Anna Campbell lives on the western hills in Te Awa Kairangi, Lower Hutt and her pottery studio is part of a workshop also housing her sculptor husbands bronze casting foundry.

Anna studied Art History at university and has worked in hospitality, set design and interior design. She enrolled in pottery classes many years ago but lacked commitment.

"Rediscovering clay after going out to dinner and eating off the hosts handmade dinner set, I was inspired and promptly signed up for classes intending to make my own bowls and plates. Fast forward seven years and I still haven’t made my dinner set."

Anna spent the last four years studying at Otago Polytechnic and has just finished a Level 6 Diploma in Arts and Design majoring in Ceramics.

Her ceramic work is predominantly wheel thrown and tends to favour simple forms and clean lines, with a muted colour palette. Whoever uses her work knows that it is handmade; Anna will often leave her throwing lines in the clay and the gaps in the glaze where she held the cup while glazing.

As part of her final year of the Diploma Anna looked at still life compositions. In particular those found in the studio workshop.

"I have always loved the still life works of Australian painter Jude Rae. Rae chooses objects based on form and often of a utilitarian nature. She focuses on light and spatial awareness."

Anna has been working on industrial style still life compositions based on the workshop space, a 400m2 military bunker housing both a foundry and a pottery. There are still life’s everywhere, things tend to be clustered together in groups but with a random object sitting in the middle of it all.

"I am trying to capture the chaos of a set of shelves in a functioning workshop as opposed to the carefully curated shelves that might line your living room. Using a shelving unit for display enables different views of the same work. It can be viewed as one or many still life’s and from different angles."