For artist and maker, Kristin Kells, the Waitakere Ranges is home. From a young age, growing up in what was then a fairly isolated farm in the ranges, Kris felt a strong connection with nature. She enjoyed making things from what was around her, creating scarecrows and rag dolls. As an adult, her artistic journey took her into designing and making hand-painted and screen-printed duvée covers, always basing her designs on simple natural things that fascinated her; the native grasses and wetas.
Living at Te Henga, Kris has continued to develop a strong relationship with her environment, excited by what can be created using non-traditional fibres. She completed a Diploma of Visual Art, focusing on creating masks from natural found materials; feathers, leaves and seed pods. She has been a winner in the Natural Fibres Category of Trash to Fashion.
Kris becomes very animated when she talks about sharing what she does with children; she loves encouraging children to really look at the shapes of nature’s creations, the patterns and designs in a conch shell or a piece of worm eaten driftwood. Kris believes it is increasingly important for children who often spend a lot of time indoors surrounded by every product of the computer age, to be in touch with the outdoors and to maintain a close relationship with nature.
Through encouraging children to become more observant, Kris wants to inspire them to create beautiful and fantastical things in the classes she will be offering at CEAC.
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