Bloke angel Coromandel potter Gary Nevin aims for sainthood

Gary Nevin is hosting a pottery workshop at the Thames Society of Arts. Photo / Alison Smith.

Gary Nevin is a jack of all trades Coromandel-style - an artist, a potter, and a bloke's bloke.

Known for his "bloke angels" - outdoor sculptures that have grown in population from his studio and gardens in Whenuakite on SH25 north of Tairua - his latest work is a saint, "St Francis", the patron saint of animals and environment.

"They're self-portraits - all self-portraits," Nevin says of his bloke angel works of art.

So there's not only angelic Nevin but a bit of Saint Francis in the artist too?

"Definitely, I was going to call my son Francis because I love the name Francis and I love the birds. And I'm practically a saint."

St Francis is part of an ongoing series.

"I'd like to do other saints but they're doing things with lions and other things, it would be too outrageous, you probably couldn't do it."

Nevin could be viewed as a saint for his knowledge-sharing and patient mentorship of aspiring potters.

He is two weeks into a six-week pottery workshop he's hosting at the Thames Society of Arts on the Thames Coast, a workshop that's drawn people from Waihi, Tairua and Thames.

Last Saturday was the second of six weeks. The three-hourly workshop covers fundamentals including hand building and coiling, which students learned on Saturday, pinch pots and slab work.

There was laughter, banter and creative flow as Nevin encouraged participants to not judge themselves or their work too harshly and enjoy the process.

"If it was too serious I'd go home," he says. "I think it should be fun and we've had a lot of fun this morning."

The act of being tactile "A lot of people haven't done it for years, but you don't need any training. Just come along."

Corinne Fleming of Thames was among the participants and full of praise for others' work whilst humble about her own. In three short hours, she produced a "bolshy" woman's head, a pit of snakes and an extraordinary vessel plus a bowl using the coiling technique.

Said Nevin: "Corinne had absolutely amazing work, if she was a potter her works would be known all over the world, they're incredibly unique and she'd be a national treasure."

Corinne Fleming of Thames with some of her pottery works at Gary Nevin's workshop. Photo / Alison Smith

So how does one become a potter? "Just go for it," says Nevin.

The Coromandel offers clays with an incredibly high shrinkage rate which is why Nevin says he prefers not to use it, instead of using concrete or clay from out on the Hauraki Plains.

According to Paul Monin in Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, the Piako River that flows past the township of Ngātea has left flat, fertile plains enriched by alluvial muds, sands and gravels deposited up to 20,000 years ago by the Waikato River before its course changed, and more recently by the Piako and Waihou rivers.

Thames Society of Arts hosts numerous workshops with local artists like Nevin and is open for membership for just $50 per year.

INFO
The Thames Society of Arts is celebrating a new exhibition of all-local works opening with an evening gathering tomorrow (Friday, May 13) at its venue on the Thames Coast.