Steampunk Nomads

There seems to be three "branches" of Steampunk happening in Oamaru. We’d met with Helen and Darling who have been the pioneers of various activities in Oamaru including fashion shows and were currently holding a Steampunk exhibition in the local gallery.

Damion (Prof. Damoticus) introduced himself to us during the Fete and told us about his gallery he had set up and for us to meet with him and talk about what we were doing etc. He wants to put some of Amanda’s jewellery and maybe her interactive animation she has made.

And then we have Steampunk HQ.  These guys have gone big in their vision of Steampunk.  They’ve got huge installations through the middle of Oamaru (which has an incredibly wide one way main street and then grass verges between the streets).  But they’ve been working in one of the old beautiful buildings (the one with the train parked outside the front door) in the old part of Oamaru and opened this building up for the public to see what they’ve been beavering away at.  Another very impressive display of workmanship.  Brian and ?? have however, gone to what is being referred to as "the dark side" of Steampunk.  Nevertheless, we were privileged to have been able to visit all exhibitions and displays of Steampunk in Oamaru – and very impressive they were too!

So, instead of staying in Oamaru for almost a week we’ve decided to stay for 10 days and hang around for the following weekend’s "Swap Meet".  And also, help Helen and Darling, and other exhibitors dismantle the Forrester Gallery exhibition.  Before this we were invited to attend a luncheon with these guys – which further helped us to network etc.