Here in New Zealand. The leading power provider Chorus, regularly support artists, via their local councils to enhance the look of these boxes. which their must be thousands of across the country!
https://www.chorus.co.nz/blog/cabinet-art-gallery
Via a competition hosted by the kind people at Creative Bay Of Plenty ( CBOP) i won the chance to get paid to paint a power box that was pretty much in the best spot ever. Directly across the road form the Mount Hot Pools and directly underneath Mt Maunganui itself. A tourist hotspot. Yes i was going to have to paint in the most public of places again. It felt like it had been a while. !
During the 2nd NZ wide lockdown , Aug-september 2021, i didn’t cope very well with being stuck with my whole family all of the time . This may sound harsh but hey, i’m not afriad to admit that i need my personal space. I need brain space, i need space to move without interruption on my yoga mat and i need space, after i’ve had all of that other space.. to actually get some work done in. So yeah my personal needs in terms of time and space are pretty high. Also this time around, unlike when we were pretty fresh in the country and had nothing to be locked down away from.. i had a fully functioning small business , all -wheels constantly turning to maintain a small amount of income type thing. Thats the thing with self employment is that if you take your foot off the gas now, in terms of promotion or paperwork or getting involved with potential projects in whatever way neccesary, then you find youself out of work in a few months time. This lockdown didnt seem to be too threatening, it felt like it was going to be brief, so i had no choice but to keep slogging away on this here computer applying for stuff, submitting designs, despite the fact that i had NO SPACE and my child was literally jumping on my head the entire time. Luckily it all came through and this design follwing the CBOP brief “Birds of Aoteraroa” , my interpretation of the colours of the Kereru or NZ Wood Pigeon has been brought to life!
This painting project was great, amazing, perfectly sized and timed to fit around the part-time job that i’d managed to aquire during lockdown too ( desperate to get away from family yes that’s me)
Jess Lowcher the photographer from CBOP came and took some shots of me whilst i was working and they worked a treat on social media i had people from all walks of my life here commenting on the projcect which was a really great feeling.