Two exhibitions and a fresh long-term installation are new features at Rick Rudd's Quartz Museum of Studio Ceramics.
The installation is called Subsurface, a marine-themed work by Owen Bartlett.
"He's from Nelson," says Rick, "and was taught by some of the best potters in Nelson. He's a diver, so this installation is a reaction to underwater things."
Much of the work is porous, although his representation of paua shell involves a long, laborious technique using multiple layers and partial removal of each layer. The result is magnificent.
The two exhibitions he has on now, which replaced the National Exhibition, he calls the Summer Shows. They are collections of work by Bronwynne Cornish and the late Mirek Smisek.
Rick has known Bronwynne since the 1970s and their work has been shown together in galleries in Auckland.