Weekend 14/15 December 2013

We get people visiting from all around the world

 interested in our Community Tapestry Project.

This is Maxime (pronounced Max-sym) from Southern France.

He is visiting all the the Northland area and said he is

particularly interested by the Maori works and traditions. 

His friend, Celine (left) is from Nancy and Paris and is travelling around

 New Zealand for her holidays and discovering our beautiful country.

On the kids and mini-looms:

Maya Raven has been here with her Mum before today

 and knew exactly were to come and what to do!

Maya Raven is 4 years old and does weaving at Forest View Kindergarten.

where she has learned to weave with leaves, flax and flowers.

The is Maya's brother, Connor. He is 9 years old 

and it was his first time weaving with us.

How neat it is to have young people interested in and learning to weave. 

Thanks for coming back Maya Raven...we hope to see you and Connor again soon!

Richard Hodgson lives in Auckland and is an Oriental Rug Specialist.

He has seen and admired many large tapestries from travelling around

 the world including those at The Vatican Museum in Rome.

You can read more about the Gallery of Tapestries here

Richard worked on "the water" under the boat.

Eva and Nick were visiting Whangarei for the weekend.

Eva, "beating down" the wefts.

You can read about all the weaving terms and techniques HERE

Eva and Nick said they were grateful for the opportunity to try some weaving

and look forward to coming back and doing some more at a later stage.

Weekend photos - 7th/8th December

In order to know where to weave each colour, the cartoon is copied onto the warps.

Naoko carefully transfers each line and shape by pen onto the cotton warping.   

 The "I's"  have it!! We are up to the wording, well...the bottom of it!

The arrow shows where we are up to on the painting.

 A photo "behind the scenes" - This is what the back looks like.

 Lots of threads and cotton used to sew together the joins. 

Locals come in regularly to check out the tapestry progress. Visitors inquire as to what is happening...most have never seen a tapestry In-Progress and are amazed by our Community Project! 

 BAUGE' Julianna and her husband are from Budapest, Hungry.

They are house-exchanging with a Northland artists, David Foley and Adrienne Dietrich.
David and Adrienne are looking forward to spending some time in Europe
and have visited the Hundertwasser House in Vienna in the past.  

 Thank you Julianna for working on the Tapestry.

On Sunday, we had a visit from some Japanese tourists that have been eager to visit New Zealand for some time. 

 This is Fumiko Akmoto from Tokyo, Japan. She enjoyed working on the tapestry.

  Kunihko and Hideko Hashimoto from Tochigi Prefecture 

 They said New Zealand is a beautiful country and really want to visit again.

 Mr Hashimoto's signature....

(I felt pretty honoured to witness him signing his name!)

 Taila Bentell (11) from Auckland practices weaving on one the mini-looms.

she was up visiting for the weekend with her dad. 

 The He family (pronounced Hur) from Auckland

 Maria and her Mum Jean are original form Beijing, China. 

They immigrated to New Zealand when Maria was a young girl.

Younger sister, Selena (13) was born in Auckland and will be starting High School next year.

To all our recent visitors, thank you for stopping by and working on The Whangarei Community Tapestry!

DECEMBER 2013 - Where we are at

A BIG SHOUT OUT to all the Tapestry Hosts who, without 

their ongoing commitment, we wouldn't be where we are at.

Thank you so much! 

And thank you to all who have come in to The BACH and committed some time out of their busy schedules to do some weaving on the Whangarei Community Tapestry Project. We hope you enjoyed your time here.

Saturday 23rd November

First in on Saturday to do some tapestry weaving was Djani Brown-McNeill.

Djani, who is from Auckland said he was named after Django Reinhadt regarded as one
 of the greatest guitar players of all time and the first important European jazz musician

Djani , who will be 14 on the 17th of December, said he really enjoyed having the
 opportunity to do some work on our community tapestry project. Glad you liked it, Djani!

Tapestry Master and Host, Beverley Compter (in red) showing a Mum and her daughter how to weave.

 Eila-Rose, (10 years old) and her Mum are from Mt. Tiger Whangarei.

They are enjoying having "Grandma Lorraine" visit them.

 Three Generations - Grandma: Lorraine, Mum: Lee and Daughter/Grand-daughter: Eila-Rose.

"Grandma" is from Motueka but only here for the week.   

Looks like they were having a lot of fun together!

 Heather Nichols  (at back) 10 years old and her sister, Lucy, who is 8 is learning to knit.
Their mum, Jane from Maunu said that Heather is an avid knitter and Lucy is learning to knit.
This was their first time doing some weaving. 

 Bridgette (left) from Maungaturoto was 12 on Monday, the 25th.
She was having a Special-Day-Out with her Nana Chris, who lives in Poroti.

 Happy (Belated) Birthday Bridgette.... I hope you had a wonderful day!!

 Sonia Ward, from Athenree (KatiKati) and Julie Hallums (below) are best friends. 

They are are holiday with their husbands who are good mates, too

Julie Hallums, from Karangahake Gorge which lies between the Coromandel and Kaimai ranges, 
at the southern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island.

Thank for stopping by!

More November tapestry visitors

The warming weather seems to be bringing people out in droves. We've had many visitors in to see the tapestry over November some from Whangarei, others from other parts of New Zealand and of course, international visitors from all around the world. 

It is always so interesting talking with them and learning a little about what brings them in to see our community tapestry project.

 Bruce, from Onerahi with Beverley our Tapestry Master.

 Bruce and Lois, from Auckland

 Thanks for the big smile, Lois!

 This is Paddy. He lives locally in Matarau

 Paddy said he really liked working on the tapestry and was very good at it too!

Steve Robertson, from Bolwarra, Victoria (Australia) taking a photo of his wife. Jill.

 Jill Robertson working on the "water" 

 Mark & Suzie Buckland, from Onerahi.

Shirley Mills - Brisbane

 

John Cooper - Australia

On the Mini-looms:

 Adam (8) and his sister, Charlotte (5)

Mum watching on as Adam and Charlotte master the art of tapestry weaving.