2024 review and news for 2025!

Hey Clay whānau,

As 2024 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on a year filled with creativity, growth, and connection. Whether you’ve been a student, a fellow potter, or a supporter of my work, I want to take a moment to thank you for your energy, your passion, and your love for all things clay. Without you, this journey would not be as meaningful or as exciting!

I hope the coming year brings you peace, joy, and, of course, lots of time for creativity. I can’t wait to see where our pottery adventures take us in 2025, and I look forward to continuing this journey together.

With love and excitement,

Pottery Teacher and Maker

Nikki 🤘🏽🏺✨

Teaching and Classes: The classes I’ve offered at the Sumner Hub this year have been a highlight of my work. Seeing each attendee develop their skills and gain confidence with handbuilding, has been incredibly fulfilling. From beginners to more advanced students, it’s been inspiring to watch unique styles emerge. It’s always a pleasure to witness the comradery that unfolds during classes. I especially enjoy our final ‘show and tell’ evening classes. Where we all get to see pieces that we have been working blind on for a while! 

Highlights of 2024: A Year of Growth

This year has been a milestone year for my personal work:

Studio Updates: I’ve made some exciting upgrades to my studio space at home, including safer kiln wiring and improved organisation. These have made the creative process smoother and more enjoyable. I must admit it still gets chaotic at times, especially at this time of year when I am trying to complete orders and fire class and Social Pottery pieces! I still find it is a space that I can just ‘Be’ and I love that.

New Work: I’ve spent time experimenting with new techniques and trying to hone a collection of domestic ware in my personal work. From hand-thrown pieces to new clay bodies and glazing methods, I’ve embraced the challenges these hold and this has resulted in some of my favorite pieces yet! If you’ve purchased from me directly or at a market you’ve seen some of these fresh creations, and I hope they’ve sparked as much joy in your lives as they have in mine. My cupboard at home is almost full of rejects and continues to grow. This doesn't bother me at all and serves as a reminder of where I have come from and where I am trying to get to!

Collaborations and Exhibitions: I’m thrilled to be collaborating with a couple of the scientists I had the pleasure of working with as part of ‘Know Your Place’. I have already been hanging off a jetty at Te Ana Marina Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour and had my passion for small animals reawakened! In the new year I am hoping to access some research that will form the basis for a series of sculptural pieces.

Contract work: This year I was so pleased to be one of the artists chosen to be part of a two week project called ‘Know Your Place’, Art and the environment. I originally trained as a ceramicist and specialised in sculpture. It felt so good to be working with scientists and helping others to find hope for our white flippered penguins. 110 clay penguins later and the same number of kaitiaki, makes my heart sing. Encouraging student voices and using narratives that inspire hope were the main aims of this project. You can read more about this here. I also featured a few times in our local rag ‘The Bay Harbour News’. I think I’m now known as ‘the Penguin Lady’!

Grants: I received a sustainability grant through CCC to run ‘I’m a keeper Sumner’ pottery keep cup workshops. The goal was to to minimise environmental impact and drive community-level change. Attendee’s loved the chance to create and personalise their cups. Cafe’s were a harder nut to crack. I believe until single use plastics are banned throughout our country, things will not change. Australia has started to ban the take away coffee cup and I’m really hoping we will be next!.

Looking Ahead: What's Coming in 2025

As we look forward to the new year, I’m excited to share some plans for both my teaching and creative practice. No need for concern. I’ll still be offering pottery evening classes and Sunday Workshops!

Studio Expansion: With my continued wish to be an advocate for positive environmental change I have decided to move from the Sumner Hub to new premises. From February 2025 I will be part of the ‘Climate Action Campus' community. I’m so excited to be sharing a space with a very dear friend and Art Teacher Sue Greenwood. Sue will be on refresher leave for the year from Chisnallwood Intermediate School. We have wanted to work together for a while and have decided to take a leap!

Apart from the change of address it will be business as usual with some other exciting opportunities for schools and community groups to book into our Climate Action Campus Programme. I'll be offering pottery and sculpture and Sue will offer general art. We will be applying for grants from Rata and CCC. We really want to encourage a creative community to grow that takes positive action. Also on site are many other environmental and nature focussed groups. All offering tamariki and community groups hope.

You can book into the usual beginner and intermediate 6 wk long evening classes and Sunday Morning Workshops below. I have so much knowledge I haven’t shared yet and the bigger studio space allows for more ambitious happenings. Stay tuned for details as this won’t happen all in the first Term. Sue and I will be making the space beautiful and watching and listening to what goes on around us first to see where we can have the most impact.