• Exhibitions & events

On now: my first solo exhibition at ArtsPost!

I’m sure you’d love to see photos… so here you go!

The opening preview evening

Outside: cold, dark, very foggy Waikato evening. Inside: champagne, magic, mystery, and lots of swirly skirts!

Ok, I'm rather proud of myself. My first solo exhibition! And huge thanks to the folks at ArtsPost for helping me make this room magical.
Ok, I’m rather proud of myself. My first solo exhibition! And huge thanks to the folks at ArtsPost for helping me make this room magical.
I created 3 behind-the-scenes videos that play at my exhibition: Paige's Giselle series, Elena's Hürrem Sultan series, and my mermaids. People seem to really enjoy watching them.
I created 3 behind-the-scenes videos that play at my exhibition: Paige’s Giselle series, Elena’s Hürrem Sultan series, and my mermaids. People seem to really enjoy watching them.
At the opening preview evening.

Glimpses of stories from three dancers

Paige is fifteen and wants to be a professional ballerina. She dreams of twirling, skirts flying and pointe shoes whispering and dancing a story of love, joy, heartbreak, revenge, and an ultimate act of forgiveness, in the hauntingly romantic ballet, Giselle. You can see all about our Giselle series here.

Introducing Paige, who dances in our series based on the romantic ballet Giselle.
Introducing Paige, who dances in our series based on the romantic ballet Giselle.

Elena is a belly dancer, inspired to dance by one of the greatest love stories you’ve probably never heard of: when a Ruthenian slave girl captured the heart of a sultan. He named her Hürrem, ‘the cheerful one’, and wrote poems to her eyes. You can see where we’re up to in her story here.

Our brand new Hürrem Sultan series, danced by belly dancer Elena and her husband Yevgen (Jack).
Our brand new Hürrem Sultan series, danced by belly dancer Elena and her husband Yevgen (Jack).

And me, who reads far too many fantasy novels now steps into my own wondrous adventures. You can see my adventure with the mermaids here.

Remember the mermaids?
Remember the mermaids?

And I’m getting great feedback from visitors!

It’s one thing to read about these artworks online, but a lot of people were telling me that seeing the artworks in person with their rich colours and detailed texture is quite a different experience (yay!)

Some wonderful things visitors wrote for me in my guest book.
Some wonderful things visitors wrote for me in my guest book.
Some more wonderful things visitors wrote for me in my guest book.
Some more wonderful things visitors wrote for me in my guest book.

If you’re in Hamilton before the 26th of June, pop into ArtsPost and have a look. Oh, and leave me a comment in my guest book – I’d love to hear from you!

Keep on shining bright,

Ailene

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2 comments

  1. love, love, love

    and that’s not personal as such, but personal artistic show

    you now have set yourself a benchmark, you know you can do this and so I guess you will continue to leave your mark.

    who/what is your next story – after you’ve recovered off course, from all this excitement etc.

    1. Thank so much Cathy! I was standing in my exhibition room yesterday and thinking “wow, I can’t believe I did this!” and “this is amazing!” 🙂

      What’s next… that’s a great question. There’s my air dancers I need to bring to life (once I figure out how to get the reference photos), and I have some ideas of dancers I can approach to collaborate with. And there’s also some clay with my name on it that needs sculpting. It’s going to be fun!

(If you'd like to leave me a message too, I'd love to hear from you! I've turned off comments on this post because it's older than a couple of weeks, but you can email me at ailene@oldmountainart.com)