works Chris has installed throughout the world. 

At the end of the week, I felt seriously spoilt for having so much material to sketch and the free time to do it. Also knowing that there is a lot more yet to see in NZ's uppermost region. 

 

 

 

Up close with the Evans Bay boat sheds in Wellington

A few bays round from Oriental Bay are the colourful boat sheds of Evans Bay. Demolition has been on the cards at various times since the 1930s – the sheds were seen as “untidy” and preventing the Parade from being widened. 

Luckily they are still standing today.

 

Below street level, a narrow curved pathway takes you past the ‘back doors’. The tall sloping wall gives you some interesting cropped perspectives.

Some of the sheds are almost 90 years old with a heritage classification so repairs must be done in keeping with their existing look. 

The council stipulates the sheds are not to be “lived in” and can only be used for water-based activities. Most have power and water; toilets are handy at nearby Hataitai Beach. 

One shed has an outdoor spa on its harbour-side ramp and another has solar panels. Another, smartly fitted out with a kitchenette and shower, sold recently for $210,000.

One of the most photographed sheds is that owned by Geoff Marsland of Havana Coffee fame, dubbed the ‘Havana Cruising Club’. 

Gill’s shed is sporting a fresh new paint job. She bought it 15 years ago, after hearing about it on the grapevine (the sheds only rarely come up for sale). She lives overseas but likes to visit her shed on her trips back. She is sweeping out and has a candle lit on the window sill. Planes glide in across the water to land at Wellington airport. “The special thing about coming here is the peace,” she says.

Andrew Scott' parents bought the shed below 25 years ago, and he grew up on the water. There are  windsurf boards and canoes stacked along one wall. “The sheds have never been cheap,” he says. Upkeep is costly too. Some are affected in particularly high tides: “It’s a corrosive marine environment.” 






But you get the sense that the pros weigh out the cons. Andrew has his radio tuned to Marine VHS and the shed is the perfect place to get his windsurfer ready. Soon he’ll be out on the water with his son, who is sailing with  a fleet of O’pen Bics in the fresh southerly. 

It doesn’t get much better than this! 

Check out this blog for more on Wellington boat sheds:

https://thisnzlife.co.nz/video-tour-evans-bay-poriruas-characterful-boat-sheds/

 The 'Octopus door' at #101.

 

Drawing an Orchestra

I made arrangements to sketch at a Wellington Chamber Orchestra rehearsal. They were preparing for an upcoming concert, and played Rachmaninoff
 — Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Tchaikovsky
 — Romeo and Juliet Overture–Fantasia. They were excellent and we all enjoyed listening and drawing. The music certainly added extra energy to my drawing. Some results are below:



Beautiful drawings with a Bic Biro From Cory

 

MrBlack took his usual approach, with varying line widths and a few patches of coloured pencil and watercolour.


Anne produced this great wide concertina page with drawing on top of pre-prepared washes and splashes of watercolour

And here's my effort.

I'm hoping to have some more events like this in the future, so if you have any ideas, please let me know. Andrew