The link between local musicians and the "fine arts" is stronger than you may suspect and goes back several decades in this town.  Often, through necessity, DIY musicians need to head into new territories to produce their own artwork, as they lack the funds to outsource design work. The resulting artwork, e.g. CD artwork and posters, is a genre in its own right.

Until its recent closure, Christopher Moore gallery seemed to have representation for everyone from Alistair Galbraith to Stuart Porter; the adjacent Bowen Galleries still occasionally shows work by Kim Pieters and Susan Ballard from down south.  Other collaborative efforts had the famous Wellington Media Collective designing and producing posters for the Braille Records crew.

Now DAF106 gallery on Aro Street is running a show of musician self-portraits.  EGO, The Musician as Artist deliberately explores the way creative people express themselves through different art forms.  EGO will draw together a host of local and national musicians, who are also visual artists, as they lay their souls bare and present a self-portrait in their chosen medium.

Self-portraits cause the artists to think laterally about their work and the difference between performance and visual representation of the self.  Submissions may include painting, graphic art, multi-media, photography and sculpture. Size restrictions will apply so as to avoid the possibility of various egos battling for space.

The new Phoenix Foundation video, directed and starring Academy Award®-nominated director Taika Waititi is a wee gem, following our energetic protagonist in a one-shot piece of filming that takes him around the western coastline of Lyall Bay.

So you can’t sleep right?  If the Fringe festival has left you all over stimulated and you are in need of night time novelty may I suggest that you head to the Watsui tonight for the start of a frenetic 24 hour art gumball rally around Wellington.  Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams is going to give us his spin on the ONE DAY SCULPTURE series by taking a used station wagon around 24 locations in 24 hours, aiming to stack up 24 works on the roof rack by  midnight tomorrow.

Planned itinerary after the jump

Downstage opens its doors for the first time this summer with three new shows opening in less than a week!

This time last year Tim Spite’s SEEyD Company thrilled audiences with the paua poaching action adventure Paua (netting Spite the Chapman Tripp Director of the Year Award in the process). Now they’re back with a re-working of earlier success Turbine, which blew people away at BATS in 2006: An environmentally conscious family have their principles tested when a power company wants to build a wind farm in their ‘back yard’.

Turbine opens officially on Friday but early birds (or the price sensitive) can see previews on Wednesday or Thursday night for only $20.

Percussion-monsters Strike are back for one night only on Sunday, playing favourites and showcasing tracks from their forthcoming CD. Guests Lisa Tomlins (The Eggs) and Mana (Rhombus) collaborate and DJ Samu adds breaks. Strike Soundsystem is on Sunday at 8.00pm.

Can’t wait till Craft2.0 in april to get your shopping groove on?

Well no worries, becuase for those of you in Wellington this is a weekend of crafty awesomness…

First up on Waitangi Day itself, why not head out to Pataka and celebrate Waitangi Day and the Festival of the Elements with a spot of crafty shopping.

The Festival of the Elements is  being held at Te Rauparaha Park & Te Rauparaha Arena. The day starts with an  opening ceremony at 11am, with a wide range of arts and entertainment programmes continuing through until 7pm.

The festival uses the arts to celebrate the cultural diversity of Porirua, made possible by the Treaty of Waitangi.  The elements of Earth and Air, Fire and Water embrace concepts of significance to all cultures, concepts around which we can all unite.  Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti rejoice together on Waitangi Day by way of the arts.

Pataka is once again hosting a wide and wonderful range of quality crafts including jewellery, babywear, clothes, beads, lamps, cushions and much much more! You’ll be guaranteed to find something funky, cool, stylish that is made with ‘crafty’ loving care. Everything at Crafting is crafted in NZ and it’s a great chance to meet the person who created whatever you buy.

On Saturday head over the hill to Martinborough where the annual fair is being held. While some of Martinborough Fair is very much focused on imported stuff that might be cheap and break in a month, you’ll also find some really lovely and original handmade creations, many from lovely Craft2.0 crafters.

So have a fun weekend of crafts.