Free workshops and activities at Hutt Public Art Festival

Free arts workshops and activities part of new Common Ground: Hutt Public Art Festival

A new art festival in Lower Hutt promises to spark inspiration and boost creativity with free arts workshops as well as a range of engaging and thoughtful artworks.

Common Ground brings together eleven artists from across New Zealand to show in the Hutt CBD, Riddiford Gardens and Dowse Square. The show runs from 28 February to 7 March and works range from a one-man 24 hour sweatshop making free t-shirts to dancing aliens creating music with creatively recycled waste material.

A key part of the festival are the three free workshops, which people need to register to attend. These are:

Nest Making Workshop with artist Mia Hamilton
Sunday 1 March 11am–1pm
The Dowse Art Museum, 45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt
Bring some materials along to make your own nest and have it displayed in a tree in Riddiford Garden for the duration ofCommon Ground.

Making Musical instruments from trash with Alien Junk Monsters
Sunday 1 March 1.30–3pm
The Dowse Art Museum, 45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt

If you’re keen on making your own funky percussive instrument from recycled materials, Alien Junk Monsters will be running this workshop for all ages.

Barbarian Productions Dress Up Jam Workshop
Saturday 7 March 11am – noon
Suitable for ages 4+
45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt
This is an opportunity for people to take part in a workshop where you’ll get to explore performance and costume and let loose your inner performer with the fantastic Barbarian team!

All workshops need to be booked, even though they are free. To register for any workshop contact The Dowse Art Museum onbookings@dowse.org.nz or 04 570 6500

Amongst the artworks, artist Tim Barlow’s Outside Elbe’s Milk Bar and Lana Lopesi’s A’oga Hutt, are two that engage with local communities and offer opportunities for young and old alike to engage with each other over shared experiences.

Tim Barlow’s work looks back to the role that local milkbar Elbe’s played in the 1954 birth of youth culture and is working with local Rangitahi youth from Wainuiomata to realise the project.

Likewise Lana Lopesi’s work draws on the Pacific community in the Hutt, providing a place to engage with the creative energy of Pacific artists and culture through talanoa (conversation), films, poster making, food and performance.

Outside Elbe’s Milk Bar will have its free to the public opening on Tuesday 3 March at 7pm, a special nostalgia evening on Friday 6 March (7-10pm) and youth debates on Saturday 7 March. A’oga Hutt will be open 10am-5pm each day, Lana invites you to come in and make a revolutionary poster anytime or come in on Tuesday 3 March at 5.30pm to see a screening of a documentary on the Polynesian Panther movement.

Details about the festival can be found at www.commongroundfestival.org.nz

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