Catherine
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deleifd.bsky.social
Catherine
@deleifd.bsky.social
84 followers 140 following 99 posts
Makes jam. Has chickens. Co-author of ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’. Pākehā/Rongowhakaata. She/her/ia. NZ
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deleifd.bsky.social
Tonight we’re giving an author talk at Unity Books Wellington at 6pm! Our presentation features our favourite research moments, artwork by Emily Cumming Harris & we're bringing our collection of rare hand-coloured books from the 1890s to display. www.facebook.com/share/1FN2pX...
Book cover of ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’ and text advertising a free author talk at Unity Books, Wellington, 6pm, Wednesday 26 November 11 lithograph books from 1890 laid on a table. Some of the botanical plates have been hand-coloured by Emily Harris using watercolour paints A delicate sketch of a brown butterfly perched on a stem of forget-me-not-flowers, with handwritten text above & below it. This card is dated 1826 and is pasted in a Georgian and Victorian scrapbook that belonged to Emily Cumming Harris’s aunt, who lived in England.
November 25, 2025 at 9:50 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
My sister has long covid & had to give up her job a few years ago. She’s started making & selling sweet little peg angels & prints: felt.co.nz/shop/mrs-mac ❤️ #christmasnz #secretsanta #handmade #aotearoachristmas
November 24, 2025 at 7:49 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
The yellow pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa ‘Aurea’) behind Chaffers New World in Wellington is in full bloom. Covered in bees this morning 💛
A yellow flowering pōhutukawa tree in bloom with the fire station building behind it Close up of the fuzzy yellow flowers in bloom on a pōhutukawa tree
November 19, 2025 at 12:21 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Grew a rainbow of aquilegia 🌈
A hand holding a bunch of aquilegia flowers that range in colour from pink, red, yellow, pale yellow, lilac and dark purple
November 10, 2025 at 11:38 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
New Plymouth people - Michele & I are giving a talk about some of our book research highlights. 6pm, Wed 5 Nov, Taranaki Research Centre. Come say hi! #taranaki #botanicalart #newplymouth
The book ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’ held up in front of Taranaki Mounga, which has white snow on its peak
November 3, 2025 at 1:53 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Was excited to come across these elegant pressed fern specimens in a file I looked through today, c.late 1800s/early 1900s. But I miss the time when I could order a file from NZ Archives & view it 45 mins later. Takes 3 days now.
An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out like the rays of a sun An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out like the rays of a sun An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out in different directions, with the tallest specimen in the middle pointing upwards A striking arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page. They are centred around a middy-type specimen in the centre
October 17, 2025 at 6:25 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Such a stunning pukapuka! Am at the launch at Unity Books for ‘He Puāwai’ by @theobrominated.bsky.social 🌸🌼🪻Perfect Christmas present
3 copies of the book ‘He Puāwai’ with beautiful coloured flowers on the front cover
October 10, 2025 at 5:38 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
The Zinefest at the School of Architecture on Vivian Street in Pōneke is super cool. We had a blast buying zines, stickers & having little portraits drawn. Love the creativity ❤️ #wellingtonzinefest
Stallholders sitting behind stalls full of colourful zines, stickers and original artworks. There are lots of people looking at the stalls.
October 5, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Reposted by Catherine
pepperraccoon.com
Hey Hutt folks, you may miss it when voting, but please don’t vote for Suzanne Levy! She sounds fine, but OOPS she runs the TERF organisation Speak Up For Women.
September 17, 2025 at 5:41 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
I’m always doing something weird when @fromthemorgue.bsky.social is out walking his adorable dogs. Today I was removing ivy that’s smothering trees down by the awa. Little point doing predator removal if we’re not also restoring habitat #predatorfreenz
Two photos side-by-side. On the left is a tree trunk smothered in ivy and on the right the ivy has been removed from the tree
September 12, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Catherine
susannah-lw.bsky.social
If flowers are your thing - @zarakesterton.bsky.social, Tori Champion and I run a growing network on Women and Flowers. This month Michele Leggott and @deleifd.bsky.social are speaking about their beautiful book Groundwork. Details below or email [email protected] to join us!🌷
Book cover for Groundwork: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris
September 4, 2025 at 8:30 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Wish I could post videos here. Saw this cute baby seal swimming on the waterfront. It saw me, and then hopped on to a rock and clambered up towards me. I moved very quickly.
A baby seal with beautiful big eyes on the edge of the waterfront A baby seal sitting on the waterfront. It is wet as it has just jumped out of the water.
June 29, 2025 at 6:06 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Public thank you to @chaneyz85.bsky.social for being awesome at her job and helping us make a big research discovery! #findingmissingbooks #emilycummingharris
A hand-coloured plate from Thomas Kirk’s book ‘The Forest Flora of New Zealand’. It shows a plant coastal maire plant specimen with very large green leaves that has been coloured using watercolour. There is a note to the right in Emily Cumming Harris’s handwriting that says “Owing to the paper being thin and highly glazed, the leaves which cover a large surface will not take the paint well, and consequently have a striped and unfinished appearance.” A hand-coloured lithograph of a titoki plant specimen, that has been coloured using watercolour. The leaves are green, the outer part of the berries are brown and the betties themselves are bright red with black seeds in the middle. A hand-coloured lithograph that shows a specimen of kōwhai, with its leaves, seed pod and flowers. The flowers are a brilliant yellow.
June 27, 2025 at 4:31 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Sent an email today using ‘mōrena’ & ‘ngā mihi’. Received this reply: “Please note I am not Maori, so your greeting is not appreciated. What’s wrong with Hello or Hi etc, and regards etc. I think this PC token use of Maori is unwarranted.”
🫠 (He knows I whakapapa Māori too)
June 12, 2025 at 9:00 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
In need of tōhu & good news stories, so was pleased to see 7 kōtuku ngutupapa / royal spoonbills along the awa this morning. Usually only see 2 or 3 #teawakairangi #predatorfreenz
Seven white birds on long thin legs standing on a rocky river bed, with their heads tucked under their wings
June 5, 2025 at 10:45 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
First time finding Devil’s Fingers fungus / Clathrus archeri / octopus stinkhorn, thanks to a hot tip from a friend ahead of all the heavy rain. Tiny, alien-looking & very smelly
A red fungus with five outstretched ‘arms’, resembling a starfish, with a hole in the centre. This specimen is smaller than the palm of my hand.
June 4, 2025 at 1:00 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Found some very cool specimens of Tūtae kēhua / basket fungus / Ileodictyon cibarium while checking our Predator Free trapline along the awa this morning
#predatorfree #teawakairangi
Two white basket fungi growing next to each other. They are shaped like a mesh ball with a lattice pattern. A large basket fungus specimen growing out of the ground. It is white and has a lattice-like shape.
May 29, 2025 at 10:27 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
Happy Worldwide Day of Botanical Art! Today I’m celebrating Aotearoa / New Zealand artist Emily Cumming Harris (1837-1925) and her beautiful paintings #botanicalart #botany #newzealand #woman #artist
An 1870s photo of Emily Cumming Harris, showing her with hair tied up & wearing a black dress with white collar. The image also contains two watercolour paintings by her from c.1879: Chatham Island forget-me-nots with large green leaves and delicate blue flowers, edged with brown ferns and there is a little copper butterfly on the left-hand side. The second painting depicts an autumnal scene of a branch of golden-orange taupata berries, white akeake seed pods reaching up next to the branch and a delicate blue background painted in watercolour
May 17, 2025 at 10:37 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
Not often the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul is totally packed. Tonight’s Supertonic performance of Mozart’s Requiem was sublime - beautiful orchestration & choral singing 💜 #supertonic
A cathedral full of people and the interior lit with pink and purple lights
May 17, 2025 at 11:41 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
So important, please sign & support clean air in our schools: our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/cl...
Clean Air in Schools
Covid can have substantial impacts on peoples’ health. Although Covid initially enters the body through the respiratory system, it can affect virtually every bodily system and organ. There are no adva...
our.actionstation.org.nz
May 5, 2025 at 8:00 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
How did we write a book about art when one of us is blind? Michele & I discuss ‘blind seeing & beyond’ in our Spinoff article: thespinoff.co.nz/books/03-05-... Thanks @clairemabey.bsky.social 🌱
Screenshot of the Spinoff website showing our book cover, with orange taupata berries and white akeake seed capsules, and the headline ‘Blind seeing and beyond: how we approached Groundwork’
May 2, 2025 at 7:33 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
Today I returned this incredible little Georgian-period scrapbook to the Harris family, who kindly loaned it to us. It contains original watercolour sketches, poems, engravings & seaweed specimens, some dating to the 1820s. We used several of its pages in chapter 3 of Groundwork 🌱
On the page of the little scrapbook is a little watercolour butterfly with yellow and pink wings edged in green and a convolvulus plant with blue and white-striped flowers. A green beetle has been cut out of paper and glued on to the page, just above the flower. Two pink seaweed specimens attached to white pieces of paper, which have then been glued onto a blue page of the scrapbook. The seaweeds have feathery fronds and have been carefully fanned out. A page that has been pasted into the scrapbook, showing blue morpho and birdwing butterflies. The blue morpho’s wings are almost shimmery in the light. Written underneath is a faint pencil inscription that reads: ‘Butterflies painted from collection in Wellington Museum’. A white card with an embossed edge that has been glued to the scrapbook page. Painted in the flat space in the middle is a large yellow and blue butterfly, with black and red colours on the edges of the wings.
April 30, 2025 at 5:58 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Very exciting to see copies of our book ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’ out in the wild! Please send me photos if you spot it 🌱
Copies of the book Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris stacked on a table. It has a beautiful botanical-themed cover, with orange taupata berries and white akeake seed capsules.
April 26, 2025 at 7:51 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Took a break from the emails today and went in search of my favourite fungi in Wainuiomata: Werewere-kōkako / Entoloma hochstetteri. So beautiful 💙
A tiny blue mushroom pokes up through some mossy ground. The mushrooms’s bright blue colour offers a beautiful contrast to the green plants that surround it.
April 20, 2025 at 9:04 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
@davidslack.bsky.social Thanks for the chat & excellent blogpost about Emily Cumming Harris! Emily’s panel is now fully accessioned - thought you might like to see it. Te Papa kindly put it on display at our book launch:
Large oil painting titled ‘New Zealand Liliaceae’ by Emily Cumming Harris, 1906. It depicts flax, turutu berries, rengarenga flowers, golden bulbinella flower heads, Cordyline and astelia flowers, and red supplejack berries. The plants are rendered in a natural setting, with a slip of blue sky and white clouds at the top of the tall and narrow painting.
April 20, 2025 at 8:58 AM