All fired up, pottery made with more than just passion

It may be a grey, rainy day outside but inside the Waikato Society of Potters studio it’s a colourful hive of activity.

Laughter and chatter erupts from the front door and pottery teacher Alex Wilkinson has just sat down to eat morning tea with her students. Bright pink roses form the centrepiece of the table and warm pieces of almond-covered cake are being handed around the lively group.

The cake comes on all manner of handmade plates, cups of all shapes and sizes are sipped from, and the energy in the room is almost tangible. You can see why it’s something this circle of women cherish. It’s a class lead by Alex Wilkinson, a local ceramic artist, teacher and businesswoman who, similar to her students, found her way back to the creative arts and ultimately to herself.

At age 19, while studying chemical engineering in Christchurch, Alex was involved in a life-changing car accident that she says was the catalyst for a total overhaul of her career. She moved back to the Waikato and started studying business management but something was still missing.

“I gave up art when I was 14. Essentially it’s been a big journey backwards to the same place.” She started pottery five years ago while still studying. “I just thought I’d try something new and it basically took over my life!”exclaims Alex. When she started missing lectures to attend specific classes she knew something had to change.

“I hated what I was doing. I did engineering because I thought to be valuable in the world you had to commit to a science and further the economic growth of New Zealand – that was being useful.”

From 17 to 25 anxiety and depression had a huge impact on her life, this was only made worse after the car accident. “My body and my mind, it made me so unhappy that I just had to go back to art. I had been on suicide watch twice, both when I dropped out of my degrees. Now I see it as clay gave me a way to come back into myself.”

After feeling like she never belonged in business and engineering Alex found clay work came naturally to her. However, looking back, Alex sees how the engineering and the business have added value to her creative enterprise. “They gave me skills that a lot of other artists are missing. I have a huge chemistry background which helps with pottery, there’s a science to it. The business side gave me the self-discipline to work.”

“The only way to become an artist is to make work and make lots of it, and that process makes you better. If you don’t have the determination to do that then you’re missing something. You can’t sell it if you don’t have it. Every iteration you put out into the world of art you look back on and you think gosh that was awful but that’s part of the process.”

Following her night classes Alex enrolled in the Diploma of Ceramic Art offered by Otago Polytechnic but realised she had already covered most of the course. So instead she launched a business with local artist and painter Lee Samuel. The business, Studio Two, was both a teaching space and gallery space centred around developing artists. “The gallery was great for first shows and emerging artists, we don’t have enough of these settings for people just starting out,” explains Alex. Alongside this Alex launched Mystery Creek Ceramics, her own business brand and work.

Alex emphasises the need for more business skills in the creative industries. “My passion is in teaching the artists of the next generation but I think there’s some big holes in the current curriculum. I have a technical background. There’s a lot of conceptual stuff taught, but that comes naturally. Every artist in New Zealand is basically self-employed, and they’re not taught about how that works.”

After two years co-running Studio Two Alex moved on from the business in order to pursue teaching and study in 2020. Despite being told by some that she was too young and too inexperienced to teach Alex persisted. “For me the only way to change the system is to get into the teaching system.”

Alex teaches four classes a week at the Waikato Society of Potters whilst running her business too. But being a young teacher and artist hasn’t been easy. “The pottery scene in New Zealand is undergoing real changes,” Alex explains.”There’s a large generational gap. There’s the potters that remember the 1970’s and 1980’s, which was the heyday of pottery in New Zealand, then there’s us coming through. You get the same messages anywhere, the, ‘we do it this way’ and ‘you’re disrespecting the craft,’ responses.” Despite the divide, the overwhelming public interest in pottery is making way for a range of generations hungry to learn more.

With a growing revitalisation of the Arts and Craft movement many people are wanting to reconnect with making things. And it’s clear the students treasure their pottery time and their teacher. “It’s more than just a class, it’s like therapy for me,” says Nikola who is busy arranging sets of cups she has made for Christmas presents. Nikola started learning pottery under Alex two years ago and hasn’t stopped coming along to classes since.

Or there’s Heather who travels from Te Kuiti every Monday specifically for Alex’s classes. “She is an amazing teacher and I just love her classes, it’s just a shame it’s such a long drive, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

There’s laughter and nattering around the classroom and Alex moves from student to student offering advice and tips and plenty of encouragement. “I love teaching, it’s the most rewarding thing I do. At the start people are vulnerable, you have to nurture them. It’s a wonderful thing to see people flourish in their creative journey,” she explains.

Alex’s art is both sculptural and functional. Her last shows focused on space and form and tension between objects. Over the last few years though there’s been a shift in her work. “My passion lies in sculpture but the money lies in the function ware and although art has value not everyone is willing to put money into that value.” Next year she is planning on returning to art school in order to teach in a greater capacity, noting the direction she wants to go in. “Changing into conceptual, academic art is usually the term. I think that’s where I want to go really.”

“It physically hurts me when I stop making art. It’s like there’s this part of you that wants to talk to the world but it doesn’t want to talk in words. The only way to express yourself is by making stuff.”

Alex describes this change of artistic direction as all consuming. “It’s like sitting down and saying, ‘OK, you’ve proven you can make pretty things that people like, but what do you want to communicate to the world with those things and how deep do you want to go? Do you want to keep making pretty things or shift the way people think with what you make?’ ”

“My interest lies in that humans are easy to control. Everyday the messaging around us has a real impact on us. Even I feel like I’m being manipulated by it. I want to make people aware of the impact of that.”

A realist and a revolutionary, Alex is keen to delve into socio-political art with a message deeper than aesthetics. She’s currently writing her manifesto. “It’s quite funny because in writing it you study others’ and usually they’re revolutionaries or terrorists,”she gulps. “A manifesto always comes before the artwork. It comes from a place of insecurity yet you are making grandiose statements. I find that fascinating.”

Despite still battling with anxiety and depression Alex notes that her creativity plays a significant role in her mental health.“We need to have a purpose, we need to create something physical and that changes the way we do other things.”

“Its that real creating something with your own hands, that tangibility. When you feel like the world is on top of you sometimes you need that sense of accomplishment. That’s what pottery gives you. I made a thing!”

Her advice to artists is to be unique. “Become OK with expressing yourself as you are. Not as something you want to be.”

“Anxiety and depression still get the better of me sometimes. But you’ve got to build a life that you’re not trying to escape from and art is something I don’t want to escape from. You can’t do something you hate everyday, otherwise you end up destroying yourself.”

It’s all about the community you create around you says Alex. “You have to surround yourself with people that support you and love you despite your issues. Do things that make you happy, especially the little things. You gotta keep going.”

Judging by the joyful faces in the classroom and Alex’s passionate teaching she’s doing just that.