One of the biggest blessings that I had growing up was the influence Pasifika arts i.e. through music, dance, fine arts, design etc. as seen through churches, on the streets, in Samoa, in Mangere, in South Auckland etc. that's why I love bright colours in my artwork, Pasifika drum beats in music with the influence of ukelele and guitar rhymths.
I also enjoy Pasifika dance from the Samoan Mauluulu to the Cook Islands drum dance and have encouraged my children in the arts too from learning how to play the ukelele and guitar as well as keyboards as I learnt growing up. Now my eldest has learnt all three as the others are learning as well. This is similar to Fritz (husband) who also plays the guitar, ukelele, drums, bass, electric and keyboard even more proficiently than I (he was in a band including church bands).
So it's quite important for me to pass it onto our next generation with my children also being encouraged in the arts through having a visual diary to draw from a young age to draft and design as well as giving them opportunities to learn dance starting from ballet (to give them exposure to different genre) and now for them to choose from the different dance opportunities available to them.
I'm also currently working on a playlist of songs that I would like to feature at the next book launches that I have with the next launch next month in July of a series of performance plays that I wrote for South Auckland school full play performances in the 1990s. One of the songs that I like is my Nesian Mystik (You tube clip) that reminds me of my teaching days in the 90s.
I'm really excited with these next book launches as they will be at local public libraries open for the public to attend on Fridays and also will be inviting local schools leaders to come to. The artwork on the covers will feature art from some of my family members that fit the brief that I have of bright, original Pasifika art with more news to come...
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