Edge City #8
Garnet Road, Westmere, Auckland
2005 - 2008 The Green Door, 65
Old Mill Road
1981-1994
1997-2002
2002-2004
Edge City in the past - through
the
public eye:
NZ Potter Magazine
1992
NZ Potter Magazine 1997
Cover by Louise Rive
Cover by Chuck Joseph
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NZ Potter
1997
Louise Rive and Chuck Joseph, in
the summer
of 1981-82, saw that it was possible to make a living from pottery when
they sold their first firing of decorated plates straight from the kiln
to Peter Sinclair of Alicat. They produced this
work
with the technology, guidance and kiln of potter Julian Pirie.
Louise
and Chuck then established a studio in an old commercial building in
Westmere
on the edge of the city near the Auckland Zoo and worked as Swallow
Pottery from 1981 to 1985 and then Edge
City
from 1986 onward.
From early childhood experiences such as, for Louise, watching her
mother make beads from clay dug out of the creek bed by her brothers on
their dam-building exercises in Peel Forest, Canterbury, and
seeing
the beads fired in the local school kiln in Invercargill and
worn
as a necklace, and for Chuck on holiday at Takapuna Beach
finding the bed of clay beneath the sand ideal for sculpture, it was
already
obvious to them both that there were pleasures to be had from creating
in clay.
The current development, Edge City the
Artworkshop,
a place to work in and sell from, has been open since early 1997 and
New
Zealanders' inclination to purchase things made of clay has been basic
to the studio's success.
The techniques and technology of clay production in the studio have
changed very little in 16 years. The first plates were decorated
with brushwork in iron or cobalt oxide on a base white stoneware
glaze.
There was the blue range and the brown range, with simple pictures
inspired
by everything from European peasant pottery to Japanese woodblock art
and
English fabric design. Work was sold to begin with through shops
around the country, at the thriving Cook Street Market, and some from
the
studio. In 1984 the work was mainly sold in the Craft Hall at the then
new Victoria Park Market from The Exhibitionists
stall.
This exposure in a very busy market place and dealing
direct with such a variety of customers, tourists and locals, was
liberating.
Experimentation with one-off ideas was not self-indulgent as it
was
possible to sell a piece of work at Victoria Park that might be
considered
a little too outlandish for a craft retailer to risk carrying as
product.
At the same time, in the mid-1980s, import restrictions were being
lifted in New Zealand and this changed the pottery market for
everyone.
For the first time other cheap practical alternatives to New Zealand
pottery
were being imported and sold at very affordable prices. Viewed
with
hindsight it was the end of an era for pottery in New Zealand.
Also significant in the development of what has become the Edge
City style of work, was a trip to the USA in 1984.
Travelling
up the coast from Los Angeles to Seattle looking at craft and local
arts
generally and, in Portland Oregon, visiting what was proudly purported
to be the oldest craft gallery on the West Coast, was
enlightening.
It was apparent to Chuck and Louise on seeing craftspeople dealing with
all the competition from cheap and absolutely varied pottery and
glassware,
that for these people to survive in their competitive marketplace, it
was
necessary to produce exciting, quality work, not just to compete in
terms
of price or usefulness. Travel did broaden the mind.
In 1986 Edge City was established as an open studio-gallery, selling
what is made on site. All the work an excuse to paint, be it
on
glaze, paper or canvas, on a flat surface or on carved and sculpted
clay.
All the clay work gas-fired to cone 10, mostly with pictorial
decoration
painted on glaze using high temperature stains. Sometimes a
carved
surface is left free of glaze and after the firing process is primed
and
then painted with oil paint.
Louise's particular delight is to produce mixed media work, with glaze
alongside a paint finish. Chuck's Tapestry Pedestal shows fine
detail
in the brushwork and is typical of Edge City,
incorporating pictures and poetry, using local landscape and plants, in
all an inherently New Zealand piece.
It is possible for a cup to be so much more than just a cup - it can
even tell a story, amuse and entertain, and Louise and Chuck make
different
styles of cups. If anything, the variety of work produced at Edge
City can create problems, in that the customer may return
expecting
more exactly the same and this doesn't always happen.
However, as with any business, financial realism must prevail and in
1994 a decision was made (in part because of impending town planning
restrictions)
to develop a cafe to operate in conjunction with the gallery, the logic
being that this would create a more inclusive and welcoming environment
for customers, recognising that not everyone feels comfortable entering
an artist's studio. The general principle was strong, but one
major
miscalculation was that if the cafe was successful, it would inevitably
have a life of its own and take over, which is what happened.
For two years there
was a struggle to find time to do any pottery or art work, which was
an unsatisfactory situation and it denied the reason for creating
the
cafe. So the Edge City
Cafe was sold and Edge
City moved around the corner from the general store building to
the grain-store building on Old Mill Road.
The new workshop is an ongoing development with new directions
becoming evident from
simple things like the ceramic designs involved in the new courtyard at
the Artworkshop at 65A Old Mill Road.
=============================================================================================================
Style ART
with Steve Dickinson. 1992
...Edge City is not an easy gallery to
find, tucked away in Old Mill Road behind the zoo in Grey Lynn.
The
gallery is owned by two committed individuals who have created an
environment
that allows them to sell and display their own work without getting
caught
up in the so called gallery scene.
Chuck Joseph and Louise Rive have cultured the Edge
City gallery over the last six years to become an extension of
the
work they do. The large painted clown juggling fish bones and
pictures
and pots on the outside wall sets the scene for within.
On opening the door you are bombarded by a spectrum of colour
and although the space is cramped, it has a welcoming scene of
involvement.
You have to squeeze past Joseph as he is working on a large painting
that
juts out into the showroom. This closeness to creating artists gives a
friendly warm ambience. Paintings or pottery are all that you
will
find here and although the styles are similar there are very clear
differences
in the contributions of each artist.
Louise Rive's work is very strong and perhaps more subtle than
her counterpart. She is deeply concerned with her work which
reflects
her own experience whether it be as a daughter, lover or mother.
Her latest piece entitled I'm just Singing my Song, shows her strong
sense
of coming from within herself and her reaction to the relationships of
those around her.
Nakedness features extensively in both paintings and pottery "Nakedness
doesn't sit well with secrets."
This desire to create openly and honestly in a theme approach gives
the work a unique attribute. Chuck Joseph is more of a story
teller.
His work is full of humour and he maintains that it is the story
telling
and expression of his life.
Symbolism and strength of colour are the specific features of
his work.
His simplistic way of working in paint shows a need to make his story
very clear. Picture frames are used as a part of the canvas and
give
the image an uncontained essence. This need to get the message
told
is once again reflected in where he works.
There is no cloistered studio where he sits in isolation for hours,
but he is right there amongst the buying public doing his work and
involving
anyone who wants to be involved.
Edge City is less of a place to buy work
- rather an extension to the artwork created there. It is a life
style, a new way of involving the public without having to fit a style
to the fashions of the day.
The bizarre uniqueness of the pottery pieces that are created, their
humour and the quality of craftsmanship have always been
consistent.
There has of course been economic reality and this has meant that work
has had to be kept within a regime of both size and price. Even
so
there has never had to be a compromise on the concept and quality of
the
work produced.
Rive and Joseph enjoy their own environment of display and work, as
Rive explains.
"Having and operating your own outlet for your product means that we
can relatively easily collect a body of work for an exhibition. Neither
one of us is good at negotiating with the 'egos' of the gallery
scene
or the fashions that dictate at any given time."
"We have control of how the work is displayed our work stands and falls
on its own merit and neither of us wants to deal with unnecessary
hurdles
that involvement with other people implies."
New Zealand is rich in high quality art, whether it be painting,
pottery,
sculpture, or craft. You can find such art throughout the country
in galleries run by people who appreciate quality work and wish to
support
and encourage artists who are committed to the search for excellence.
=============================================================================================================
NZ Home & Building
Vicki Holder 1990Apollinaire said:
Come to the Edge
We might fall
Come to the Edge
It's too high
Come to the Edge.
And they came
And he
pushed
And they flew.
the words attributed to the philosopher Apollinaire by Canadian poet
C. Logue are framed on the wall of Edge
City
Studio, in Westmere, Auckland. They hold special
significance
for artists Louise Rive and Chuck Joseph as they were
the
final piece of inspiration needed to take the plunge in establishing
their
own studio as a commercial outlet for their artworks in Auckland. Chuck
had worked as a teacher and was an art advisor in Whangarei.
Louise
had completed a BFA at Elam concentrating mainly on printmaking and
painting.
When they were in Whangarei, there was a lot of experimentation among
schools
doing primitive pottery firing techniques and raku work. Being
caught
up in the scene, they couldn't help but become involved. Louise says:
"We
wanted a studio space with the notion we would produce all sorts of
artworks."
Ten years ago the moved to an old shop with a house neatly positioned
out
the back between the intersection of two roads in Westmere. Here
they set up shop and home, back to back.
Apollinaire's message now pervades their whole approach to living and
working at Edge City Studio.
Brightly
painted planets, like a comic book rendition of a scene from outer
space,
make an appropriate statement on the shop's pink facade from which
sprouts
a broad, green, corrugated iron veranda. In the physical sense
the
studio is located on the original town planning outer road limit
surrounding
the city of Auckland.
And metaphorically, Louise and Chuck continue to experiment with new
techniques and ideas, drawing inspiration from books and the scene
around
them. In their studio they are surrounded by a constantly
changing
wonderland of colourful ceramic pieces - toys for adults - with a
unique Auckland or New Zealand flavour. They have captured
something
essentially New Zealand: the images; the humour; the flora and fauna;
the
landscape; the cityscapes; cartoon and movie characters; the rituals
and
institutions.
Western Springs and Auckland's immediate environment, the view from
the kitchen window, provide Louise and Chuck with a wealth of ideas for
decoration. They are forever wandering the parks with their
sketching
pads and cameras recording the things they see around them. The
cabbage
trees and raupo plant, the arising cityscape and shells are
ever-recurring
images on canvases, bowls and
vessels. Some of the vegetation is sadly becoming less commonly
seen. "The cabbage trees at Western Springs have gone now," says
Chuck. "We used to get a view of Rangitoto so we used that a lot.
Since we've been here the skyscrapers have moved in." Hence the
proliferation
of stylised skyscrapers in the studio. Fish are another popular theme
of
Chuck's. "You just can't get away from fish in New Zealand.
Schnapper, John Dory, hammerheads, barracuda catching them, eating them
- it's a very New Zealand thing and people respond to them. Even
the piranhas in the sardine can. Although we don't have piranhas
in New Zealand, people can relate to the humour. It's a
reflection
of living in the city in New Zealand."
Chuck's Electric Blue Kiwi is a reaction to the delicate paua
and silver varieties available in every souvenir store. "I wanted
to make him more substantial. He's not a wimp as he's
portrayed.
He's got incredible thighs." Chuck has elevated New Zealand's national
symbol to a more lofty position as a "superhero".
"Our daughter gets used a lot as a model," says Louise.
"She has a lovely, gentle face which is a good form to work from."
Stylised
female faces are found on many of Louise's most recent works: vases;
bowls;
pots; candleholders; paper and canvas.
When they first started working in the studio, they were mainly using
clay. "We had a narrow idea of what we could do with it.
But
the best thing is you can do what you want, it's just a matter of
developing
skills and learning how to do it so that you get a smaller failure
rate.
It's also about learning new ways of decorating. We ended up
painting
onto clay," says Louise.
"But we are fairly lateral with our ideas. Every surface can
be painted on. Now we go from paper to canvas to a cup, bowl or
sculpture,
or the other way around."
The New Zealand-ness of their works makes it inherently sought after
by ex-patriots keen to take a memento back to their adopted land.
The pieces are also popular with visitors to New Zealand who recognise
the combination of beauty, wit and souvenir-like nature of Edge
City works. As an alternative to the souvenir shops found
in the more familiar tourist drawcards, Edge City
does New Zealand and New Zealanders proud.
Every time you visit the shop the works on display seem to have
changed.
There is always something just perfect for somebody you know who is
about
to celebrate a birthday. It is impossible to walk out empty
handed.
============================================================================================================
NZ
Potter
Maggie Blake 1991
It is 10 years since Louise Rive and Chuck Joseph gave
up rural life and decided to become potters.
The couple and their two children had tried living in Tolaga Bay on
the east coast and up north in Hikurangi. Chuck had worked as a
primary
school teacher with a special interest in art - and Elam-trained Louise
had concentrated on motherhood. They both decided at the same
time
that they needed a change in direction.
"When we got to nervous breakdown stage, we decided we would pursue
the old dream of having an art studio where we could pursue a variety
of
work," says Chuck.
They came back to Auckland and hunted for a home finding one eventually
in Westmere, close to the zoo - with an old shop attached that they
could
use as a studio. They decided to make clay their prime medium.
"We knew people who were potters and making a living out of it and
we knew that New Zealanders were educated to buy things in clay," said
Louise. "No-one was making a living out of painting - but they
were
out of clay."
Chuck had been working as an arts adviser in Whangarei and had
experimented
with some raku firings. Louise had been taking a Saturday art
class
and had included clay work in the programme.
In Auckland, they were lucky enough to know a potter called Julian
Pirie, who was kind enough to show them the ropes and lend them his
kiln while a broken arm took three months to mend.
"He was very good to us, helping with the glazing and firing. We looked
around and saw what people were making. They weren't making
platters
and they weren't decorating, so we made lots of press-moulded
platters.
We made our own moulds and didn't even go near a wheel for five years."
They took their first firing to Pete Sinclair who owned a Herne
Bay pottery shop called Alicat. He bought the entire
firing
- except for a couple of cracked pieces. Louise and Chuck went
out
and bought themselves a new 11 cu ft LPG fired kiln, rolled up their
sleeves
and got on with it.
"it has taken us years to get this kiln going just right," says
Chuck.
Even so there are still a few post-firing blues for the pieces that
don't
live up to expectation when they emerge from the kiln. When that
happens
"all I want to do is make another one," says Louise.
Although the couple are getting more and more proficient at the
technical
side of pottery - they still endure high levels of anxiety.
"You want control," explains Chuck. You stick it in the kiln
and fire it up to 1300'C for 10 hours in this swirling, boiling hot
atmosphere
- and you hope it's all going to come out sitting still. Two out
of three firings come out perfect - and the third doesn't. A bit
of fibre will plop down on a really nice piece or it will have been
sitting
in a cold spot."
Although the couple use colour and decoration on all their pots they
have stuck with stoneware - with the occasional terra cotta firing,
later
decorated with matt enamel paint. They gave up producing pots
with
brown and shino glazes because "we couldn't sell them for love or
money".
"We used to use Nelson GB2-, an iron-rich clay, but we gave up on that
because it had dark little flecks of brown in it. Now we use Nelson
SC80,
a white stoneware, with a white glaze. Basically we are painters
on clay and we want a good surface," says Chuck.
It can take them up to two weeks to "paint up" a firing. "With some
pieces we go back and back and back," says Louise. "One of my big
jugs, for instance, takes at least one whole day to decorate."
"Everything is made as something to decorate," says Chuck. "We
have decorated more and more - and the more we decorate, the better it
sells."
Their oddly-shaped house juts like a boat's prow at the junction of
Old Mill and Garnet Roads. It was once a grocery store, then a
television
repair shop. When Louise and Chuck took it over the shop front
was
strictly a studio, with painted over windows.
They sold all their work to dealers - frequently driving around the
countryside with pots, stopping at shops in various towns along the
way.
Then in 1986, tired of selling to dealers, they decided to take the
leap, scrape the paint off the windows and open up the shop for
business.
"We were sick of selling to shops, satisfying the middle man and
whatever
limits the retailer put on you. We were doing more and more
experimental
work and the dealers would say things like: 'We like this - but we'll
take
that'."
They called the place Edge City - not
only because it is sited on a street once defined as the edge of
Auckland
- but because of an inspirational poem that hung on their studio wall.
The poem by Canadian C. Logue reads:
Apollinaire said
Come to the edge
We might fall
Come to the edge
It's too high
Come to the Edge
And they came
And he pushed
And they flew.
The television repairman had told them that the place would never
work
as a retail spot. But the couple opened their doors anyway.
Louise: "We decided that we wanted to make things so good that if they
didn't sell we would want to keep them anyway."
Chuck: "Also if we made really good things, people couldn't ignore
them. People would have to buy them. And that's how it's
worked
here."
The couple work very strict hours - 10am to 6pm every day of the week
- with Sundays and Mondays off.
Five years after taking that leap off the edge they are delighted with
the results. They are also enjoying the "unexpected bonus" of
meeting
their customers direct. They can survive financially solely
through
their shop sales. If they had tried to make a go of it in the
country,
they believe, they would not be working with clay any more.
Many of their customers live nearby, and are on the lookout for
something
that reflects their own environment. New Zealanders going away
are
also drawn to the shop for something - perhaps funny, perhaps with a
parochial
flavour - to remind them of home while they are away.
"People love the fact that the things in our shop are made in New
Zealand
- and made in Westmere. New Zealanders are pretty positive about
supporting New Zealanders."
=============================================================================================================
Metro Jan
Corbett 1989
Edge City pottery has been on the corner
of Garnet and Old Mill Roads in Westmere for two years. Husband
and
wife Chuck Joseph and Louise Rive have had the pink
corner
building for eight years, living out the back, but used it solely as a
workshop for the first six years until they decided to abandon making
domestic
pottery to supply retailers in favour of more original and humorous
pieces.
"When we bought the place," says Chuck, "the guy said it would never
work
commercially. We keep making stuff and people keep coming
back.
Satisfied customers are essential."
The move away from domestic pottery to ceramics was prompted by the
falling demand for household pottery items. Once everyone had
their
pottery casserole and coffee mugs. Now they're into Arzberg or
Arcorac.
Chuck and Louise still make cups and platters, but their most
distinctive
work comes from wanting to have a good joke. Louise makes
sardines
in a tin, teddies in a tin and philistines in a tin - little naked
figures
packed in like sardines. Chuck holds up his favourite, titled
"Kiwi
in a tin", a pot done as an open can with the origin of the Kiwi
written
on the outside. But the can is empty - putting a Kiwi inside they
thought was just too horrible.
They have just finished their dangerous fish series which included
piranhas on plates, stand-up piranhas and devil fish for the
wall.
They do things to commemorate the neighbourhood as well - a Western
Springs
jug and painted tiles of houses in the area.
Ornamental couches are another favourite of Louise's. She has
moved from doing nudes on cushions on couches to Tuataras on couches
(lounge
lizards?). Customers seem to like things with a New Zealand
theme.
Chuck and Louise use a very fine white Nelson clay because it's more
reliable than the local clay - "We want to cut down as many variables
as
possible," says Chuck. "We want a bit more control." - and all
their
work is either glazed or painted in high fired colours.