LITTLE VIXEN
Fox paws to a new artistic den in Ashhurst. Carly Thomas followed them for a look.
An artistic den where the magic happens
Some things in life are uncertain.
But one thing that is a solid known is the arty chats and non-arty chats revolving around life that sustains artiness, and the hearty laughter that will most definitely happen at the round table in The Little Vixen.
It’s the stuff that fills owner Nicola Gregory. The Little Vixen is a space she has dreamed up to make all that magic happen and it’s an art gallery, a creative space with coffee, a place of teaching and learning, and it is a leap of faith and heart for Gregory.
She has been craving a place of her own that she can share with others for a long time.
The past few years for her have been about getting her face into the arts community.
Gregory is known for her emotive, strong and always quirky art that she makes prolifically. She has held down a joint studio space in Square Edge Community Arts, Palmerston North, and she got the first Manawatu¯ Arts Trail on its feet last year.
Gregory has done the hard yards and now she says she is ready to follow her instincts.
‘‘I have spent the last year really trying to pin down what my vision is. I have done workshops and reading, personal development and growth to really find the purpose and intention behind what I am doing.’’
She has lived in the Pohangina Valley for 11 years, so Ashhurst is a place she knows well. The building that now houses Little Vixen is one she has passed many times. When the for-lease sign went up, so did her heart.
‘‘Someone said to me, ‘have some gumption, girl’, and I thought, actually, I totally need gumption. So, now I have put this in my path and I am going to make my own way.’’
A name, too, was something she needed. Lists were written, advice was sought, discussions around tables and coffee were had. And it came back to a constant in her life, the fox and a hilarious, banter-filled quiz night spent with locals at the Pohangina Hall.
‘‘It was a while ago and I was seated next to Jill Walcroft, from Cartwheel Creamery, and we were being silly back and forth. I was being obnoxiously competitive and a know-all and I was just being a naughty pain in the butt to Jill. It was hilarious.’’
This was quite a different Gregory from the usually polite person that Walcroft was used to and at the end of the night Walcroft turned around to Gregory and said: ‘‘Oh, you are quite the little vixen aren’t you?’’
Gregory says at first she was taken aback, but then she thought, ‘‘yes, I am, I totally am’’. At the time, foxes were also creeping into her artwork, peering around red velvet curtains and appearing in the background as a sly character that was wanting to be a part of her narrative. The Little Vixen was right, it was the name that had to be.
‘‘It was a serendipitous moment where I really connected to that character.’’
There are fox prints leading to the door, fox pictures and, well, there are foxes galore. People have gifted them to Gregory over the years and her collection has grown. And then there is the fox mum and her cubs beneath the handmade counter.
Gregory had seen the taxidermied treasure on Trade Me and says she fell under the bidding war trance.
‘‘I started bidding and clearly this other woman also wanted it. I then got into a flow and you think: ‘No, actually that is mine’, and I just kept pressing bid, bid, bid. And then I went ‘OK, I actually have to stop now’.’’
She put her final bid on and closed her phone, placing it down next to her.
‘‘I thought if it’s mine and it is supposed to come home, it will.’’
She opened her phone later when the auction had finished. By now, her kids had totally forgotten about their mum’s slightly crazed momentary obsession and so it was a solitary Gregory that found out she had won the mama fox.
‘‘I was like, ‘oh, I have to pay that now’. I didn’t tell anyone in the house and I just quietly paid for the fox.’’
It eventually arrived, in a huge, oversized box.
‘‘It is the most amazing, beautiful thing.’’
It was placed on the table and as people came and went everyone, says Gregory, paused in front of the fox. ‘‘They didn’t know what to say. It’s great.’’
Mama fox and her cubs now have their own nook beneath the gallery’s wide counter, below the shiny new coffee machine and the home-baked scones. They have their own lighting even and will oversee the frequently changing exhibitions, the kids’ art classes, adult workshops, community happenings and coffee drinkers. Gregory says the little family will no doubt be a talking point.
Because Gregory isn’t scared of that any more. Creating discussion, sharing opinions, teaching art to kids in her own exploratory way that isn’t a paint-by-numbers how-to. Gregory stands in a space where robust chat, art-filled inspiration and finding the freedom to be yourself is welcomed.
And there is a table, in a gallery, in the Ruahine-hugged town of Ashhurst. And that table will soon be filled with words and whim and wonder, led by a woman who has finally followed her own way home.
The Little Vixen will officially open this Saturday with a celebration featuring music by Carson Taare, local Morris dancers and the unveiling of the gallery’s first exhibition The Locals: From the Village to the Valley, a collection of artists from the local surrounds.