The Adlington Post

I found this piece of a willow-pattern plate on the beach the other day, & have made it into a pendant with some solder & a jump-ring. What a fantastic find! See more of my trashion pieces and recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

Yesterday, in the company of several other artists I visited “Rannoch” - the home of the James Wallace Arts Trust & some of its collection in Mt Eden. The house & garden are crammed with all sorts of works by NZ artists. Of particular interest to me was the “crashed” aeroplane - it reminded me of the derelict Sunderland I used to play in as a child at Hobsonville Aerodrome, & of the haunting sights I saw in the Solomons of WWII aircraft wreckage in the jungle.

These fascinating objects have been collected on the beach here in Browns Bay. I am reading an 18th Century book on archaeology & found this description of “thunderbolts” which I feel suits my finds very well: “After close scientific examination I have concluded that they are formed by an admixture of a certain exhalation of thunder and lightning with metallic matter in dark clouds, which is coagulated by the circumfused moisture and coagulated in a mass (like flour with water) and subsequently indurated like a brick”. See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com

This is one cool BBQ - am taking orders!!

Yesterday I facilitated another school holiday class at the Lakehouse (www.lakehousearts.org.nz). This time the children built marble runs from recycled cardboard & plastic. They all concentrated hard for the whole day & hopefully learned some skills. My next class will be an adult workshop on making art from recycled, found, & reclaimed materials, entitled “Let’s Talk Rubbish” in mid-November.

Every year there is a competition for artwork for the cover of the telephone book in each city in NZ. Here is my entry for Auckland. Entitled “Flip Flop Fish Family” I have tried to sum up the “feel” of Auckland - family life, beach fun, recreational fishing, our casual lifestyle (many people go barefoot or simply wear jandals), the tapa design border references the large Polynesian population, & the Chinese text (“Give Thanks for the Abundance of Heaven”) refers to the growing Asian influence here. The backing is a piece of a real-estate sign - as elsewhere there has been a greedy property scramble - which has thankfully collapsed for a while. SOLD See more of my recycled and upcycled works at www.martinadlington.webs.com