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No fewer than three Warkworth creatives have won selection as finalists in the national World of Wearable Arts (WoW) awards show in Wellington next month.
The hand-crafted works of Jayne Boesley, Philippa Stichbury and Jennifer Lambert will be showcased to an audience of 60,000 at a glitzy stage production. There were 12 finalists selected from the Auckland region, including the Warkworth trio.
It is Jayne’s seventh time entering the WoW awards, and she says this year is one of her most ambitious designs yet. She has entered the new Elizabethan category.
She has made use of hand-stitched and embroidered tablecloths made by her mother that have become tea stained over the years and might otherwise have been thrown away.
“It’s something that a queen would parade around in, in her castle gardens,” she says.
She is hoping that her eighth time is the charm, but says it is exciting just to see her creation worn by choreographed professional models on stage.
Philippa has been selected as a finalist each of the eight times that she has entered the WoW competition. She comes from an arts background, having been a school art teacher for 15 years. Her father was a potter and her mother a weaver.
This is the first time she has entered the competition from NZ, having recently returned from Australia after 12 years due to Covid-19.
Her outfit this year is a tribute to the Kiwi way of life. It is chiefly made of recycled cardboard.
She is unsurprised that three finalists have been selected from Warkworth, despite its low population, due to its network of artists and creatives, including at Kowhai Arts and Crafts.
Jennifer has been entering the competition annually since 2011, and this is the second time she has been selected as finalist. She was last selected in 2014.
“I know a lot about the heartbreaks of putting in the hard work and not being selected,” she says.
The theme of her work is determination and not giving up even in the face of adversity. Her outfit is made of polypropylene sheets and plastic rivets, plus other leftover materials from a recent home renovation. She was inspired to enter the competition after watching the show with family 10 years ago.
“I can’t sew to save my life, but I have been winging it all these years,” she says.
