ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

“Gumbo Ya-Ya” is a New Orleans Creole colloquialism that means “A Little Bit of Everything”. Melanie FerDon collaborated with ConnieLene Johnston and Trina Garratt in an exibition at The Quarry – Yvonne Rusk Gallery in Whangarei, New Zealand.

“Gumbo Ya-Ya” was an exciting multi-media exhibition of paintings, sculpture and knit garments, held at the Yvonne Rust Gallery, The Quarry, in Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand.

Mardi Gras, colour, and the hidden was the focus of The Yvonne Rust Gallery’s “Gumbo Ya-Ya” (a Little Bit of Everything) exhibition. The exhibition was curated by Melanie FerDon, Trina Garratt and me.”Gumbo Ya-Ya” is a New Orleans Creole colloquialism that means a Little Bit of Everything.

Excerpt from Leader newspaper

Mardi Gras, colour and the hidden is the focus of The Yvonne Rust Gallery’s Gumbo Ya Ya (a bit of everything) exhibition on now.
Melanie FerDon, Trina Garratt and Connie Johnston curate the multimedia exhibition.
Melanie FerDon is American-born, but has been in New Zealand since 1982 and is now in her final year of a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Whitecliffe College of Art and Design. She is a contemporary painter of human figures in dark, rich colours on large canvases.

Danish-born artist Connie Johnston is a textile-wearable artist working mainly with natural fibres. Over the past 30 years she has had her designs, which have been included in many exhibitions and competitions, selling worldwide.

Trina Garratt is New Zealand-born and has studied at the Cut Above Academy, where she specialised in special effects make-up, and Whitecliffe College of Art and Design, where she has also exhibited. She has been the special effects artist for the Auckland War Memorial Museum for the “Whodunnit” exhibition as well as numerous short films and the popular television series Xena Warrior Princess.

There are three large paintings, four sculptures, and eight sweaters and a magnificent cloak in the exhibition which runs until Thursday.