The Centre for Fine Woodworking
New Zealand's premier furniture making, woodworking & design school
Nelson's Artistic Community
A Unique Opportunity for Furniture Makers
There are more than 350 working artists and craftspeople living in Nelson. The Centre’s furniture making courses and the commitment to fine furniture making by tutors and students complement this lively artistic and cultural scene.
The area abounds in artisans and artists working in wood, ceramics, glass, metal and other media. In addition to John Shaw and David Haig, there are a number of other innovative fine furniture makers, such as Philip Osborne, Mike Hindmarsh and Jimu Grimmett, working in the Nelson region.
Philip Osborne is a founding Member of the Nelson Furniture Collective and is the coordinator of the Collective’s biennial furniture exhibition at the Suter Gallery in Nelson www.thesuter.org.nz
The gallery’s permanent collection of works by Mountford Tosswill Woollaston, one of the founders of modern art in New Zealand, is worth a visit in its own right. Other important artists represented in the gallery’s collection include works by John Gully, C F Goldie, Frances Hodgkins and Jane Evans.
In addition to furniture making, there is a significant local tradition of wood carving in the Nelson region, represented in both modern and Maori artworks.
Fine examples of this emotive and traditional Maori art form are embodied in the works of John Te Rangipuahoaho Mutu ,a traditional Maori Master Woodcarver (Tohunga Whakairo) at Te Awhina Marae in Motueka and his protégé, Tim Wraight.
John and Tim have produced work for the carved meeting houses (whare whakairo) at Nelson and Waikawa, as well as other large scale public works in the Nelson and Tasman regions.
Nelson is also home to Brian Flintoff, master carver and maker of traditional Maori musical instruments.
John’s 2004 book, ‘Taonga Puoro - Singing Treasures: The musical instruments of the Maori’ is the first book to be published that comprehensively covers the world of Maori musical instruments, a fascinating and little-known area of traditional Maori culture. The book includes instructions for making and playing these singing treasures, and there is an explanation of the art forms used in Maori carving. This beautiful book is richly illustrated with colour photographs of exquisite contemporary instruments, as well as ancient taonga held in museums around the world.
Wood turning is represented by a number of skilled and committed artisans making traditional and contemporary pieces. Bob and Anne Phillips, located at Mapua estuary, are leading woodturners producing works from sustainable NZ woods.
Doug Gordon, working out of his studio in the Redwood Valley, is justly proud of both the number of different woods he works with and the wide variety of his products. Doug has also utilized his background in engineering to makes many of his own tools, giving him a freedom of artistic expression in his chosen medium. More at redwood.kol.co.nz
Nelson and the region has much reason to be grateful to the Nelson Districts Woodturning Club. Many nascent woodturners get their inspiration, support and skills through the club; professional as well as the skilled amateur. Doug Gordon is proof of the former and speaks of the club and its members with some warmth: "There's a certain rapport you have with people who are into woodturning."
Nelson’s Guild of Woodworkers is the current spiritual home for Nelson residents wishing to gain and hone their woodworking and furniture making skills. Both John and David have taught furniture making classes at the Guild and some members of the Guild are active supporters of the Centre for Fine Woodworking. Students on our furniture making courses will benefit from this symbiosis.
Furniture making would be the poorer if it could not draw some of our inspiration from art forms other than wood. We therefore encourage our students to study and consider the other art forms so richly represented in Nelson.
Painters of national and international renown have their studios here: Jane Evans, Sally Burton, Austin Davies and Brian Strong are just a representative sample of the local painters that enrich our region’s reputation as New Zealand’s artistic hub.
Ceramic artists and potters form a large and important segment of the region’s artistic output. The breadth of talent and the variety of artistic forms employed is astonishing: from Christine Boswijk’s conceptual work, through the distinctive layering work of Katie Gold to the colourful pots of Royce McGlashen.
Finally, glass blowing and casting has assumed an important part of the region’s artistic and commercial identity.
Ola Höglund and Marie Simberg-Höglund have established a studio at the Höglund Art Glass Centre inspired by traditional Swedish glass-blowing techniques.
Jim MacKay, is a contemporary artist producing highly sought-after works in cast glass and glass sculptures. Jim’s recent work, including that pictured, is a series of pieces that examines historical migration.The rounded base encourages a rocking motion like craft at sea. Jim was one of five local artists (alongside Yvette Byrd, Josephine Cachemaille, Andy Clover, and Matt Frost) featured in the recent Suter exhibition ‘Undercurrent’; an exhibition initiated by The Suter to showcase the work of five emerging artists currently living in Nelson.
The artists and artisans mentioned in this short article represent a brief snapshot of Nelson’s artistic community: one that is a vital and innovative part of Nelson’s spirit and commercial enterprise. The Centre for Fine Woodworking is proud to be part of that community.
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