Art and Craft with a Queer Twist

                                                  Sam Orchard with a sample of his 'transguy' art

‘Homo Sweet Homo’ emblazoned on cushions, rainbow-printed tea towels and etchings depicting Superman and Batman in love.  It’s not your average art and craft market fare, but Everything and Everyone, a mini art and craft market come zine festival, is not your average event.  Scheduled as part of the Auckland Pride Festival 2014 programme, Everything and Everyone aims to celebrate gender and sexuality, with stallholders and their wares representing the spectrum of Auckland’s ‘rainbow community’

Attendees can expect to see a mix of goods which would usually grace the tables of a Kraftbomb or Zinefest event including jewellery, leather products, household linen, cards, soaps, comics and zines (small self-published magazines) but with items reflecting the diverse sexuality and gender identity of their creators, says organiser Sam Orchard.

The personal comic strip he will be exhibiting for sale, for example, follows his four-year journey transitioning from a female to a male identity.  Adopting the medium of a comic strip to tell his story has enabled him to explore the lighter side of the experience of being gender different.  This is in contrast to how he believes mainstream media would have approached his story, with the emphasis there, he speculates, more likely to have been on the potentially devastating emotional effects of switching gender.

Rooster Tails, as his comic is titled, ‘is a place where I can explore what is actually the cool stuff about being queer and transgender.’  For instance, ‘the funniness of going out with someone where the world thought we were both girls together.  And we’re, like, no, actually we’re still gay but we’re boys together.’

His vision for Everything and Everyone is for it to be a focal point for expression of all the identities our community embodies and an opportunity to celebrate and embrace them without bias.  The event will run from 4-7pm in St Kevin’s Arcade on Saturday 15 February and will be followed by Mixtape Sessions – a live music event run by Romp Project also aimed at Auckland’s rainbow community.

K' Road Highlights

K’ Road’s collection of heritage buildings will have a creative spotlight cast over them as the precinct’s inaugural light show Highlights rolls out this month.  The sight of the former Rendell’s building shattering and being reconstructed brick by brick and giant Christmas balls cascading down the exterior of the adjacent Ironbank complex are just some of the virtual experiences onlookers can expect to encounter at the event.

‘We’ll be making shapes, putting things into shapes and making things come out of shapes,’ says the light show’s creator Dan Davis.  A digital specialist of four years standing he’ll be trialling new 3D technology which he hopes will ‘get K’ Road on the map for Christmas and match the area’s creative and forward thinking culture.’

Don’t miss the final two days of Highlights from 9-11pm this Friday and Saturday.

K' Road Lights Up for Christmas

Christmas is coming to K’ Road and true to the street’s subversive reputation, it won’t be in traditional style.  Celebrations kick off  with the precinct’s signature late night art event First Thursdays - boasting a fiesta theme this time – in conjunction with an inaugural light show, Highlights, which will cast a creative spotlight on a selection of the precinct’s character buildings over ten days.

The sight of the former Rendell’s building shattering and being reconstructed brick by brick and giant Christmas balls cascading down the exterior of the adjacent Ironbank complex are just some of the virtual experiences onlookers can expect to encounter at Highlights.

‘We’ll be making shapes, putting things into shapes and making things come out of shapes,’ says the light show’s creator Dan Davis.  A digital specialist of four years standing he’ll be trialling new 3D technology which he hopes will ‘get K’ Road on the map for Christmas and match the area’s creative and forward thinking culture.’

The light display will focus on different buildings between Queen and Pitt St each evening with some projections being fused with music from local café Verona.  And launch night on 5 December is expected to provide a fitting backdrop for the staging of the final First Thursday’s of the year which will be taking place across three of the precinct’s arcades including St Kevin’s, La Gonda and Cross St from 6-9pm.

A Mexican flavour will be infusing First Thursdays with a roaming Mariachi band scheduled, free Day of the Dead face painting on offer and Mexican folk saint Santa Muerte inhabiting St Kevin’s to dispense sweets.

‘We decided on the theme of fiesta because it encompasses celebration, festivity, colour and diversity which is what First Thursdays is all about,’ says event co-ordinator Laura Forest. ‘And our Christmas FirstThursdays will be more about fun and playfulness rather than getting bogged down with northern hemisphere snowflakes and tradition,’ she says.  To this end patrons are invited to negotiate an interactive tunnel in La Gonda Arcade, engage with a steam punk vending machine at St Kevin’s Arcade or kiss under a rose bower infused with mistletoe at the top of the steps to Myers Park.

Laura’s pragmatic festive season sentiments are echoed by her director of activities in St Kevin’s Arcade, Rose Jackson.  Having invited traders from along K’ Road to provide pop up sales of confectionery and jewellery inside the heritage arcade as a complement to the variety of vintage, handcraft and designer fashion goods already on offer there, she believes shoppers will appreciate the opportunity to take part in a locally-inspired Christmas.  ‘You’ll be able to buy from vintage retailers and really clever New Zealand designers who make their own stuff.’  Conversely, ‘you won’t hear any naff Christmas tunes, be forced to buy plastic junk or find yourself stuck in a mall,’ she says.

For the full programme of First Thursdays and Highlights activities visit www.firstthursdays.co.nz

Glamour Rock

Who says punk rock isn’t glamorous? Check out the new ‘do’s’ girl band Grrfriendz are sporting, courtesy of Vada Hair, in readiness for their performance at K’ Road’s three-day Fang Fest being held over Labour Weekend. Toyah (left), Annabel (centre) and Sophia have been honing their traditional girl punk sound for eighteen months now, save for a short sabbatical in Asia recently, and will be belting it out again at 4b Cross St at 4.30pm on Saturday.

French Fare

La Noisette Chocolats & Pâtisseries 
Fresh from her role as sous chef at The Langham, Auckland, French pastry chef Oscar is unleashing her talents on K' Road patrons at her first cafe venture La Noisette at 518 K' Road. Coffee, cakes, croissants and bagettes are all on the menu along with hand-made chocolates in such delectable flavours as coconut vanilla white rum.
Enjoy the warmth of exposed brick walls, wood and maroon-coloured fittings, draped linen table cloths and a picture-book view of the street's activities.

The Great White Way – A K’ Road Heritage Festival Free Event

Once a shopping mecca for Aucklanders, inner city K’ Road and its environs bustled with activity in the 1950’s. Police were on hand to monitor crowds as people flocked to take advantage of late night shopping and cinema screenings. Learn more about the electric atmosphere of early K’ Road at historian Edward Bennett’s lecture, The Great White Way. 

AOK - All on K' Road Fashion Event

See the launch of four leading K’ Road designers’ combined show at NZ Fashion

Weekend on Saturday 7 September. And join the precinct’s fashion fraternity on

Sunday 8 September.as it demonstrates the innovation and cutting edge design it’s

renowned for.

AOK Show

All established fashion leaders in their own right, four K’ Road designers including

Maaike,Hailwood, Jimmy D and Lela Jacobs, are set to wow audiences in a group

show at the Viaduct Event Centre on Saturday 7 September at 2.30pm. Current

Spring/Summer collections from all four will be showing and all runway items will be

available for purchase at designer’s respective stores post show.

 AOK Day

Following on from K’ Road’s AOK NZ Fashion Weekend show, the precinct will be

showcasing the diversity of its fashion offering on Sunday 8 September. Fashion

shows, live installations, street art and shop specials will feature throughout the day

as fashion stores, cafes and designer studios the length of the strip throw open their doors.