Tag: art workshops

A coming Meeting at Dreamspace: On ‘Coming Out’ as a Creator and even making money in the coming Arts & Crafts Renaissance.

February 18, 2019

This is the ad I put into the Eastland Trader this morning, please share this. I’ll put it on Facebook too, and Lifegym:

Wizard Workshops : First workshop, free, at Dreamspace, 61 Carnarvon St, Saturday 23rd February 7PM  : On Coming Out as a Creator and even making money in the coming Arts & Crafts Renaissance.

Led by Peter Harris of Dreamspace Gallery, builder of Cafe Eutopia in Northland, who has been coming out, or trying to, as an artist, craftsman, visionary and writer for the last 20 years, with many learnings, fears, failures, and scattered triumphs along the way. Before that he started, ran into the ground, resurrected and finally sold a frame manufacturing and wholesaling business and got an MA in philosophy. He now wants to share the agony and ecstasy of the art-business-life balancing act, and a new way forward with kindred spirits here in Gisborne as he offers a workshop space for dreaming, discussing, creating and making, at the ‘everything workshop’ of Dreamspace, 61 Carnarvon St. At Dreamspace there is a Round Table in a round Library room for the discussion and brainstorming workshops, and many ‘playstations’ for renaissance-level creations, including: printmaking, bookbinding, blacksmithing, coin striking, painting, casting cement and plaster, mouldmaking, jewellery making in pewter, stone carving, woodcarving, woodturning, joinery, ferrocement building and sculpting, glass work, stained glass, framing and board mounting of artworks, writing, meditating, recording, conferencing and brainstorming.

Ph Peter 022 332 6568 wizardofeutopia@gmail.com

So… that feels (surpisingly!) good. I’ve been running the Nga Tipu gallery in town the last two weeks while Fiona takes some much-needed time off. It’s part of my 2019 ‘come out and market’ resolution. Last year was the Year of Perpetual Setup, it seems… and only selling though Nga Tipu, which is only one small new gallery. That could be about to change, as we look to make it a marketing arts & crafts umbrella for the district, selling the best products further afield and having more happenings like Meet an Artist and Street Art on the wide footpath outside Nga Tipu. And making Dreamspace the workshops HQ…

Painting with grandson

May 4, 2018

One on one painting joint venture – a bear/wolf with Eddie, for his brother Bruno – now at school!

Eddie loves mixing up all colours to muddy, but by a cunning method – in between the freeflow colour mixup – I got him to do structure on canvas which ended up as this bear looking at a diamond… every thing that he put on canvas that looked like something I got him to follow up, and helped him not to paint/plaster the shapes over so they built… Yes suggestive structuring… scaffolding I think the term is… Raewyn’s studying early childhood education.. one guy they study, Vygotsky, says they benefit from these scaffolds for play and learning so they can explore cool new things more easily. So, Eddie got to mix up a lot of paint, but also got a bear to give his brother:)

It would be interesting to do a whole kaleidoscope of painting with a group of similar aged kids…a Renaissance creative painting Workshop…?

‘It’s Life, Jim, but not as we know it.’ Feedback invited on ‘LIFEGYM’ idea

April 5, 2018

LIFEGYM with yellow door copy

Well, the only constant is change, whether Evolution devolution or destruction… Hopefully this new thing which knocked on my doors of conception in the wee small hours the other day is an Evolution for Dreamspace and friends….?

The thing is, I’m an artist but I don’t want to just fill Dreamspace with Things I Created – I want there to be a Life here for more than just me. I want to Share Dreamspace and its ‘havenly’ qualities with others – and not just visitors who come, look and go away. Hence, ‘LIFEGYM’ (working title – could also be Artgym or Mindgym or Dreamgym or…)

Let me know if the following trial prospectus interests you. It’s a concept doc only, not set in stone – or woodblock – yet!

Lifegym

 

**** CONCEPT DOCUMENT 5/4/18 -YOUR FEEDBACK INVITED! ****

At Dreamspace Gallery and Workshops, 61 Carnarvon St, Gisborne

A safe haven for artists, spiritual and mental seekers A workout space for the mind and spirit…

-a supportive place to learn and create art and crafts, read, meditate, practice Yoga, Chi Gong, Positive Psychology and other life-enhancing techniques

– a venue for workshops on a rainbow of fascinating, life-enhancing topics

– meet and synergise with others of like mind and heart.

Membership of [ballpark] $17 a week gets you into your own Dreamscape, a kaleidoscope of life-enhancing experiences:

  • Use (scheduled) of the various workrooms and their equipment –
  • Painting studio
  • Picture framing, glasscutting, stained glass area
  • Blue Room for meditation etc
  • Library and fibre broadband
  • Bookbinding, embossing and printmaking room
  • Woodworking, metalwork and carving area
  • Stone/shell/bone carving and lapidary room
  • Routing and shaping room
  • Mouldmaking and casting area
  • The Ferrocement yard for sculpture of anything from garden pots to ponds to statues to ‘hobbit cabins’
  • The large gallery room for meetings, talks, dancing, yoga etc, also exhibitions and other events.
  • The ‘upper room’ to eat, drink and lounge…

 

  • Individual and group life/art/writing coaching from Peter Harris (MA in philosophy) based on his 4phase creative process philosophy – see 4phase.org – and metaphysics, a mix of Plato, Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance), Nietzsche, and others of the ‘Perennial Philosophy’ of the Western tradition (and some wisdom from the East, naturally! – mainly Taoism, Tantrism and Zen).

Our goal is to create in ourselves a dynamic, ultra-creative ‘Great Health’ as Nietzsche called it, honouring the Balance of masculine-feminine, left brain-right brain, rational and intuitive, dynamic progress and stable prosperity.

As in Star Trek, ‘It’s LIFE, Jim, but not as we know it.’ It’s LIFEGYM.

Come to Dreamspace and have a look and a chat with me now! (At present open Monday to Friday 10 AM to at least 4PM but I’m normally no more than 5 minutes away –  this is Gisborne!)

 

Follow us on the website www.dreamspace.nz   and get email notifications of new posts. Phone Peter Harris 022 3326568