2015 / A Right Stirrer / Whau Arts Festival / 1915 Great North Road, Avondale

A Right Stirrer was conceived of for the Whau Arts Festival, a three-day event of music, visual art, theatre and performance organised by Whau The People (WTP) in Avondale, West Auckland. Taking the idea of a ‘stirrer’ as both an implement for stirring and a person who likes to stir things up, we made ceramic tea stirrers from clay sourced at Fulton Hogan’s SH16 worksite. This seam of clay was selected especially for Public Share from their worksite at the mouth of the Whau River by workers who had participated in our first project, ALLOTTED BREAK(S). Over the three-day duration of the festival, we invited festival-goers to select a stirrer and help themselves to a hot cuppa and a gingernut and take a break at our pop-up tea station.

Located beside our PS tea station, curator Ioana Gordon-Smith and writer Lana Lopesi produced a temporary newspaper publication, LOCALISE, which focused on “the subject of community art, exploring how art, and even the newspaper itself, can meaningfully engage with local residents.” Each morning, 250 copies were distributed, and a stack was made available for free as reading material for tea drinkers. (5 issues were published.)

LOCALISE: https://ioanagordonsmith.com/2017/04/12/localise/

Whau The People: https://whauthepeople.com/about/

Contextual statement

a right stirrer

Both an implement for stirring and a person who likes to stir things up. Let’s do both.

Public Share created a tea station for the Whau Arts Festival hub in Avondale [1915 Great North Road]. As a collective of artists who like to make together, we crafted and fired stirrers from clay dug from the Fulton Hogan Northwestern motorway worksite at the mouth of the Whau River. Complete with gold Public Share logo, the stirrers sat somewhere between the decorative tourist teaspoon and the disposable coffee stick. Embracing the idea that a convivial break is often just what’s needed, we invited people to drop by for a cup of tea, and to use, then take away, a stirrer.

On 10 September 2015, Harriet received a phone call from Scott, the Construction Supervisor at Fulton Hogan, to say that a couple of workers on the site had spotted a new seam of clay. They immediately thought of us and rang Scott. So, Harriet dropped off a fish bin, they filled it, and here we are – with stirrers made from that special seam.

WHAU ARTS FESTIVAL

15 to 18 October 2015

whauthepeople.com

Thursday 15 October: Opening event: 6-9pm

Friday 16/ Saturday 17/ Sunday 18 October: 10-11.30am / 2.30-4pm

Project: A Right Stirrer

Dates: 15-18 October 2015

Location: Whau Arts Festival, Avondale, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

Event: 3-day tea station with the Whau Arts Festival public

Site: 1915 Great North Rd, Avondale

Ceramic Object: 400 ceramic tea stirrers with gold ‘Public Share’ logo decals (No lot number)

Biscuits: Griffins Gingernuts

Installation: Installed in a modified shipping container

Clay Source: SH16 interchange and causeway upgrade, Te Atatū, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

PUBLIC SHARE, formed in mid-2014, is a New Zealand artist collective (comprised of Monique Redmond, Harriet Stockman, Kelsey Stankovich, Kirsten Dryburgh, Deborah Rundle, Mark Schroder and Joe Prisk) that works collaboratively to engage in ideas of sharing, production and exchange. Combining object making and site exploration with social engagement and critique, Public Share has a particular interest in workplace rituals, organising events that punctuate the day with pause and conviviality.