New Horizons
Invitation writer: Julia Sobkowiak (left in photo)
Julia stopped by the essence office recently and we were intrigued by her story of having grown up in Poland and Germany, before moving to North Canterbury and starting a new life as an artist. In her own words, she describes her experience of taking part in last month’s NZ Art Show in Wellington, the largest exhibition of its kind in the country.
Bringing the spirit back home
By Julia Sobkowiak
July, 28th 2011: Rays of late afternoon sunlight break through jagged, white tipped mountain ranges, touching the fluffy quilt of clouds and turning them into delicious cream, before finally hitting the side of the plane in ice-sharp explosions of light. Here I am, trying to take in and grasp the perfection of this moment. Through the window, I see a new horizon gleaming in the distance.
I am on my way to Wellington. With me, my dearest friends who have followed me through the last hard and happy year of shaken up fears, unsteadiness, hope, endurance and new optimism. We are going to join thousands of visitors to view my work alongside about 475 other New Zealand artists at the New Zealand Art Show. We are excited and happy and all a bit worried because we decided to leave our families at home. Thoughts of quakes and tsunamis are following us like unwelcome shadows. But still, we know we can’t stop living because of them so we follow the old advice: “If you can’t fight your enemy, make friends,” so with bags packed and hopes high, we start our wonderful weekend away.
Our trip is a mixture of business and fun. The first evening is all fun. We are craving a bit of night life, a chance to enjoy ourselves. Being used to barrier tape, cordons and roads you only dare to pass in four-wheel-drives, we can hardly remember that Christchurch used to be a bustling, vibrant city. Wellington is bursting with life. Any time of day or night, there are people everywhere you go. They move around the city’s tall buildings as if there is nothing to worry about. They eat out, dance, and have fun! We go along with the locals, stop worrying about safe places to jump under in case of a quake and decide to dine in a more than unsafe seeming brick building on the second floor (“Voodoo”). We enjoy the atmosphere, the drinks and food; we relax. We talk a lot about what we are missing in North Canterbury, the rebuild and all the people moving away. It is so enjoyable to be away from home, away from questions and away from worries which we did not cause.
The following day, business started – at least for me. My heart was nearly beating out the top of my new ‘trying-to-look-business-like’ jacket when I stepped up to the NZ Art Show’s front desk to get my free artist-ticket. I was so excited! This was the first time I had participated in a big art show and it was in a country I dearly love but still not know well enough to call home.
When I moved to North Canterbury in February last year, I had just finished my degree in Art, Art Therapy and Art Education in Germany. I followed my Kiwi partner home and decided to take up working as an artist. I was unsure if this path was for me, knowing how hard it is anywhere in the world to survive as an artist. But from what I have seen so far in New Zealand – and because of a lot of encouragement from my new Kiwi girlfriends – I thought I had to give it a go. I wanted to share my view of life in New Zealand, which I took up as a topic in my art work with others. Being chosen for the NZ Art Show was a major push for me to continue. To see my work in amongst all the other brilliant art works made me really proud. I spent most of the day talking to other artists. It was so encouraging and unbelievably interesting to see how they work and how they distribute their art work. When I came out of the show rooms, my head was full of new ideas and my heart was filled with optimism! One thing I did notice, though, was the lack of artists at the show from Christchurch or North Canterbury. I know artists are struggling in our region and it made me quite sad, but also gave me another push not to give up despite the inevitable obstacles.
Just as I was asking one of my friends if there was such thing as ‘a New Zealand cuisine’, the opportunity came to try some yummy New Zealand food (“Kapai”). Our city trip continued with a very uplifting shopping experience, (Friday being late night shopping). We enjoyed Wellington and all its differences and were thrilled by the possibilities of the city, discussing ideas on how to bring the spirit back home!
The next day we visited a craft market, held every week, and came away very inspired. Two of my girlfriends are devoting a lot of their time to design, sewing and craftwork. They can now see new opportunities to turn their passion into money by sharing their work with an interested community. We went through galleries and asked about exhibit conditions. We even came up with the idea of opening our own shop in Rangiora as a way of bringing some of our city experiences back home.
Before getting on the plane, we set off for a last meal in this big pool of possibilities. Over cocktails, we shared more thoughts and ideas. We laughed and cried, we were happy and sad but most of all we were encouraged! Seeing what we miss made us think.
By the time we flew out of Wellington, the day was drawing to an end. The sun left only a thin strip of red light above the surface of the water. The traffic and street lights, the illuminated windows, faded into sparkly fairy lights.
The view out the little window was black now, but I could still make out new horizons before us.
Julia Sobkowiak took part in the NZ Art Show in Wellington 2011. The New Zealand Art Show is an annual three-day art exhibition held in Wellington’s TSB Arena, July 29-31.
Established in 2004, the last seven years has seen the event grow in size, reputation and quality. The exhibition showcases around 3,000 artworks by some 500 artists. Since its inception it has sold around $5 million worth of art, returning over $4 million back to artists – making the show a significant contributor to New Zealand’s arts community.
