‘the Looking For Friends Person’
XCHC has touched the lives of countless creatives, providing support and community. Our purpose is to cultivate a creative ecology, which we do by facilitating connections and providing space where people can experiment, test/exchange ideas, and develop their creative practice. This interview is part of our spotlight series that tells the stories of the creatives found at XCHC.
Bella delivering a Pecha Kucha presentation | 6:50 | WATCH HERE
Next up in our community to be interviewed was Bella Roake, a talented textile artist, artist and all round beautiful soul. If you’re looking for the best hugs in XCHC, this soul is most definitely one of the top contenders. Bella was kind enough to share with us some of her personal experiences since joining the XCHC community; going from cafe patron to resident artist, to lifelong member of the XCHC family!
Can you recall a memory from XCHC that stands out to you? What was it about this experience that was meaningful for you?
The moment I first met Preston! My first event at XCHC was just wrapping up, and I was on a mission to find out if this funky place had other events specifically for meeting people and hanging out. Preston, with his friendly, smiley face, was picking up glasses and plates and looked like a good person to approach. I walked over and introduced myself as I followed him around, "Hi, my name is Bella, I'm looking for some friends..can you help me out?". And well, the rest was history! I never thought I would be a part of such an amazing community full of creative, loving and open minded humans. Preston will forever be listed in my contacts as 'Exchange Dude' while I'm sure I'll be forever 'Bella Roake - the Looking For Friends Person'.
Have your experiences at XCHC influenced your creative work, if so how?
Exchange's initial purpose for me was to find friends and build community and while I had my studio space here, I feel I truly found these things. It's hard to say if any particular experiences have influenced my creative work, but as a whole, I have no doubt that the essence of XCHC lives within the work I created while I was an artist in residence here.
If you had to highlight one main benefit of being part of XCHC, what would it be and why?
Community! There is nothing better than being able to turn up to a place and always feel welcomed, loved, inspired, creative and hungry...Pedro your food is amazing!
What are you currently working on and is there a way that XCHC could support you in some way?
I'm currently studying at 'Te Wānanga o Aotearoa', doing a course in Small Business and Project Management, to help get the business side of my creative work up and running. While in lockdown I've pulled some old passion projects out of the studio sideline box and into the spare bedroom. Domestic sewing machine up and running and piles of old jeans, colourful karate belts, fabrics and haberdashery at the ready.. I'm underway making rucksacks from the unwanted and discarded.
You can see more of Bella by following her on Facebook, Instagram or by visiting us at XCHC when she’s around! Stay tuned for more Community Spotlights coming soon.
Most recent project | Exhibited and sold at the Isolations Creations Exhibition May-June 2020
Transforming the mundane, throwaway and undervalued materials of societies consumption, this project stands as a metaphor of the interplay between materialism and the environment. It is a continuous exploration of the visual, tactile and expressive potential of materials through colour play, giving a voice to the otherwise forgotten and discarded materials of our world. There is a beauty in second hand materials and objects, this bag stands as a challenge, and thought provoking collection of many moments in time, with the (un)known stories of many coming together through a new material object. Space is given for the stories of the materials used, everything comes from somewhere.
Made from second hand materials (where possible) and constructed purely with sewing machine, hand tools, and love. The materials used include:
-Old black and blue jeans of the designer for the main body and lids of pockets.
-Blue and white striped fabric from shop ‘Vintage Wonderland’ for pocket lid linings.
-Drop cloth from designers first screen printing class for outer pocket linings.
-Old towel & black sheet, originally used as market-stall table cloth, now straps.
-Magnetic domes, D-rings and lid pocket zip from junk shop.
-Old green and white valance from bed for main lining fabric and cord for closure of bag.
-Zip from fly of jeans for inner zip pocket.
-Sewing thread sourced from second hand shops.
-Eyelets for closure cord (only new material)