Tag: Spotify

  • Costume and Textile Symposium

    For the past two weeks we have been travelling in the North of Aotearoa New Zealand, a trip that started because of the Costume and Textile Symposium in Whangārei. CTANZ (the Costume and Textile Association of New Zealand) is a membership body and each year runs a symposium somewhere in the country. Often the meeting…

  • Cicadas – music to the ears?

    Each year cicadas emerge from their underground nurseries to fill the air with their chirping and buzzing. To some they are a nuisance but to this entomologist they are a sign of hope… The delightfully-named “periodical cicadas” come out of their burrows, as the name suggest, at regular intervals. This year the emergence of two…

  • Sheep sleep

    The new studio in Māwhera Greymouth has plenty of wall space for art, and what could be more appropriate than Storm Thorgerson’s “Sheep sleep”? The image, printed onto metal, greets visitors as they walk through the front entrance to the studio. The picture is of a sheep lying abed, while, seen through a window, men…

  • Ainu costume

    The Ainu people of Northern Japan have a unique culture, one that was almost lost. Now mostly in Hokkaido, the Ainu once lived from Honshu to Kuril, and differ in their linguistics and culture from the Japanese, who displaced them 150 years ago from their ancestral lands. In April 2019 the Ainu people were recognised…

  • Peg Moorhouse

    The damask weaver, Peg Moorhouse, who passed away in January this year aged 106, was recognised for her contribution to the craft of weaving and for her creative experimentation. Peg Moorhouse was born near Ashburton and was raised in Christchurch Ōtautahi at the family home, Risingholme, now a Community Learning Centre, with her cousin, Elaine…

  • The colours of Aotearoa New Zealand

    The first impression of the South Island/ Te Waipounamu of Aotearoa is of endless green, but this could not be further from the truth. At this time of year with Spring in the air and lambs in the fields, it is time to go out and about, exploring the countryside and the historic sites that…

  • Update on the new studio

    The textile hub in Greymouth Māwhera is taking shape… After a few weeks the studio is now looking more like a working space. There is a large tables, standing height, to use for printing and art, a worktable and a meeting space. Shortly there will be sewing machines and, by the end of the year,…

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week the blog articles are accompanied by a curated Spotify playlist that you can hear using the player above or by going to Spotify and searching for “Music to read a blog by”. The playlist entries each have something to do with the articles on the blog, sometimes very obviously and sometimes more subtly.…

  • Toumani Diabaté

    Toumani Diabaté was a Malian griot and player of the West African kora. Hailed as the “king of the kora”, Diabaté was from a family of griots, and his blending of traditional with contemporary music earned him considerable acclaim at home and abroad. Read more: https://www.africanews.com/2024/07/20/malis-king-of-kora-toumani-diabate-dies-at-58 https://theconversation.com/malis-kora-star-toumani-diabate-a-personal-reflection-by-his-music-producer-235993 Watch more:

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week a curated list of audio is made on Spotify to go along with the blog entries. The playlist includes old and new music in lots of different genres, and each piece is chosen to reflect something on the blog. To listen click on the player above or search for “Music to read a…