Auckland Studio Potters residency
I started a residency in May 2025 at Auckland Studio Potters, a community ceramics studio in Onehunga. They have hosted me in one of their two ‘pod’ studio spaces, and provided support, firing, and opportunities to get stuck into the activities happening around the site. I have been enjoying experimenting, creating and soaking up the community atmosphere.
I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to work on before I started my residency. I was hoping to expand and grow my practice, to try making new things beyond my ‘rocks’ that had become my standard output in recent times. My approach to this residency was to focus on experimentation and creative play, with less emphasis on the end result. What has occurred is an exploration of texture sourced directly from found objects. I have been making impressions of objects pressed into soft clay, both natural found materials as well as nature-weathered human-made items. I have sourced the objects from various places including volcanic rocks outside my studio door at Auckland Studio Potters, lumpy textured rocks from Anderson’s Beach, and chunks of detritus from Karaka Bay Beach that were collected for my exhibition In the Company of Water. The main iterations of these impressions have been sets of tiles, and rounded vessels. I have enjoyed this way of directly capturing the negative imprints of objects, especially those that are embedded in a specific place (e.g. bedrock on the beach).
This residency has not only spurred my making into overdrive, but also my thinking and research. I find that the more I create, and talk to people about what I’m making, the more my thinking around my work evolves. Some of the artists I have been researching include Kate Newby, Aneta Regel, Peter Hawkesby and Stephen de Staebler.
One of my hopes during the residency was to fire my work in new and interesting ways. I was excited to take part in my first raku firing alongside expert Barbara Brodien and fellow resident Margaux Bigou. It was a thrilling learning experience that had me literally jumping with joy when I arrived home. I loved the collaborative and hands-on aspects of the process - controlling the gas, lighting the kiln, taking out the pieces while red-hot, and piling wood shavings on top. My clothes were very smoky afterwards. The results were a collection of shiny, iridescent pieces, with glaze pooling into the textured indentations, cracked craggly edges, and a charred exterior. I see why some ceramicists fall in love with raku firing! It felt like seeing my pieces transform into precious gemstones. It heightened my anticipation to see the results of my other residency works after firing.
Works in progress during Auckland Studio Potters residency, onsite and at Anderson’s Beach.
Raku firing process and results at Auckland Studio Potters.
