Artist's Library of Things growing in Whanganui

Ceramicist Kate Fitzharris will be working on her Library of Things at Sarjeant on the Quay from next week. Photo/Stuart Munro

Tylee Cottage artist in residence Kate Fitzharris is preparing to move to the next phase of her plan to create a Whanganui Library of Things.

The ceramicist from Dunedin started collecting items from visitors to the Davis and Gonville libraries at the beginning of April and has since been invited to talk at community gatherings where she has collected more objects.

From next week, Fitzharris will be working on her response pieces inspired by the objects and the stories that accompany them.

"I have seen some really interesting ceramic objects that people have shared," said Fitzharris.

"Some of them were received as gifts and there were a couple of interesting pieces that people have found while digging their gardens."

A ceramic bottle which once contained "Ye Olde English Brewed Ginger Beer" made by the Wanganui Aerated Water Company and a clay doll are two of the backyard finds she has seen.

"Sometimes it is the story rather than the thing itself that is interesting," said the artist.

She will be stationed in the gallery Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 1.30 – 4.30pm where visitors can meet her, see how the library is growing and bring ceramic objects to add to the collection.

"You can either bring the object along or if it's too fragile to bring, a photograph will suffice," she said.

The objects can include all sorts of things: cups, plates, vases, functional items, figurines and contemporary art.

Fitzharris' work can also be viewed at the Creature exhibition showing at the Sarjeant's objects gallery upstairs from the i-Site at 31 Taupo Quay.

Her residency ends in late June when she will take her library of things with her back to Dunedin and it's from there and the stories she has gathered that a new body of work will grow blurring the lines between fiction and non-fiction.

The exhibition will take place later this year or in early 2019.