Trudy Fowler, our Administration Support staff member has recently been embarking on an exciting creative journey.

She designed and created a Wearable Arts garment that was selected as a WOW 2023 finalist! This is a huge achievement and the students who have participated in wearable arts will understand the enormous commitment this involves. We are very excited and inspired by this and hopefully it will encourage a few more students to bring their ideas to life through wearable arts. A stunning garment and WOW even used the textile design on their merchandise to create umbrellas. 

Amazing work Trudy!

Artist Statement: Trudy Fowler is a Nelson born Fashion and Textiles designer, who is now based in Tararua, with a studio that looks out over the Te Apiti windfarm and the Tararua Ranges.Trudy graduated with a diploma in Fashion and Textiles design from NMIT in 2001 and went on to work in arts management before starting her family. 

She has previously had two finalist entries in the wearable art awards and loves creating costumes, fashion accessories and textile based art, which she has exhibited in many places over the years. Texture has always been a theme within Trudy's work, she loves exploring different techniques and materials to create new and unusual textures. 

In recent years she has done courses in Whakapapa Quilting and Raranga Harakeke with two amazing Tararua artists, these courses have helped to shape the direction she is going in with her work, and opened her eyes to new techniques. 

She is looking forward to seeing where this new direction takes her.