Do you or your club/organisation have an arts project involving poetry, drama, dance, music, theatre, craft, fine arts, toi whakairo or creative and interpretive expression which you would like to do but are unable to fully fund. You may be eligible for a Creative Communities New Zealand Grant, why not apply?

Application forms with basic guidelines and criteria for projects taking place within or involving people from the Waikato District Council rating area are available from Waikato District Council Offices in Raglan, Ngaruawahia, Huntly and Tuakau.

Applications close 30 March 2012 (for projects commencing after 11 May 2012).

For further information contact Lianne van den Bemd, Community Development Coordinator, Waikato District Council, Telephone 07 824 5732.

Susanne Prinz at work in the Clay Shed on Sunday

Raglan artists had hundreds of visitors on Saturday 29th January the first day of the Raglan Artist Studio Weekend.   At the Old School Arts Centre in Stewart St,  visitors checked out artists at work on jewellery  and on clay art in the Clay Shed  behind the Old School building.

The Open Studio Weekend continues today Sunday and on Monday with artist studios open from 10am to 4pm.  All of the open studios are included within the Raglan Art Trail Guide along with maps of Raglan and its surrounding area.  These show the locations of the various artists involved in this event, making it easy to plan your visits for each day.   The well produced, quality guide is a handy size to keep with you while exploring Raglan and the wider Whaingaroa area. It provides details of 38 artists working in a range of media from painting, sculpture and photography to bone carving, mosaics and wearable art.

The artists will have a range of their work on display and available for purchase, and will be happy to discuss their thoughts and processes with you.

Copies of the Guide can be found at the Raglan i-Site in Wainui Road, the Raglan Old School Arts Centre in Stewart Street, at Raglan cafés and galleries and at many other outlets throughout the Waikato and Auckland areas.

Scene from SEWN; Director Nicolas Brikke surfs at Dee Dees, Palisser Bay - Image supplied

SEWN  Raglan Old School Arts Centre, Stewart St, Raglan

Feb 15th 8.30m, 16th 5.30pm

Adults $11, Children $6

Reservations phone 825 0023 or email info@raglanartscentre.co.nz

A just released NZ made longboard doco will screen at the Raglan Old School Arts Centre in February.   The movie SEWN takes you within the longboarding experience, bringing you up close and personal to the surfing action via Nicolas Brikke’s outstanding camera work.

On each coast, you meet up with a surfer from an older generation who came through the shortboarding revolution, yet remained true to the longboard. You’ll also meet a surfer from a younger generation who lives and surfs with a similar spirit and passion. SEWN explores why these people chose longboarding, and how it is an important part of their lives. SEWN shows that to be a surfer in New Zealand is to have an intrinsic connection to the land, sea and surf.

SEWN (which is an acronym for south east west north), is the title of the first New Zealand-made longboarding film in over a decade. The film’s internet promotional campaign in three languages – English, French and Spanish – has got worldwide audiences excited.

Longboarding is a surfing discipline using boards longer than 2.8m (9 feet). Longboarders are entrancing to watch as they literally seem to be walking on water.

Directed and produced by award-winning French filmmaker and longboarder Nicolas Brikke, who has been based in New Zealand for more than five years, SEWN takes us south, east, west and north around the four stunning coasts of the North Island of New Zealand.

The doco’s production team includes Will Moore, a director and editor who has worked with company Fish n Clips productions and on the music videos of some of New Zealand’s best-known artists, including Brooke Fraser, Scribe and the Mint Chicks.

It also includes Paul Wedel, a Canadian director, editor and producer who has had films screened in New Zealand film festivals; and Kirsten Berrett, a graduate from the New Zealand Film and Television School, who has worked as an actress, and in production for several films.

Seven unique board designs on display at the Raglan Old School Arts Centre

Last week’s Creative Longboard Making Workshop at the Old School Arts Centre was a great success. Seven longboards with unique shapes, unique creative graphics and grip tape designs are now hanging at the Raglan Old School Arts Centre. Congratulation to all participants for their hard work!

The boards will be on display finally today Sunday in the Gallery while the Raglan Creative Market will be happening from 9am.

The workshop was run by Katja Oberhofer and Sean Oliver. The Creative Longboard Making Workshop covered an introduction to longboard making, shape design and laminating plywood, cutting the deck and sketching a graphics design, application of the graphics design, finishing the graphics design, starting with grip tape design and then finishing the grip tape. The boards went on display on Saturday for a two-day period. Due to the success and popularity of the workshop Katja and Sean plan to repeat it soon.