Albany Village Potters

Press, 14 July 1987, Page 32

Albany Village Potters

An exhibition of Albany Village Potters at the Courtyard Pottery, 69 Rutland Street, until July 14. Reviewed by Barry Allom. Driving north on the main highway away from Auckland’s North Shore, twisting and curving through hilly bushland, you will come upon a sprinkling of settlements as the road swings around to the left through Albany. It would be easy to miss the rustic, timber-clad Albany Village Pottery shop set back from the road. It would be a pity for the pots which have been sold here over the years have been anything but rustic. Some of New Zealand’s best potters have marketed their work through this co-operative. They have hosted fine exhibitions. Their stock of ceramics is worth a special trip and, as a bonus, you will possibly meet one of the potters across the counter. Some Albany potters have since migrated overseas, others have moved out on their own, but there are still come of this country’s

most talented potters working in the Albany venture. So it is something of a rare opportunity for us in the south to visit an exhibition of the Albany potters’ work right here in our own city. Frederika Ernsten of the Courtyard Pottery was disappointed when some of the expected potters’ work did not materialise. This exhibition, however, shows the work of seven of the Albany Village Potters. John Anderson’s highly decorated domestic ware with its busy design, will have appeal. On the other hand, the feminine porcelain bowls in pale greens and pinks with gold rims from Heather Skeates have a delicacy and grace. The rest of her pots are hand-made tubular porcelain works. Various materials have been inlaid and overlaid to form patterns, textures and colour. Some work better than others. In the two hanging pieces (Nos. 27 and 28) two tubes are bound together in pairs and these are particularly effective. In the past, Barbara

Hockenhull has endowed porcelain with her own esoteric qualities and vigour which have imparted a strong indigenous feel. Here the small, rather flimsy porcelain pieces are interestingly coloured and contemporary in their check and polka dot patterns. But they seem trendy and inconsequential compared with her strong earlier work. Peter Stichbury is one of our longest established, most consistent full-time potters. Still reflecting the influence of the English master potters, Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew, with whom he worked, we see here samples of his superbly crafted domestic ware — tea and coffee pot, bowls and plates. Like fellow Aucklander, Len Castle, his use of glazes is outstanding. A classic bowl and a large, well designed casserole dish illustrate his mastery of the tenmoku glaze idiom. Also included is a true exhibition piece — a strong, heavy, hanging bottle. Sue Willes’ dung-fired burnished birds are more abstracted and simpler

than birds from local kilns. They are, as a result, particularly effective. Larger and more noticeable are the handbuilt sculptural dung-fired pots of Robyn Stewart — No. 37 with cut away, rough neck and the large, smooth boulder pot No. 32. This Selection from the Albany Village Potters is not as representative as was planned. For various reasons pots did not arrive from Ann Ambler, Peter Oxborough, Merilyn Wiseman and Scott Hockenhull. If this exhibition is a little disappointing for what is not included, it does serve a wider purpose. It does us good from time to time, to stand aside and look at some of the ceramic work being done in other parts of New Zealand. Only by doing this can we keep the achievements of our own local craftspeople in perspective. The exhibition is accompanied by two fine, large weavings by Jeff Healy of Auckland and outstandingly sculptured glass pieces by Murray Hill of Wanganui.