Artists turn brushes onto cello
A neglected cello has been given some much-needed TLC in the hopes it’ll find its way to a new owner.
Andrea Green and her granddaughter Jaimee McKewen have transformed an old cello into a work of art.
They plan to sell the instrument through internet auction website Trade Me, with the proceeds going to Sistema Waikato.
Sistema Waikato is a community-based social development programme which uses orchestral music-making as a model for changing lives.
They are based at Nawton School in Hamilton and provide hundreds of instruments to pupils each year.
Andrea and Jaimee started work on the cello four months ago, and the pair found the task a little daunting at first.
‘‘My first thought was, can I do it well enough? But then I thought, if the people in Morrinsville can paint a cow then surely I could paint a cello,’’ Andrea said.
She began by removing the varnish from the instrument, sanding it down, filling it in and giving it an undercoat.
That’s when Berkley Normal Middle School student Jaimee came on board.
‘‘We cut out life-sized paper cellos and individually started working on some ideas,’’ Andrea said.
It wasn’t long before the pair spotted a theme of metamorphosis within their work: vines creeping towards the neck of the cello and monarch butterflies, bees and other insects peering out from under leaves.
‘‘[It] is what I envisioned happening when children are taught the joy of playing music; a metamorphosis of self that comes from creating in any form,’’ Andrea said.
‘What I hope will come from this is that grandparents will see something that has been created together. Time is so short these days. It’s good to spend it with your grandchildren.’’
The auction went live this week at www.trademe.co.nz/art. For more information on Sistema Waikato, visit www.sistemawaikato.org.nz