ARTIST PROFILE

ANNIE BATES

Annie Bates has been a textile artist since the age of 12, when her elders taught her to crochet, knit and sew. As a teenager, she began reworking her own clothes, developing a love for giving existing textiles a new life.

Annie sees creative potential in everything from woollen blankets and chiffon scarves to doilies and denim jackets. Her re-created denim jackets, sold exclusively through the Arts Village Collective, are sourced second-hand and transformed using vintage lace, tapestry, embroidery, appliqué and vintage linens. Each is carefully reworked into a unique, one-of-a-kind piece.

Handmade textile ocean shell art by Annie Bates

Some of Annie’s creations feature Coromandel Pacific oyster shells, decorated with pearls, pebbles and shells. She also loves beachcombing for tiny shells to incorporate into her artwork.

Together with her husband Stewart, Annie has also spent 42 years building, extending and renovating homes around Rotorua.

Turning old treasures into something new.

Community arts projects

Annie has coordinated several community arts projects, including yarnbombing the tree outside The Arts Village in 2015. The tree once had 11 trunks, and more than 200 knitters and crocheters contributed over 500 pieces. One came from as far away as Europe, when a visitor donated her scarf, while another “HOT HOT HOT” came from a visitor to the Buried Village. On installation day, Annie enlisted a cherry picker, a politician and around 20 enthusiastic Yarnbombers to wrap the tree.

Since then, the Yarnbombers group, led by Annie, has yarnbombed city-centre bollards and other trees, created Tulip Festival wall hangings, and made over 1,000 poppies for the 2018 ANZAC Centennial. The poppies were sewn onto giant fabric soldiers displayed on the external walls of the former Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Annie also led the Giant Doilies project, now displayed on the front verandah of The Arts Village.