WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST INTERESTING DISCOVERY SO FAR WHILE GATHERING SAMPLES OF ROCKS?
Definitely my friend Tony Reardon, I found him on the side of the road gathering clay and we struck a beautiful friendship, a very rare find. He introduced me to the volcanic and wood ashes he fires with. These were a completely different palette to my own and we have learnt a lot from each other. The blue chüns I am now experimenting with come from a roadside cutting remnants of the Taupo eruptions. There is also a white glaze I’m loving, this one rock has opened up the possibility to achieve many more colours.
You initially collected rock and clay around the Taranaki region. What inspired you to move further afield and gather rocks, ash and sand for their glazing potential?
As my practice has grown over the 18 years I have been potting, I have learnt more about the history of glazes and other minerals used, which are all available to us in different forms in New Zealand. Learning pottery is like learning a language. I can now translate pretty hefty old pottery books and they are filled with a wealth of information. There is a lot of science and...
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST INTERESTING DISCOVERY SO FAR WHILE GATHERING SAMPLES OF ROCKS?
Definitely my friend Tony Reardon, I found him on the side of the road gathering clay and we struck a beautiful friendship, a very rare find. He introduced me to the volcanic and wood ashes he fires with. These were a completely different palette to my own and we have learnt a lot from each other. The blue chüns I am now experimenting with come from a roadside cutting remnants of the Taupo eruptions. There is also a white glaze I’m loving, this one rock has opened up the possibility to achieve many more colours.
DO YOU HAVE A GLAZE YOU PARTICULARLY LOVE TO USE, AND WHY?
Well I’m loving the ash / rock combinations. Wood ash is essentially the remnant minerals that a tree consumed in its lifetime. Depending on its environment and which minerals were available in the soil, each ash has a different melt in the kiln. This mineral lineage is unique to tree and place, and therefore each glaze. The plate in the images I provided was found in a London sewer in 1661. It reads “You and I are Earth”. The device you are reading this on is essentially minerals, earth mined, somebody's displaced home and land, perhaps a small creature or human…but those minerals supported life and we need to be reminded of this.
Is there a place in Aotearoa that is close to your heart? What inspires you about being there?
The whole country inspires me. When you start seeing land in terms of geology you see time on a different scale. The whole Central North Island is a blanket of ash, this landscape is not one that is fixed and the land is still in constant flux. I’m just in awe of how impermanent it all is. Every morning I see Taranaki as I drink my coffee and I acknowledge...
WHAT DOES A REGULAR DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
I wake up pretty excited to get down to the studio, pottery has many steps over many days so there is usually a flow through from previous days and the pots dictate my schedule. Mugs thrown one day need handles the next and if I have fifty mugs to handle I need to start early. If I'm throwing I usually set myself a daily target and work toward it, this works well for me. I love the rhythm of potting as it always calls you back day after day.
WHEN IN THE STUDIO, DO YOU PREFER SILENCE, PODCASTS, MUSIC OR A MIXTURE OF EVERYTHING DEPENDANT ON THE DAY? DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVOURITE TUNES / PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS?
Historically, woman would sing and tell stories as they crafted. Industrialisation and the use of machinery in the workplace drowned out these conversations. I believe handmade objects are more beautiful because they embody the moments that are woven into them. Podcasts and books are always playing in my studio and I feel I absorb so much more information while I'm making. Recent books embodied into my pots have been Educated, Traces and Braiding sweetgrass. I also consume hours of podcasts; Radiolab, 99% Invisible and Intelligence Squared are regular listens but there are so many. Sometimes I pick up a pot and remember the exact words that I listened to as I made it.
$180.00
$180.00
Brendan has been making a living from his craft since 1987. Originally trained as a painter, he received a Diploma of Fine Arts from Otago Polytechnic in 1983. While painting gave him a strong foundation, it was clay that truly captured his imagination, offering endless possibilities of form, colour, and...
Emma Zhang is deeply inspired by the beauty of the New Zealand landscape, particularly the beaches close to her home. Through her own hand mixed glazes, she thoughtfully captures the earthy tones of sand and soil, along with the ever changing blue green hues of the sea in all its...
Charlotte Suggate is a painter who finds beauty in everyday botanicals, the wild daisies, clover, tall grasses and overgrown gardens that are easily overlooked yet return each season with resilience and joy. Her work offers controlled slices of the outdoors - immersive, intimate views that feel as though they continue beyond...
Hannah White is a Ngāmotu (New Plymouth) based textile artist whose fashion design training informs her tactile, expressive approach to embroidery. Inspired by the shifting rhythms of the natural world, from the coastline of her childhood to the subtle details of her garden. Her work echoes the fluidity and fragility...
