The paper newsletter has started its journey to your place (if you are on the mailing list of course).
Folded and enveloped in the delightful salon space of ReDunn Fashion - currently open for business at 162 Riddiford St, Newtown, as part of a community art project. Also selling artworks by Kazz Funky Blue.
Magdalena Aotearoa newslettering is always a special performance - no two times the same. The creative atmosphere and the glorious clothing to drape oneself in added much to the form and dynamic of this piece. So did the mirrors... and the biscuits.

This morning the weather was wild and the sky so wild wet and grey I felt I was inside of a cloud, like being in a whiteout on a mountain, but not as white. I thought again about our milk experiencing from the Gathering 09.
This afternoon, I read about a book called Milk and Melancholy by Kenneth Hayes. It's not in wgtn city library but maybe I will ask them to get it. It looks at milk through the art of photography. Starting with 'Edgerton's famous photograph' which turns out to be the one of a time-stopped splash on milk looking like a little crown on a white pond.

as the gathering is all about responding, giving feedback and constructive criticism about our work, we naturally gather feedback about the event itself. we do this via a written evaluation form (or in any other form people want to give it to us) & i'm now collating the feedback received thus far.

The weekend after Recharge there was a Christchurch theatre forum organised by Operate Trust. It was brilliant to be there after the Magdalena Gathering experience. Creating links. Communicating.

This easter I went to Newtown for my holidays. It was fun. There was chocolate, cake and hot cross buns, coffee, yoga and lots of lentils. The lentils made Caz fart during other Caz's feedback. We all laughed even though it was a sensitive moment and we were supposed to be serious. Not many people were serious at all actually.

Mihi nui ki a koutou katoa, a nga wahine toa na.

Grounded exuberant pensive creative sparkling tribe of mine, such a joy to be with you here in my workplace. Such inspiration! Such beauty! Such spirit! And such deep work.
We are taking a big journey alongside each other into realms of conflict and concialiation,. It could be deep and weighty work. Yet we do this, paddling this waka together. Our tools honed on the flintstone of our love and wild humour. That crescent moon sword of justice tempered by "merci a tous"... awareness, gratitude, compassion and all that.

Bats Theatre 2009

This is immediate theatre, it's impact is instant. Why? I believe, because it's about what we know, who we know - girls from the Hutt, Berhampore. Our city, our country. These are ordinary, familiar and relateable stories that give us the delicious opportunity to laugh at ourselves.
Drawn from a series of vignettes, they are seamlessly connected within an atmosphere reminiscent of 1970's late night Wellington cafes. The onstage musical arrangement supports with passion,the quirks and depths of the performances.

On Monday we had our open stage event and closing night party. We had a great time. Hula hoops helped.

           Jack Trolove offered us the opportunity to explore working with some everyday materials to create visual starting points for thinking around an idea. We 'played' with salt, milk and light. White things. Common things. Things linked to sayings: take it with a grain of salt; milk of human kindness; shed some light on the subject... things linked to everyday actions and reactions.

What is whiteness?

If you look closely at the second image you will see there are two people - one in the mirror.

Challen Wilson and Helen Varley Jamieson discussed their approaches to remote collaboration in making work.

Challen had earlier presented: Winter Overture: extracted - the spirit of the piece... excerpts from a collaboratively written script which she is working on with Cathy Rexford, an Inupiaq woman from the north of Alaska (Kaktovik). She talked about the complexity of working across geographical and cultural distances and how together they were working on and through that.