Origin Stories: The Panda Hat

Many, many (many, many, many, many) years ago, when Teresita Rosita was but a mere spark in her creator’s imagination, there was a panda hat. This panda hat was coveted by the creator. Not for it’s power giving properties. Not for it’s protectiveness. Not for increased stamina, resistance or fortitude.

No.

It was coveted because…

It was cute.

It was the cutest darned thing the creator had ever seen and by golly she was going to have it!

Oh, I failed to mention this was all in a game. An online game where you drive around in little trucks and shot other players. It was a silly game. An addictive silly game. And it was a silly hat, so all in all it made sense to want it. And boy did she want it. But she refused to pay money for a silly hat in a silly online game, no matter how much her heart longed to have it.

And then someone near and dear to the creator bought her the hat and she was infinitely happy and played the game even more than she was already (which was a lot, trust me).

And so the seed had been planted. The tiny panda-hat-seed that would germinate for years. Growing bigger and bigger inside the creator’s head until finally, a sprout emerged.

That little tendril entered the world as Teresita Rosita Travels, a blog about a girl and her panda hat taking on the world (well, Latin America) and getting up to all sorts of mischief. Teresita Rosita was there because she wanted to see the world, meet new people and maybe discover herself along the way. The panda hat was there because everyone knows that pandas never get lost (whoever told the Teresita Rosita that may have lied, but we’ll never know because if she did get lost, she still ended up precisely where she was meant to be).

Unfortunately, all journeys must come to an end. Teresita Rosita returned home to Australia, poorer in money but oh, so much richer in life.

She settled down. Got a job. And then another one. And then another one. She kept that one.

She got a man. And then an-

I digress… Let’s just say she eventually found a man. And they got a cat. And then Teresita Rosita reappeared into the wider world. This time she was back as part of The 100 Day Project. The 100 Days of Teresita Rosita.

She came back every single day for those one hundred days. Always with her trusty panda hat. It had changed, but so had she. And it continued to change. Those first one hundred days were about experimentation. Different styles, shapes, sizes, but always with that hat firmly planted on her noggin.

Teresita Rosita evolved and so did her panda hat. The 100 Day Project ended and Teresita Rosita faded back into the woodwork of everyday life for a while.

But nothing could hold her down for too long.

Years passed and that little sprout grew into a tree that bore tiny panda hatted fruit. Another 100 Day Project began. And ended. And Teresita Rosita kept appearing. Every day. For 365 days. And then she still kept going. She was loose on the world and nothing could stop her now. There she was with that faithful panda hat keeping her brain warm and smooshing her fringe down.

In some ways it’s a chicken/egg scenario. What came first - Teresita Rosita or her panda hat? What we do know now is that, to quote the insightful words of Louis Jorden, they go together like cornbread and beans, like strawberry and shortcake, like hot cake and molasses.

The girl and her panda hat were inseparable (except for haircuts, that would be a bit weird really).

And the journey that began so long ago, in a little online buggy, that traversed the globe and many paths of life…

Well that continues, doesn’t it?!

Teresita Rosita was here - the exhibition.

So… in that little pocket of time that was life before the current lockdown, we managed to host a wee exhibition titled - Teresita Rosita was here. It ran from June 10-14 at a lovely little local art gallery named Gallery 371 in Marrickville. It was the culmination of exactly 365 days worth of “work” which had seen me do a daily sketch of the life and times of Teresita Rosita and share it with the world via Instagram and Facebook.

Day 43: Teresita Rosita was beginning to see a pattern... Tuesday’s were generally a bit of a non-day. Not in a bad way, just in a sit back and relax and it that wash over you kind of way..

Now, that had been more than enough to keep me happy. I had never intended for Teresita Rosita to be anything but my own little creation, my own daily journal (albeit one that then went out onto social media for anyone and everyone to see). But some of those close to me had bigger, grander, much more ambitious plans and somehow (somehow!!?) I was convinced that an exhibition would be a good idea. And so began 6 months of planning, production and preparation.

While Teresita Rosita was essentially a digital character, living in a digital world, I had always leant towards to textuality of watercolour paper and the fluidity and organic-ness of watercolour paints out here in the real world. So I decided to create a bunch of original artworks, reimagining the initial digital sketches and adding an element of randomness and mutability with the flow and wash of watercolour.

But why stop at creating just one type of original artwork, when you can go all out and create an entire army??

Yes, that’s right. Not only was there original art for the walls of the gallery, there was also a horde of 3D printed, hand-painted figurines of Teresita Rosita and Dr Chicken that we foolishly decided to produce (another long story, that warrants it’s own post sometime in the future). Long story short, they were printed and painted and I vowed to never do anything like that ever again (unless you ask me very very nicely).

Oh, and there was framing and printing and merchandising and designing and crying and laughing and more crying and then a bit more laughing.

And then fast forward to June 2021 and we were suddenly bumping in at Gallery 371, Marrickville, NSW, Australia. Many hands made light work of the setup, with friends and family (all the way from WA) helping arrange and hang artworks. We (almost) looked like professionals by the end of it. Almost.

And wow, it really blew me away, seeing everything up on the walls, on their stands, arrayed across the merch desk! An entire gallery filled with Teresita Rosita - it was beyond anything I had ever imagined. As was the reception she/I received on opening night. So many friendly faces came to see the panda-hatted Teresita Rosita in all her glory. There was wine (very generously donated by someone lovely at Audrey Wilkinson wines) and there was food ( even more generously provided by my dearest friend, Leanne, who was instrumental in getting the whole event out of our heads and into the world).

There was a panda hat and a chicken hat worn by the IRL Teresita Rosita and Dr Chicken. And there were red dots!!! Wow. Really. It was overwhelming. The support, the love I got from all the beautiful people who came along. Anyway. I don’t want to gush too much, but gee, thanks.

Like I mentioned earlier, Teresita Rosita was here - the exhibition ran for 5 days. It was short and sweet, just like her. It was a wonderful opportunity to see people I hadn’t seen for a long time as well as spendsome quality time with those I saw on a daily basis. It was a chance to meet new people, encounter fans who had stumbled across her exploits on Instagram, or who had just happened to glance through the window as they walked by. It was a joy to know that my little Teresita Rosita was going to go home to share her smile, her life, her panda hat with so many new people. It was yet another grand adventure.

What a show. What an experience. What a ride. Let’s do it again sometime (though not too soon please, thank you).