Thursday, May 01, 2008

Up the mountain with Kyle



This Saturday I had the fun of sharing my mountain with an American artist friend Kyle Browne. Kyle spent some time at the New Pacific Studio at Kaiparoro last year, and I helped her with some research into the area for a piece she was working on.
It was a fabulous hand-made book, illustrated with some wonderful imagery from her time in the quiet of the retreat, as well as a wonderful storyline about a journey along a dusty road alongside a mountain Stream, the Makakahi.
Kyle returned to Gloucester, Massachusetts, but returned this year to do another retreat, this time at Karamea. We have kept in touch over the past year, and I was happy to meet up with her again when she spent a few days at Kaiparoro. She was there for the ANZAC day ceremony, and the following day we climbed up to Powell Hut.
We had a great day, looking out for fungi and plants, and steadily climbing up the hill.
It is fantastic to see the mountain through someone else’s eyes - especially an artist. She even found a hollowed out tree to hide in on the way down!


The day turned out to be a bit hectic, as I had to race her back to Kaiparoro, then speed back to Masterton to cook tea, then Jill and I went to the opening night of a play our son Owen is in. Hectic but rewarding.

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