Why the High Country Icon? To me New Zealand High Country is an icon in itself but, sadly, the end of traditional high country farming may soon be a quaint memory.
I'm lucky enough to live at the head of Lake Wakatipu where we chase merino sheep around the hills. It's a great way of life and one I'm reluctant to see change for political whim. Like most high country our farm is pastoral lease. The process of Tenure Review offers freehold of the lower country in exchange for the return of the higher country to the Crown. Is it a 'win/win' situation or a poor compromise, which focuses on the almighty dollar and has little regard for social and environmental values? How do you quantify a sense of place? How do you value a musterer's hut which meets no OSH requirements yet after a day on the hill, when the billy's boiling, is the best shelter in the world? Should mountain lands be freeholded at all? Will we look back in twenty years and decide that, after all, Pastoral Leases were an enlightened form of tenure?
A lot of issues were floating around my head but my felting was an attempt to capture the best of the High Country when the sheep are mustered in from their summer grazing. The wool from these sheep still contained tussock seed heads and other leafy bits, which became part of the picture. Kane Carding prepared my wool and I dye it to get the colours I want. I often chuckle that the dull, grey sheep we muster off the tops have such fine, white fibre within, which holds colour and felts so beautifully. It is usually destined for the finest fabrics of the world. If only the models on the catwalks of Milan knew where the wool comes from!
So thank you to all the wonderful women who organised the Creative Fibre Festival. What a great forum to meet other enthusiastic fibre folk and see what's being created. The 'Show and Tell' format was particularly inspiring with wonderful speakers and slides - great food for thought in the winter months ahead when there's more time to explore the glorious potential of felt.