Wearing its art on its sleeve

The Masked Parade is the colourful opening event of Nelson's October Arts Festival.

It wasn't the darkened, windowless room that set my heart aflutter. Even the shadowy corners and stares from the mannequins didn't faze me. But there was a definite jolt of panic when slipping between the big, double doors into the World of Wearable Art Gallery in Nelson.

Self-diagnosis identified it as a case of so-much-to-see-so-little-time panic - like a seasoned shopper spotting the most exciting stores from the window of the tour bus and realising the bus isn't stopping.

The panic quickly gives way to the delicious realisation that, unlike the annual Wearable Art show which has moved to Wellington, here in Nelson where it all began the garments are close enough to touch (though touching is, of course, forbidden). Each fabulous creation will glide and twirl along the stage as many times as you feel like taking a seat or standing at the stage edge.

Countless wearable artworks have been created since the awards show began in 1987, and there's always so much to look at, including the incredible detail which is often impossible to appreciate when one is in the audience at an awards show.

A selection of garments from the latest Wearable Arts show in Wellington this month will go on display at the museum just in time for the annual influx of tourists to Nelson for the October Arts Festival.

The arts festival started out 12 years ago as a little, local event, largely in the shadow of the much-more-famous Wearable Arts show. A year after the show crossed the Cook Strait to the capital, there's no talk in Nelson of being left in tatters without a key event to support.

The key event now is the festival.

And, the "art" in "arts festival" is not just about paintings and sculpture, but the whole gamut from the performing arts of acting, reading poetry, music and dance to the creation of supreme wines, beers, food and fashionable adornment in cloth and precious metals.

The core attractions which first launched the festival are still there and are big events in their own right.

The most spectacular of these is the Masked Parade, the opening event on October 3, with around 4000 schoolchildren and adults in costumes and on stilts wending their way around the city main streets in an explosion of colour and music.

The Masked Parade is New Zealand's closest thing to the world-famous street events held every year in Venice and Rio de Janeiro, says festival director Annabel Norman, and it provides a joyous element that other art festivals in New Zealand don't have.

In the Sculpture Symposium a dozen sculptors create works from steel, stone, concrete, wood and other materials in an outdoor studio - this year in Albion Square. The sculptors have a fortnight to complete their works, which then go on display in a tranquil park beneath spectacular night-lighting and giant heritage trees.

There's endless fascination in watching the the chipping of stone, sawing, grinding, hammering and sanding as the mundane material shapes evolve into artworks which will be auctioned on the internet by art dealers Fishers Fine Arts.

Albion Square, one of Nelson's oldest inner-city precincts, will be the focus of festival performances, with the car park transformed into a marquee-style venue, complete with a lighthouse structure and powerful beam of light to guide visitors.

Performers will range from writer, commentator and comedian Joe Bennett to Nelson-based music writer Grant Smithies sharing some of his favourite tracks (from his collection of more than 20,000 records); from an Irish music and dance band to a group of poets; and from Auckland-based band Awake at Dawn, to Wellington jazz duo Manimanima Express.

The arts festival will reach its climax over Labour Weekend with performers such as singer-songwriter Don McGlashan and Australia's very funny dance theatre performance of Blue Love.

Labour Weekend is also when the Celebrate Nelson free event takes over the main streets like a market day, showcasing the region's gourmet food, wine and beer, more art and locally made products, and performers.

Finally there's the last-hurrah party, tickets for which are traditionally snapped up early, but which always lasts until late.

Checklist

Getting there
Air New Zealand has regular flights to Nelson from Auckland and other airports around the country. See website link below.

Arts and crafts
Programme details and bookings for the Nelson Arts Festival are available online. See link below.

On the Nelson arts website you'll find a list of art galleries and their websites and contact details.

Further information
Latitude Nelson, the regional tourism organisation, phone (03) 546 6228 or see link below.

Win an art-filled break in Nelson

Would you like to be able to pop down to Nelson during the October Arts Festival?

Herald Travel, Air New Zealand and Latitude Nelson are offering four chances to win a festival package including:

* Two return air tickets to Nelson flying Air New Zealand.

* Two tickets to one of the following events in the Nelson Arts Festival which runs October 13-23:

Rainer Hersch in All Classical Music Explained - a multitalented British comedian and musician equally at home at the famous Comedy Store in London or conducting the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Don McGlashan and the Seven Sisters - Songs to be Homesick By, songs such as Anchor Me and Dominion Road capture the essence of being Kiwi.

Blue Love - From a fantastic place where TV soap meets art-house film, Australians Glenn and Rhonda Flune take the audience in a search of the perfect relationship in this poetic and satiric dance/theatre production.

Peninsula - It is the 1960s and Michael Hope lives at the edge of the flooded volcanic crater known as Akaroa Harbour on Banks Peninsula. Contemporary New Zealand theatre at its best.

* Free entry for two, into the World of Wearable Art and Classic Cars Museum. The museum blends classic cars and garments from the annual WOW Awards show.

* A 15 per cent discount voucher for glassware purchased at Hoglund Art Glass, International Glass Centre in Nelson. The sight of skilful glassblowers at work at the Hoglund glassblowing studio is a magical and mesmerising experience.

* Three days' free car rental with Avis Rent-A-Car. Avis is New Zealand's leading rental car company with an extensive fleet of late model vehicles.

* Two nights' accommodation for two in an exquisitely decorated Deluxe hotel room at Monaco Hotel and Resort.

Centrally located on Monaco Point, Monaco Hotel overlooks Waimea Inlet and Tasman Bay and is just five minutes from Nelson Airport and 15 minutes from vibrant Nelson cafes and restaurants.

These packages must be used before the end of the festival.

* Air New Zealand are also offering six extra prizes of air tickets for two to Nelson. The tickets must all be used by March 1, 2007.

To be in to win put your name and address and a daytime phone number on the back of an envelope, give the name of the city where the Wearable Arts Awards started, and post to:

Nelson Weekend, Travel Section, NZ Herald, PO Box 3290, Auckland.

Entries must reach the Herald by noon on September 21. Winners will be listed in Travel on September 26.