Letters to Editor
Yellow duck debacle
I believe that the promoter behind the duck who continually writes to your paper to conjure up support for her “work of art” needs to get on with some other work.
Please councillors, do not allow this eyesore on our main street, put it somewhere its supporter can enjoy it. Michael Waite’s idea of it going by the skating park is a wonderful idea. More fitting of CHB depict the four seasons we enjoy here.
Come on CHB artists; come up with an icon which is worthy of our town, and one we can be proud of.
B Wood
Waipawa
CHB Mail, Tuesday September 27, 2005
Letters to Editor
In response
In response to B Wood’s letter last week I have a few facts that I would like to set straight.
Firstly she claimed that I promoted Pawa the Duck as my “work of art”. This I have never done. I have never claimed, not even once, that Pawa the duck is a “work of art”.
When I made Pawa the Duck it was to promote the annual duck race and a sense of fun, not as a serious piece of art. It has certainly achieved this, and more, as it has caught the imagination of residents and travellers alike, having had many photographs taken of it and over fifty articles appearing in local and regional newspapers around New Zealand – even the Woman’s weekly!(which is a lot more than a serious piece of art would ever achieve).
It also had an overwhelming response at last weeks Hastings Blossom Festival which has helped cement even more strongly to me the power a little yellow duck has over the majority of people young and old and the sense of fun it promotes.
Secondly, I have not “continually” written to the paper to promote it as B Wood suggests to conjure up support of my work. My last letter on the subject was back in September 2004 and was my only letter I have ever written to CHB Mail, unlike B Wood’s two letters in last week’s edition!
I cannot be held responsible for articles written in various newspapers or magazines about the duck, especially if reporters ring me up and ask for comment!
It is true I promote Pawa the duck. If anyone asks me about it I will answer honestly and with passion, and I will continue to support Pawa as at least it puts Waipawa on the map, unlike any wishy-washy ideas about promoting four seasons which have no basis so far for any promotion.
And thirdly, B Wood suggests in her letter that I should “get on with some other work” Well, if she was so interested in art as her letter claims, she would already know that I do other serious “works of art”. I have recently participated in two art local exhibitions in the last three months and have sold statues at both events. I have also recently been asked to be part of the Hawkes Bay Art Trail this year and will have works shown in the Tikokino garden walks in November. For three years in a row I have been asked to exhibit my work in “The celebration of New Zealand Sculpture exhibition” in Havelock North where I have sold several statues, and I also have my own website with my statues displayed on it (www.positivelystoneaged.com)
I not only work at school teaching children to read everyday, but I spend my afternoons and a good deal of my weekends carving rock. Plus I involve myself with local events – So I think I do “get on with other work” probably a lot more than she thinks and a lot more than she does herself.
Perhaps before B Wood takes on the task of writing to the paper to attack “the promoter behind the duck” she should get her facts straight!
Jan Gosling
(Maker and Ardent supporter of the duck)
Duck “huntered”
Cr Michael Waite should remember that Pawa the Duck is a national and local icon, and should therefore not be “Huntered”
Owen Jones
Waipawa