In 1987 Suzie Moncrieff first took "art off the wall to adorn the body" as a promotion for her art gallery in rural Nelson. From here the concept has grown and developed into the annual Montana World of WearableArt™ Awards Show. This event attracts audiences and designers from around New Zealand and the world. WOW® has been a recipient of many awards including the New Zealand Supreme Tourism Award in 1999.
“Initially I had nothing to benchmark myself against – no training in event management, sponsorship, scripting. I hadn’t even seen a show on the scale that I envisaged WOW becoming. However I had a dream and a vision and I had to make the dream a reality no matter what. I enjoy the challenge and can’t imagine life without a mountain to climb,” says Suzie. “WOW is art in motion….the imagination is the only limit,” says Suzie. “WOW shows the entire world what an extraordinary and creative country we are.”
WOW wishes to show young people that any dream, no matter how big, is capable of becoming a reality. “Being so far away from the rest of the world, New Zealanders are not bound or frightened
to think outside the square,” says Suzie, “Inspiring youth to have the courage to follow their dreams and take on the challenge of realising these dreams is vital to the continuation of creativity.”
WOW believes in providing youth the tools they need to realise their dreams. That is why WOW has created the Tutor Resource Booklet – a tool for teachers of WearableArt to use when passing on the skills and knowledge required to create and dream of WearableArt creations. Download the Tutor Resource Booklet below for more information.
WOW also encourages young people to get involved in the production, direction and creation of a show such as the World of WearableArt Awards Show. Smokefree WOWquest™ – a national competition for intermediate and secondary school pupils, takes the creation of WearableArt and allows students to mix their art into a performance piece involving music, dance, lighting, theatre and humour. For more information on Smokefree WOWquest please contact smokefreewowquest@xtra.co.nz
Click here to download the Tutor Resource Booklet - 964kb file size
(to view this file on your pc, you require Acrobat Reader which you can download for free from the link below)
