Southern View: April 22, 2021

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14 Thursday April 22 2021 Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz SOUTHERN VIEW Frankie’s roller coaster ride to Frankie Bakker of Little River has quit full-time work to be an artist. She talks to Samantha Mythen about her creative practice and her journey along the way Where were you born? I was born in Zimbabwe. My parents studied tropical agriculture and went to Zimbabwe to work. I was lucky enough to be born there. But I was about one when I moved to New Zealand. Diamond Harbour is where I spent my childhood. What was it like growing up in Diamond Harbour? Amazing. I always spent time outdoors. We had a big garden. The nature is probably the biggest thing, being able to walk up the hill and go for ocean swims in the middle of winter just because you feel like it. When did you find yourself living in Little River? About three years ago. A lot of stuff happened prior – I went travelling and got really ill and needed to be home with my family. The longer I’ve stayed here, it’s the community that makes me want to stay. There’s a little house the previous owners used to live in while they were building the main house and that’s my studio. It’s at the top of a little hill and has a balcony looking over the whole valley. I turn music on and paint. There’s no reception or Wi-Fi up there. What’s been your journey to where you are now, calling yourself an artist? After graduating from the Rudolf Steiner school, which got my creative juices flowing, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I decided to apply to one fine arts school (Elam in Auckland) and see if they would accept me. I got in, moved there and then completed my fine arts degree, which was a roller coaster. In art school, I focused a lot on being human and our CREATIVE: Frankie Bakker working on her latest piece. obsession with hedonism and consumerism. After graduating I had a couple of group exhibitions in Auckland. I dealt with a lot of mental health stuff, which has made a big impact on my art. My focus turned to the female body and it was naked because it’s about self-acceptance, as in you don’t have to dress a certain way to be accepted in a certain way. From there, I put the bird head in, which is still very prominent in my work today. It represents freedom. There’s so many birds out there. They’re all beautiful, completely distinct. No one really judges them and they don’t judge each other. This idea has since structured my art work – self-acceptance and self-love. After uni I went to Japan to do an art residency. I really wanted to travel and I love Japan. It was picturesque in my head – like the ART AT LITTLE RIVER: The concept design for a mural Bakker will create at Little River School. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN sakura, the Japanese blossoms. It draws you in. That was an incredible time for self-development. I’d gone on this big trip all on my own and everything I did was creative. I had support from all these amazing people, we did exhibitions – it was incredible. I also did a mural at a zoo. Between then and last year, I kind of lost it a little bit. But the Pop-Up Penguin happened, and this was a huge highlight. It pretty much sparked the desire, “I want to do this.” I started doing the Little River School mural designs in that time too. So this year I have quit my fulltime job. I have a small cleaning job in Akaroa, which is totally delightful and I love it. It means I have spare time to paint. So far I’ve had an exhibition in New Brighton Library called Unwind, and then I had the Christchurch Art Show. What’s been your favourite project? Japan Zoo was huge. This was the first mural I had ever done. A couple of weeks before I was due to leave Japan, I asked, “Can I paint that wall down the road?” It was completely grey and I thought, “It needs colour!” I talked to my residency host and she explained there was quite a commitment to painting something like that. A year later I was invited back to paint the zoo’s wall. It was an incredible two-month project. Everything was gut feelings – I went with the first design I drew. The support was incredible. I had 100 children at the opening day who came and did some painting. It was a huge artistic highlight. Tell me about your Pop-Up Penguin, which raised $17,500 for Cholmondeley’s Children’s Centre. I was talking to the Wairewa Community Trust about painting a school mural and then heard about the design competition for the penguin. The trust titled it ‘Gateway to the Peninsula’, which I thought was really cool. So I went with a gate. I wanted it to be gold and to look valuable as this place is so valuable. I wanted it to be rich because the whole Banks Peninsula is so rich in nature. There’s a lot of blue for the waters and skies. Then the plants, birds and insects that we can see everywhere here. What project are you working on now? I am creating a mural at Little River School. It started with my own design and the Wairewa Community Trust Committee loved it, so we started putting a proposal through. We then decided to make a whole new design with the children’s input. So I put together a teaching plan for the kids and we organised an open day with a working bee around the tennis courts to get people involved, to give it more significance as well. I had no idea the mural would have such involvement. I thought I would have done it by now and painted it within two weeks. But here we are, it’s going to be done in May and I’ve done something for it, every day. Don’t buy a cheap bed. 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SOUTHERN VIEW Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Thursday April 22 2021 15 artistic dream • From page 1 What has it been like working with children? So beautiful! I started the class off by presenting myself as an artist. They were very excited to have me there. I rock up with this presentation. I show them the Japan mural and the penguin. And then I showed them a photo of the tennis court wall and asked, “What do you reckon?” It’s bland and has nothing and then I said: “I’m going to paint a mural on here and I need you guys to give me some great ideas so that it looks amazing.” This was the interesting point. They all sat in pairs with a piece of paper and started drawing with pencil and then furiously erasing what they had drawn. I said, “Guys, this isn’t a piece of art work. This is the sketch process, this is the thought process. It doesn’t have to be perfect.” But you could see things ticking in their head, like “This doesn’t look like I want it too, I’m not sure if it’s good.” So I ended up going around and asking them to tell me what they were drawing and I also asked them, “What does that bird eat, what does it do, what kind of fun things can you imagine it could do?” When I started going around on the second lap, kids started throwing out ideas of moons that were disco balls. It was cool to see them gain some confidence. Then at the end I asked them if they had any further ideas. We heard about trains flying through the sky with birds hanging out of the windows. After the class, I spent hours going through their designs and ideas and then drawing them myself to put together the design. You can see how art sparks those kids. When the teacher asked the kids what they had got out of the class, they all started to say how it inspired them and how great they feel and they love the creativity, and it calmed them, which is amazing. I have this little dream, by like 40 years old, to be able to do art SPARKING CURIOSITY: Bakker at the opening day of the mural she painted at Yuki Park Zoo in Japan. Children show Bakker their own drawing creations. therapy. To go back and study and learn the psychology behind it and find more sparks. Where do you find inspiration? How does Banks Peninsula influence your work? The wildlife is huge. Even just driving through Little River, there will be pheasants and little quail on the road, and I will think those are beautiful and then I will get home and I will start looking at images, and then other ideas pop up from that. Also, my art reflects what is going through my head and what I’m working through. Like at the Art Show, some people said; “Well, you have a bit of a crazy mind coming up with this stuff.” And I thought, “I guess I do.” What does being an artist mean to you? I am learning what the steps are to get there. But for me it has always been a dream. Like when people ask what did you want to be when you were younger, I didn’t want to be a fireman or a doctor or anything like that, I always wanted to be an artist.What are you if you don’t follow your dreams? You are lost. In the meantime, I want to meet all these other amazing artists and people that are involved in art communities and I want to share my art. Like that Japan mural and the penguin – the joy they brought to people was incredible. So why would you not do that? Even the art exhibition last weekend. It was so interesting, how some people were like, what is going on with that art, and other people just loved it. In the end, I left thinking that was really successful. I had so many great conversations and met so many amazing people. The two ladies that were in my corner as well, like now I’m doing a collaboration hopefully with one of them. She does poetry and I’m going to do the images. It is opening doors. How does being creative enrich your life? I feel like more of a whole person when I’m getting creative. It gives me a purpose and a positive outlet. Being creative means I’m doing something with my thoughts. What advice would you give to those wanting to start their own art practice? You need to want it. That’s what it is. And then you give it a go. Start by factoring in an hour. People go to the gym for an hour so why can’t you take another hour of ‘me time’ where you decide you are going to create. It’s the same with writing. Say, “OK, three o’clock to four o’clock today I’m going to sit in the park and just write. I don’t care what I’m going to write, I’m just going to write something.” IT’S DEFINITELY autumn now, with leaves falling and the night drawing in. Anzac Day is this weekend, and I am looking forward to attending commemorations across our communities starting with the dawn service in Heathcote before speaking at the Halswell commemoration and heading to Sumner for their service. These commemoration are recognitions of the sacrifices made by our defence forces here and overseas to protect our democratic system. They help us remember the sacrifices made by local residents, like George Ferguson of Halswell who enlisted in the Canterbury Mounted Horse and was killed in action on the 21st August 1915 in Gallipoli. Whole families were affected, like the Dromgooles of Lyttelton. Four of the six Dromgoole boys served in World War 2, serving in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the army and the merchant navy. Three of them died on active service as a result of enemy action. This year I hope we all also remember the sacrifices our defence forces have made to support New Zealand’s Covid-19 response and the managed isolation and quarantine systems. All the staff working in managed isolation and quarantine give up so much in order to keep us all safe. We’ve been incredibly well-served by our defence force contribution to the Covid-19 response, and I am very grateful for their hard and brave work in difficult conditions. Tracey McLellan Member of Parliament Banks Peninsula Time to remember sacrifices made during war, Covid So this Anzac Day, let’s remember those who’ve served in the past and those who’re still serving today in a different kind of battle. And if you do see me about on Anzac Day, please say hello as it’s always lovely to make new connections. On a different note, you may have seen coverage in the Bay Harbour News of the proposed logging of the Moepuku Peninsula. I have received letters from community members and the residents associations of Church Bay, Diamond Harbour, and Charteris Bay. It is great to see the community being a strong watchdog for our harbour. Like them, I am deeply concerned about the potential environmental impact of sediment run-off from the proposed logging into the harbour. I have met with the chair of the Canterbury Regional Council, Jenny Hughey, to raise my concerns and seek assurances that the regional council will be taking an active approach here to avoid any environmental damage. Reduce partner disturbance. Get the right bed for the right price. Sleepyhead Supportapedic Limited Edition Bed This bed can make a big difference to any relationship. For a start, the ActiveSense coil technology helps to reduce partner disturbance. It will also enhance comfort, and support, for a better night’s sleep – making you both less grumpy. 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Current interest rate of 23.95% applies to any unpaid balance after expiry of (any) interest free period. See in-store or visit smithscity.co.nz/interest-free for details.
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Southern View: April 22, 2021

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