By Sorrel Hoskin

Not many artists go to work with chainsaws and grinders but New Plymouth's Ann Power is a woman who thinks BIG.

Ann (who was too shy to pose for our camera) is a fibreglass artist who talks in metres instead of centimetres. Just ask her about the four-metre-high moa that appeared in Inglewood one April Fools day… or the life-size mermaid that is reclining in a Taranaki fish pond… the fire engine sitting on top of Inglewood's Fun Ho! Toy Museum, or the giant loaf of bread welcoming travellers to Manaia. Ann's work is difficult to miss.

April Fools

Ann and her mum came up with the April Fools day prank back in 1998.

"We were giggling, like woman do, and Mum said why don't you play a joke on Dairyland and put a calf under the cow on April Fools day and put a moa in Inglewood. So we did."

The big brown moa with giant blue feet started out as papier mache - flour and water with newspaper over a fridge box that eventually received a fibreglass coating. "I had to stand on the roof to finish off the head - it was that tall!" The big bird took the artist and her children around 100 hours to make.

With the help of a few friends Ann snuck the moa into Inglewood under the cover of darkness, positioning it in the centre of town in the garden opposite the band rotunda. 

Next stop for the midnight pranksters was Dairyland just outside of Hawera. There the team put the fibreglass calf beside the iconic cow.

The iconic cow at Dairyland with Ann's calf

Tanker drivers couldn't believe their eyes at the surreal scene.

"Tankers were missing a few gears looking over as they went round the corner," laughs Ann.

Next morning Ann's joke had the whole country grinning. Her pranks made nation-wide news and gave the artist great coverage.

But the giant artworks weren't allowed to stay put - Transit were concerned the moa would cause accidents as curious motorists took their eyes off the road to stare.

"It would have been good to see the moa stay at Inglewood - it's supposed to be the moa capital of New Zealand," says Ann. "It got a really great response from people - they wanted it to stay longer."

Fire!

Instead, Inglewood has a fire engine perched above the Fun Ho! National Toy Museum.

"It's got a headless fireman on it at the moment. Someone's climbed up on the roof and sawn his head off! They want me to fix it up - but I said 'I'm not crawling up there with my grinders and gear. So it'll have to be brought down at some stage."

Start her up: the fire engine before it was put on top of the Fun Ho! National Toy Museum

The fire engine is so realistic that one of the men who came to pick it up asked her to "start her up and drive her on the trailer, and he was serious!"

The loaf of bread at Manaia has become an icon for the town. It was commissioned to recognise the contribution the Yarrow's bakery make to the area. It was modelled on the old style barracouta loaf, and Yarrows baked two of these loaves especially for Ann to work off.

Other Ann artworks dot the province.

The dragon slide in a playground at Opunake is one of her latest works, before she decided to take a break from her sculpting. "It's really physical work. I use chainsaws and sanders - working with those for hours can really do you in. People don't realise the time and effort put in to make a fibreglass sculpture."

A chance beginning

Ann fell into fibreglass art by chance.

Back in 1993 she and her ex-husband were involved in outfitting the interior of the New Plymouth Aquatic Centre. Part of the project involved a surfing lizard and a frog to go by the children's pool. When the guy contracted to do the work backed out Ann bravely stepped in. But not without a few reservations, "I stood in front of the foam with a saw in my hand and just thought 'holy shit, what have I got myself into?'."

Up 'til then the hairdresser, who grew up on a farm at Meremere, east of Hawera, hadn't sculpted anything but hair. "It's bizarre how it all started. I've never been an arty person. Art wasn't something I was good at, at school."

A few sleepless nights later, the project came together. "I thought 'wow I did it'."

After that she made a water slide for her children and it grew from there. "The biggest job I've ever quoted on was this ostrich farm in the South Island. They wanted a giant ostrich and to be able to drive a bus under it. I don't think they realised what a big project it would be. People can get a bit carried away - and then they find out the cost!"

But Ann's work is not all big, "I've done props for theatres, someone will come along and say I want a cat or a dog and show me a picture… I had a company in Auckland say they wanted a syringe six feet high, and it had to collapse into itself so it could fit in a plane."

Ann and her family are in between houses at the moment - so her art is packed away in boxes or storing in friends sheds. The family's new home is on a farm - plenty of room for her artworks to spread their wings, legs or tails.

The family garden at their old home, was surreal. Fibreglass props reclined in flower beds, the giant moa and a horse munched grass on the lawn, a fibreglass witch did the gardening, the top heavy mermaid reclined in the arms of a giant monkey… it's obvious Ann has a sense of humour

But at the moment all that's to be seen of her work is a devilish creature stuck in the corner, a clay model of a mournful looking puppy, and, out in the garden, a clown rubbish bin.

"I think those would be really neat around town - don't you? She gestures to the bins.

"But the council aren't interested, I suppose people would vandalise them…"

When she settles into her new home Ann will get back into her sculpting. Her goal is to get involved with making sets and props for televisions and movies. "When the Last Samurai was here I talked to the crew who did that sort of thing - it was just amazing. I never knew about this stuff - that these jobs were out there when I was a kid. Things like the Weta workshop - if I was younger I would have loved to go down and work for them."

But Ann's adamant she won't move from Taranaki to fulfil those dreams. "I like it here. It's the lifestyle."