Clay consequences

It's looking sooo... good

Pots drying in the early morning sun.

November skipped by like a dream. I made pots almost every day. We fired almost every day. We invented new glazes. Some worked and some didn’t.

We rushed to dry pots - and blew a few up in our impatience to get them fired.

We had a large gallery space to fill and we didn’t know what it would take to fill it.

Today, the scene changed.

We took 106 pots into the Refinery ArtSpace in Hardy St, Nelson and started trying to figure out where they would go, what they would be displayed on and how.

The gallery has a huge number of cubes, plinths and shelves. Gallery manager Janja lugs those things around, suggests solutions to everything and works like a navvy.

The regular set-up guy Andy wasn’t well, so at the last minute, Kirsty came in and started sanding the walls, painting and hanging up shelves.

It was hard manual work and the pair of them made a formidable team.

We were a bit redundant.

We shuffled round, putting things here and there, making suggestions, but happy that, after all the work, we could relax and let a lot of it just happen.

They had a great gizmo for making sure all the shelves were at the same height and horizontal.

By the end of the day, most of the pots were back on the floor as the display stands got a final lick with the brush or roller.

Janja and Kirsty were a fabulous team.

In the two other rooms in the gallery space, other exhibitors were setting up. The place was a hive of industry.

Tomorrow is Monday. When we go back in the morning, everything will be freshly painted and the pots can get into their final positions.

Lights will be set up to make sure everything is looking at its best.

A preliminary stab at the window display.

Signs will go up in the window and on the walls

There’s an opening on Monday at 5.30pm, to which everyone is welcome. It’ll be a chance for a quiet look at everything and some early purchases for anyone inclined that way - although the work all stays in place until the middle of January.

From then on, the exhibition is open to the public for six weeks.

The big occasion for us is 5.30pm Friday, when I do a short talk about the work and the history behind it.

I forgot to mention that there’ll be a historical section of a dozen or so pots dating back more nearly 50 years to 1971, so you can see how things have changed since I last threw a pot - a 30-year break between 1993 and 2023.

On Friday we’ll be giving away 100 wine beakers filled with wonderful wine from our friend Sali of Riverby Estate, or healthy fruit drinks courtesy of our friend Ben, father of the Chia Sisters.

If you can only come to one occasion, make it Friday - it should be a good party. Don’t come late, it only lasts until 7pm.

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