Newspaper Article – Sixty exhibitors in the NZ Craft Show

Sixty exhibitors in the NZ Craft Show

The highly successful New Zealand Craft Show is coming to Hastings for the first time on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 2 to 4, at the Tomoana Showgrounds.

About 60 craftspeople from all over New Zealand will be exhibiting their work for sale to the public with most of the prices ranging from $4 to $400.

The craftspeople are only charged a fee for the display space, and are not charged any commission on the sale of their work by the show organisers, and therefore the craftspeople are able to set their own prices without the need for additional mark-ups. This makes the prices much lower than normal retail.

Although all the craftspeople are New Zealanders, coming from as far afield as Kaitaia in the north to Dunedin in the south, many of them have international recognition for the quality of their work.

Skills being exhibited range from glass blowing, bone carving, wood carving, and wood turning, to pottery, ceramics, and porcelain, from leatherwork and batik work to weaving, and from painting to screen printing.

HB artists

Three Hawke’s Bay artists will display their work.

Bruce and Estelle Martin, known throughout the country for their Japanese-style of anagama pottery, will exhibit their work for sale. This includes flower arrangements and large pieces for patios and gardens.

Bruce and Estelle have been making anagama pottery for the past five years, but with only four firings in their kiln, as they only have the one firing a year. The firing lasts for up to 10 days in what is considered the largest kiln in New Zealand and uses 25 tonnes of pine wood.

One of the hallmarks of anagama pottery is that absolutely no extra or artificial glaze is used before firing. The firing process alone gives the only glazing and the positioning of the pot in the kiln determines the finished colouring, whether it be a background of matt white with a curtain of light green if placed to the front of the kiln, or a rich deep plum colour when placed at the back.

Hastings reproduction-furniture-maker, Colin Person, will also be displaying a wide range of period furniture from the Georgian era, 1714 to 1830.

Colin has been a cabinetmaker, making period or reproduction furniture, for most of his working life, mainly because he himself likes this style of furniture and he enjoys making it.

Items on display at the Hastings show will include a bedroom setting, a writing desk and chair, and some upholstered easy chairs, all in rich, mahogany timber.

Weaver Jenny Kalaugher, from Napier, will feature a selection of her own uniquely-styled wall hangings.

Several other notables in the art and craft world from around the country are regular exhibitors in the NZ Craft Shows, and will be bringing their work to Hastings to sell.

Grant King, Auckland, is well-known for his hot-glass-blowing, and will display a wide range of his own uniquely-styled and coloured series of different-sized cylinder vases, with rounded-shaped ones to match.

Also on display will be a set of optical glass vases with ribbed textures and varied colours, ranging from transparent pink to aquamarine to cobalt blue, all of which have been especially created for the Hastings show. Grant has been glass-blowing for the past two years and fulltime professionally for the last 12 months.

Frank Adeanne [Adeane], Tauranga, will display a wide range of his Maori-influenced pendants, featuring pekapeka, manaia, and koru designs. He has been carving for the past four years and uses the Maori form of design to create well-balanced pendants that are attractive and a pleasure to wear.

From Nelson comes Jenny Pilawa, well-known throughout New Zealand for her soft toys, particularly the larger toys such as the brightly coloured parrots on a swing and oversized telephones and tubes of toothpaste.

Jenny has been making these toys, and doing all the sewing herself, since she was 10 years old, and says that she is only bounded by the limits of her own imagination.

Depending upon the success of this first show in Hastings, New Zealand Craft Shows Ltd intends to make it an annual event.

“The shows are annual events in all the other centres because they are so popular with the public, and we do hope to make it an annual event here in Hastings,’’ Fiona Dunkley said.

Since the first show, between 150,000 and 200,000 people have visited the various shows, generating nearly $2-million worth of sales for the craftspeople.

The shows are all of an extremely high standard, and attractively laid out and presented, as only the best craftspeople and the best work is chosen for exhibition.

All the craftspeople are invited to apply to exhibit and then they and their work are scrutinised by the Dunkleys before final selection or rejection. Work is chosen on the basis of its quality, saleability and diversity.

10am to 6pm

The New Zealand Craft Show will be open from 10am to 6pm each day from Friday, May 2 to Sunday, May 4, at the Tomoana Showgrounds in Hastings.

Admission will cost $3 for adults, $1.50 for senior citizens, 50 cents for children aged 5 to 15, the under-fives are allowed in free, and there is a half-price concession for groups of 10 or more.

Photo caption – Carvings by Frank Adeane, Tauranga, are among the many craft exhibits at the NZ Craft Show.