A large, black metal gorilla is one of the eye-catching sculptures at the Kimbolton festival. Photo: RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
A huge metal gorilla, horse heads, a friendly moa and wiremesh figures are just some of the sights transforming a northern Manawatū sportsfield into a country art expo.
The tiny town of Kimbolton is hosting its biennial sculpture festival, where the entries are mostly made of recycled material from the rural backblocks.
More than 4000 people are expected to visit on Saturday, swelling Kimbolton's population by about 1500 percent.
[audio} https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018981895/manawatu-sports-field-transforms-into-country-art-expo
Pam Corpe is a past winner in the festival competition and, this year, the northern Manawatū woman has crafted a large flightless bird.
"My moa is 99 percent recycled," she said. "I had to buy the rivets, because you can't reuse them.
"The body's all made out of corrugated iron, then I've got mower parts for the feet, copper for the legs. The beek's part of a mower and just anything I could find that I didn't have to ask.
"We never knew what a moa looked like, because they all got eaten. It's the general shape of a moa, but it's a friendly moa, because I've got grandkids and they would be terrified if it was too scary looking."
Corpe came from a family of creative people.
"I just like to make things out of nothing," she said. "We had a big mortgage on the farm and we couldn't afford things for the garden, so I made things for my garden."
Pam Corpe and her friendly moa. She intends to take the bird home for her garden. Photo: RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
The moa will be one of those, but she'd like to sell her other work in the festival - a lifesized duck hunter, dog and ducks made from chicken wire and filled with used firearm cartridges.
Most of the sculptures at the festival are for sale.
Corpe got the idea for that work at a clay bird shooting range, when she was told spent shells were tossed out, so instead she collected them and created art. The duck hunter has ear muffs, a riffle and a bottle of whisky, as well as a hunting licence.
Some sculptures carry a political message too, such as Bridgette Murphy's creation.
"It's what I call a casket," she said. "It's in the shape of a ute, but it is for burying something.
"My piece is called 'Drive, Baby, Drive'. My little blurb is: 'Faster, faster, faster - raise those speed limits, ignore the science, burn those fossil fuels even quicker to bring on the climate catastrophe. The only place we'll end up with this attitude is a graveyard'."
The ute's casket is made of copper willow and repurposed plywood crates, and lined with fleece.
There are smaller sculptures too. First-time entrant Jim Lowe, from Feilding, has created a couple, including a model of a rusting truck, advertising a Foxton fruit shop.
"The cab of the truck is an old toy that I found and pulled to bits. The rest of it just stuff from out in the workshop, bits of wood and bits of chain, and grass that I go out and harvest."
Festival trustee Ruth McKenzie says about 90 entries are expected this year, including from children, and an eye-catching primate.
"He came in yesterday," she said, pointing to the huge gorilla.
"As he arrived, coming down the road, everyone was like, 'Woah, what on earth is that?' He's a giant, black, metal gorilla.
Jim Lowe, with one of his smaller creations - a collection of northern Manawatū letterboxes. Photo: RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
"He's just amazing, because he's got all these fantastic edges on him, because he's been welded together."
About 4500 people came to the last festival two years ago - this year is the fifth - and similar numbers were expected on Saturday.
"A lot of it is about sustainability and there's a category for local yokels, so anyone around this community," McKenzie said.
"Also we draw in people from all over New Zealand for the New Zealand Sculpture Awards, which is the big one. Lots of people put their stuff on a ferry and bring it all the way to our little, tiny village."
Sarah Elcomb, from Oxford in north Canterbury, has done exactly that. She's created five works, including three ponies made from horse shoes.
"We came up on the ferry, so we loaded our horse-shoe ponies on to our horse float and came up here."
The festival's gates open 9am Saturday at the Kimbolton Domain.
