A Labour of Love: Creating our Ceramics Studio 2022-23

Due to our growing student population and the need to expand our curriculum, we put our energy towards creating a ceramics programme as well as a shed conversion to hold classes.
Renovations of the old workers cottage began in 2022. The workers cottage was built in 1861 and was on site when the first owners, the Macdonald family, purchased the land in 1877. It served as one of the nine Inverlochy Flats until the early 1980s when the property was put into a trust for the arts. During this time the cottage has survived a fire and has been seriously unloved for many decades.

The shed was lovingly renovated by Paul Hewitson over 7 months and hundreds of his volunteer hours. A kiln shed was also built. Part of the labour pool was his wife, Cheryl Corrado, who also contributed many volunteer hours to complete the project. They used mainly reclaimed materials from the site and personal stash from various skip diving excursions. The original roof was inverted to form the ceiling of the studio. The restricted budget made way for Paul’s creative endeavours to shine as well as significantly reducing the overall cost of materials needed to complete the renovation and not to mention reduce landfill waste.

A dedicated group of volunteers from the Inverlochy community (Philip Webb , Erin Payne, Anthea Grob, Jocelyn Yip, Cecilia Denen, Cheryl Corrado) donated their time to paint the studio. The electrics were completed by Duncan Elliot and his crew. Sue and Dave from SkyLight Specialist donated two skylights increasing the amount of natural light and saving us thousands. Resene paints in Te Aro donated all the Crimson Red paint for the cladding. Special mentions of Vicky Upton, Tony & Kristin Arthur and Rachel Macfarlane for substantial personal financial donations to this project.

The project had a serious cash injection through a joint effort of the Inverlochy Collective and Mike Price of PD Developments. Approximately twenty thousand dollars was earned through a trade of 100 plus artistically painted large canvases which now hang in the Sojourn hotels on Riddiford Street in Newtown and Ghuznie Street in Te Aro. The Collective, which for this project consisted of Inverlochy tutors, directors, committee members and studio artists, who painted for 6 weekends over the 2021-22 year to complete the canvases. Special mention to Denise Durkin who donated an incredible amount of time and expertise to complete the painting marathon.

Ceramics classes began in the main house once the kiln shed was completed. Sophie Arbuckle was the first tutor to begin the programme with Anthea Grobb joining shortly after as the demand for classes quickly grew. The studio was officially opened in April 2023 with mayor, Tony Whanau, and councilor and Inverlochy Chair, John Apanowich, cutting the ribbon. The community celebrated with kai in the Lecture hall and a ceramics workshop creating tiles that will adorn a sculpture in the garden of the studio.