Auckland Studio Potters

Auckland Studio Potters
**96 Captain Springs Road, Onehunga
** byCelia Walker
Hot fires, unpredictable glazes, wet clay: this stalwart of the Auckland arts scene has been on a slow burn since its inception in 1961. The potential for mucky chaos and disaster is high, but this bunch of experts manages to elicit wonderful results from the most inexperienced of students. Located in Onehunga, amongst the urban wasteland of warehousing, a transfer station and the Waikaraka Park speedway, the current site in Captain Springs Road has been occupied for over 40 years, and now incorporates a purpose-built teaching studio and numerous kilns.

The students merge into tutors, with many working their way from casual classes through to the ceramics Diploma and studio roles, and the tutors turn into performance artists at some of their wackier annual firings (a phone book kiln and an ice kiln are notable past examples, with the potter/entertainer extraordinaire Peter Lange usually playing a pretty key role). Although there are leanings toward pyromania, the use of fire is always deceptively controlled – the randomness of a process like raku coming from variables of glazes, clay types, and exposure to combustibles, but not from unplanned or disordered processes.

Many of the ASP members and tutors have been involved with the organisation for decades, but this is not an exclusive club – the love of pottery is shared far and wide through events like The Great Mugging (giving cups to strangers on Ponsonby Road so that they can ditch their disposable cups); and The Big Clay Day Out, which is the ASP annual event for all ages, and includes the renowned spectator sport of the Potters Olympics (tallest pot, widest bowl, longest handle etc.), paint-a-pot, and an excellent place to find hand-made artisan Christmas gifts.

If you are sensible enough to sign up as a member you will find a busy calendar of opportunities opening up – classes, exhibitions, events, visiting tutors and expert master-classes. Classes are almost always fully booked in advance; so don’t dither with enrolling if you are interested.

Image Credits: Celia Walker