Hungry Creek is a multi-disciplinary art school teaching painting, sculpture, ceramics and jewellery, with supporting subjects in drawing, design, art history and professional studies. While tutors are constantly on hand, the curriculum is designed to encourage students to explore personal areas of interest.
This might mean departments working closely together
to realise a group or individual idea. For example, ceramics and sculpture might overlap on one brief, while jewellery and sculpture or jewellery and ceramics overlap on another.
Small classes result in more one-on-one consultations exploring new technical or theoretical concepts, which often draw the class into discussions or demonstrations.
The students often comment on the freedom of expression allowed at the school, which is borne out of the eclectic student demographic and the fact that many students have attended other tertiary institutions around the country.
A recent development is the opening of the Hungry Creek Art Gallery, which fronts the school on State Highway 1 at Puhoi. Joy Duncan, gallery manager and head of administration at Hungry Creek, has big plans for the gallery.
"It will be staffed by graduates who can simultaneously work on personal projects and gain valuable experience with the public,'' she says.
Honours degree graduate and emerging artist Richard Darbyshire says the non-commercial status of the gallery provides the perfect environment for graduates to exhibit their best work.
There are also plans to increase the gallery's programme to include exhibitions of work by local artists and tutors.
Duncan sees the space as "a unique opportunity to provide a focal point for the arts on the Hibiscus Coast and in the Warkworth area ''.
"It will also enable graduates and students to develop valuable life skills and facilitate and promote the respective research and practice of Hungry Creek tutors.''
