Creating art fence helps deal with emotions

Lindsay and Belinda Duly behind their stunning art fence in Flaxmere. Photo / Paul Taylor

When the country went into lockdown Belinda Duly found herself in a bit of a tizz.

"There were so many things going around in my head," Duly said.

"My children and grandchildren live in Australia, I was worried about them, my husband Lindsay, who had recovered from cancer, had found a lump on his neck and was told he needed an MRI, he also has emphysema and other health issues, I was worried his cancer had come back, our overseas trip was cancelled, it was just overwhelming.

"I pondered on it all for a couple of days then decided to put my emotions into art work."

The result is the stunning fence in Berwick St, Flaxmere.

The fence was built within her bubble — a collaboration of Duly's art work, her husband's building skills and ideas from her niece.

"When I started the first one, which is titled Road to Recovery, I could feel the emotions coming out in me. I was resting my mind — the rest of the work developed from there.

"At first I was going to put it in the back garden but then decided to put it out the front for everyone to enjoy."

The words alongside her first creation explains how Duly was feeling at the time: "It's about the isolation process and how we all have our different journeys to recover from this pandemic Covid 19."

Her second creation was a teddy bear for the children and the third a Mother's Day card.

"We couldn't all be connected with our mothers this year and also my husband had been thinking a lot about his mum, who died when he was 10.

"The final one is three shadows, it is us, our bubble and is also meant to reflect on where New Zealand is going in the future."

Duly laughed when I called her an artist. "I'm not an artist, I would describe myself as creative. I do little bits of creative stuff such as painting cabinets or I might paint a picture for the kids to hang on their wall."

Her creations are made from plywood "all second-hand timber we had lying around the yard".

Duly intends to leave the fence up for another month for people to enjoy.