First a disclaimer. I know the author. We’re Facebook friends and we’ve even met in unpixellated life. We worked on a common project without knowing each other, and met subsequently. Her coffee is great, and was it pecan pie? Something magnificent. Aotearoa New Zealand is a small country.
So small. Years ago I worked in Rust Ave, Whangarei. I don’t suppose it ever occurred to me that it was named after someone (Alexander Rust) or that his descendant would be the subject of a book that I
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I'd never heard of Yvonne Rust before reading this, so it's just as well Theresa Sjoquist has written a biography of this remarkable potter, painter and art teacher (1922-2002), so we can all read about this determined, talented, inspiring, eccentric and indomitable woman. Rust has been hugely influential on a generation of artists and craftspeople in New Zealand, as demonstrated by the many memories and tributes shared in this volume.
The biography succeeds at every level. It's
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When we call Yvonne Rust QSM a pioneering potter, it isn't so much because she was one of the first potters, although she was certainly one of the early rush of potters in New Zealand to make the craft popular in the late 50s and 60s. She pioneered in another way and that was that she introduced the medium of clay as art and sculpture. Typically potters made domestic ware, useful stuff, plates, bowls, mugs, jugs and so on, but Yvonne innovatively made anything she could think of out
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Yvonne Rust, QSM, was more than a painter and a pioneering potter. She had the gift of human connection, so much so, that people invariably felt that she was their special friend, and this made them open to her.
Once a student was open, Rust could create the space for extraordinary learning, and it was in this way that she inspired so many of today's artists, potters, jewellers, architects, theatre directors, arts educators, sculptors, and many other creatives, many of
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At Opua, in the Bay of Islands in Northern New Zealand, every Wednesday there were local yacht races and because Yvonne Rust lived in Opua, virtually on the waterfront (from 1986 until 1998), they became a subject for her painting very often. This painting is one of the Wednesday Night race series.
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