The Magazine!

It's been a while since I made a posting here, thanks largely to a madly busy month or so of completing the magazine for the print deadline, followed by a launch event, filming some video snapshots with Merryn and Michael from CORE, and distribution of the magazine to schools, cafes and other locations around the city.

The response we've received when we show people the finished magazine has been outstanding. Having been so focused on the production of the magazine I think we've almost become blase about what we've achieved. I was reminded of this recently when I dropped in to show it to the team at Ministry of Done. They've been involved in more than their fair share of publications, and I really respect their opinion on educational projects. Hearing how impressed they were with Passionfruit made me step back and think "Yeah, we dun good!"

This added to a message that one of the students had received from painter Grahame Sydney in response to receiving a copy of Passionfruit:

Many thanks for the copy of the "Passionfruit" magazine received late last week. Its a classy little thing, with plenty of page-turning interest and a bold, sharp design element which makes it look very contemporary and professional.
Your own photographs look terrific, by the way. I trust you're pushing that adventurous talent as hard as you can, and being courageous - trusting your private instinct !!!
. . .
My congratulations to you and the team, and I hope working on Vol 1 has inspired further urges to carry on with more in future.

Another really pleasing experience for me as a facilitator of the project has been to hear the NCEA Level 2 students (who will be carrying on with the project next year) starting to talk about what they want to do in terms of leadership roles, and improvements they will make based on their experiences and the outcomes this year. It feels like we're beginning to build some momentum . . .

 

Passionfruit Magazine website goes live

If we're tracking progress against Doorley and Witthoff's emotional arc for a project, yesterday was a definite 'up' in that we (and by we, I mean web editor Lia Ellis and her team) got the magazine website all live and functional. Articles currently available feature designer Christian Pearce and photographer Mark Hamilton.

As a result of that I'm very proud to be able to let you know that the name of our magazine is Passionfruit, and you can find it online at http://www.passionfruitmagazine.co.nz/. There's also a Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/PassionfruitMagazine which we'd love you to 'Like'. A Pinterest for the project is also in development.

In reflecting on the progress to getting the website live, I want to acknowledge Lia's outstanding perseverance. She's worked through many obstacles in the site development, and refused to give up until she had a product that functioned the way she wanted it to. Of course there are a number of kinks that need to be ironed out, but I have all confidence that she will work through these too.

In conjunction with the web version of the magazine we'll be setting up a couple of online 3D galleries thanks to sponsorship from the good folks at Exhibbit - http://www.exhibbit.com. You can look forward to a gallery of our students' work, along with one of work by the artists we are writing about in the magazine.

Interviews

You know you're in the art project too much when you feel an emotion, and the first thing you think is "I'll blog about it!!" - Sharnae Hope

Among many other tasks (including some substantial requirements for art making) this past week has been the week of artist interviews. Students have carried out a mix of face to face, telephone, and email interviews with artists from around New Zealand. Artists interviewed have included Grahame Sydney, Robin White, Mark Hamilton, Darren Glass and Christian Pearce (whom it turns out is a Fraser old-boy).

As you may have read in my last post, the level of concern was building for some students as they waited to hear back from their chose artists. For those who did hear back there has been a great deal of smiling and celebration. For those who didn't, there has been some hasty choosing and researching about new artists.

Mark Hamilton. Photo by Sarah Crawford

Today has been the best day ever! I interviewed Mark Hamilton, an amazing local photographer who was kind, friendly, and very funny when he was talking about his photographing career and experiences. It was absolutely daunting and exciting at the same time ...    Sarah Crawford 

From a teaching point of view, one of the things I really like about Sarah's blog (http://crawford-sarah.blogspot.co.nz/) is the way she uses her writing to reflect on what she's been learning, and what she'd do differently next time.

 Boom one interview done, and wow it was cool (: i don't know why i was so nervous. My artist was so lovely and i learnt heaps! i'm so stoked i have done it, it finally feels like i'm actually getting somewhere now! i'm very happy with my progress.    Jasmine Wiltshier