Wendy Naepflin
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Harakeke (flax) and other natural New Zealand fibres are my main inspiration. I am a forager by nature and love to discover traditional uses of natural resources.
I have a traditional slant to my weaving, studying Maori art and design has greatly influenced my work. But I also find it exciting to create in a non-traditional style that I have never seen before.
I am mostly inspired by the innate natural properties of harakeke, its varying natural colours and particularly working with the muka (fibre) it contains.
In 2017, 2019 and 2021 I had the opportunity to collaborate with 70 national and international artists at CollaboratioNZ, all working with different materials (wood, metal, fibre, paint, glass, print, drawing…), on crazy projects over one week, it really pushed me out of my comfort zone. They were truly amazing experiences, both for my own art practice but also to open my eyes to other people’s processes and materials.
"I love working with NZ natural resources and have learned to greatly enjoy gathering and preparing them, using both traditional and contemporary techniques".
I grow my her own special weaving flax in a sprayfree, organic flax pa (plantation) in Whangarei. Processing is all done by hand, strips are softened using Pounamu (NZ greenstone), then hot boiled and sometimes coloured with commercial dyes.
"I particularly love the laborious extraction of muka (the pure white silky flax fibre), using a Kutai (mussell shell), you can come and see how it is done on the Art Trail. The flax does different things depending on how it is processed and this is an endless source of fascination and inspiration to me about this medium". With muka she has created shoulder cloaks, wall hangings, flax skirts, jewellery and is inspired to keep on finding new things to make..
Having an audience that appreciates artistic expression is a huge motivation for me to come up with something new that I have never seen done before, I love the Art Trail and can't wait to be there again in 2023!
