“When you break it down to numbers like that, it is actually quite horrifying,” Jamie said.
The Pahīatua resident sent in her entry and was thrilled to see it had been long-listed, to be one of 150 to go through to the second stage.
The competition has been running for eight years and last year had around 4000 entries.
“So this year they said that it was record-breaking. I think we can safely say it was over 4000. And then to be in the group that got whittled down to 150 … "
Jamie felt it was not only a good opportunity to represent a New Zealand native species in a worldwide competition, but also to raise New Zealand’s profile.
Having done some travel overseas, particularly in the United States, she noticed that some people don’t even know what a Kiwi is, let alone anything about Māori culture.
“When I came back to New Zealand, I brought that knowledge with me, that that level of information about New Zealand probably isn’t the same as mine.”
Jamie believes her love of New Zealand native birds stems from her mother, who she says would sit with a sketchpad drawing native birds, while Jamie, as a child, would run around the backyard.
“That’s just a memory I’ve always got of my childhood. My mum would have these gorgeous drawings of birds and I think that’s what probably triggered it.”
When she started college, Jamie saw art was an option and decided to take it and it was from there her interest grew.
But when she went off to university, she says she was torn. “I didn’t have the life experience needed to know how art would pan out as a career path,” she says.
She took a hiatus from her art, getting married and having two children, as well as a step-daughter, and now juggles family commitments along with full-time work.
“This is a good sort of measure of whether I can cope with deadlines and whatnot.”
Jamie says she would love to do art full-time and have it generate an income for her family.
“But if that’s going to happen, that’s probably way off in the future.”
She says with her full-time job, she is in a position now where she can do art for charity and towards causes, in the hope that it generates a bit of interest and attention toward important things, such as our native birds.
“And I thought the kākāpō was a lovely way to start off because it’s my favourite.”
In the meantime, Jamie has to send her sketch to England, where it will be judged along with 149 other sketches.
Those that make it to the final 100 will go on a tour of art galleries in London and Edinburgh and will then be put up for auction in November.
The sketches that aren’t chosen as finalists will be sold in pop-up stores.
Jamie hopes that there will be people in New Zealand who will be interested in the plight of the animals around the world, as well as the kākāpō.
“This is a good movement to get behind.”
