Artists Flock to NEST
A new art collective in the heart of Amberley
Amberley is known as a farming service town, not as a centre for the arts. Yet this rural town, north of Christchurch, is fast changing with plans well underway to establish Amberley as North Canterbury’s heart of the arts. NEST Arts Collective is leading the charge to promote the region’s vibrant creative spirit and has opened an exciting new community arts space in the town. Next time you’re passing through, go take a look.
A CENTURY-OLD GRAIN STORE BUILDING, SITED ON
Amberley’s main drag, has been given a dust-off and pressed into service as a brand-new arts space with studios, a gallery, workshop tables, a resource library and a retail area selling local artists’ work. As I discover on the day of my visit, there is a big vision at play here.
NEST has been explicitly launched as an arts incubator in the broadest sense, linking artists and tapping into the community’s creative potential via workshops and other events. The location is ideal: easy to find, with plenty of parking out front and handy to great local cafés.
Just 18 months ago, NEST Arts Collective was no more than a concept in the head of self-described ‘jack-of-alltrades’ Laura Hewetson, who has a love for film, theatre, FX make-up and creative design. ‘I was interested in running some workshops and getting a few artists together in a kind of creative club, so I decided to post about it on Facebook to see if anyone else was interested,’ she recalls. ‘Mel [Eaton] replied, saying she’d founded something similar a few years ago in Qatar. [Called Inspiration Station, this ‘haven of creativity just off Al Waab’ operated for just over a year and was well supported by the local arts community.] We had an instant rapport and the ideas started flowing.’
Mel spent six years in Qatar, working as Head of Design at an international school, and had spearheaded Inspiration Station as a vehicle for bringing creative people together to make things and share work and ideas. ‘I’d always wondered if the same thing could be done in New Zealand.’
It is easy to see why she and Laura teamed up to form NEST Arts Collective. Both are North Canterbury mums juggling art projects around childcare and work commitments. They clicked over the shared dream of wanting dedicated studio space as well as a place of belonging for the local arts community. Exchange Christchurch (XCHC) in the city provided further inspiration for a creative hub north of the Waimakariri River.
Not long after Laura and Mel began hatching their plans, Laura approached local arts and craft shop owner and fellow creative Belinda Osgood to gauge her interest in running workshops with them. To cut a long story short, Belinda wound up selling the shop to become fully involved as a coordinator alongside Laura and Mel and the three now also have studio spaces on-site. ‘At the shop, I felt I was creating just to put stuff on the shelf and it was really too small for me to run proper workshops,’ says Belinda. ‘What I love about being here is I’m not alone, trying to do it all from promotion to accounts.’
Laura agrees, adding, ‘We’re a bunch of artists but everyone in this collective has their own strengths and we can usually get everything done we need to between us.’
Supported by Hurunui Creative Communities funding, NEST Arts Collective held their first workshop and exhibition event in July 2020, out of a temporary space in Markham Street. Hurunui District Mayor Marie Black
welcomed the event, urging all to get behind the initiative to ensure that Amberley becomes ‘the art capital of North Canterbury’. That aspiration is certainly within reach, now that NEST is starting to join the dots and forming relationships with other local arts groups and societies.
‘From the start, we have been blown away by the response,’ says Laura. ‘I didn’t really know what to expect as I came from Wellington and was part of a big creative community there. I’m flabbergasted with the sheer volume of talent and number of artists working here across a wide range of media. We have sculptors, leather makers, painters, printmakers … there’s such a variety of skill in North Canterbury. We love the idea of having music and the performing arts here too – the more the merrier.’
NEST Arts Collective officially opened its doors on Carters Road in January (2021). The space is stimulating, safe and child-friendly, buoyed by the ethos of open encouragement. Workshops to date have ranged from kids’ creative art to a ‘drawing with confidence’ series for adults. ‘Our goal is to provide a touchstone for the arts where everyone is welcome,’ says Mel. ‘This physical space is just what this community needed.’
Having hosted mural painting sessions for classes of children from Broomfield School last November, Laura is delighted at how well the space works. ‘We can easily run workshops for children or adults, while still operating the gallery, studio and retail area. I love the creative energy we’re able to generate here!’
Belinda, whose background is in arts, crafts and writing, is looking forward to using the space to hold journal making classes this year, making what she describes as ‘next level’ junk journals using materials from vintage papers to lace.
A huge team effort was required to get the whole space ready for the official opening. Plywood walls were whitewashed, carpet cleaned, and furniture set up. Furnishing the space was completed on a shoestring but to a smart
‘Our goal is to provide a touchstone for the arts where everyone is welcome.’
standard with tables, chairs, drawers and reception desk acquired through All Heart NZ, a charitable trust that partners with corporates to redirect and repurpose unwanted items. Friends and family have pitched in, offering their skills and time to help Mel, Laura and Belinda fulfil the vision. Mel has some experience in web development and her partner Tim works in IT so between them they have media/IT covered. Belinda is their admin guru and her husband Shane lends a hand when he can, hanging shelves, moving large furniture, fixing things etc. Laura has invaluable experience in running workshops and timetabling, and partner Pete is often roped in to help out too. Their landlord, Terry, is very supportive and encouraging and they have appreciated advice and guidance from Miles Dalton, Business Support Manager at Enterprise North Canterbury.
Goals for the year include making the space fully fit for purpose with improved flooring, lighting and heating to be paid for via a crowdfunding campaign (Boosted). They would like to develop short-term lease studio space for other artists and aim to continue growing their actively involved membership base as they roll out a calendar of exhibitions and events. As well, an online retail presence is planned. ‘We also want to take things on the road and try to build relationships with neighbouring art societies and galleries,’ says Mel.
NEST Arts Collective is already making a big visual impact around the region. One key project last year was decorating a Pop up Penguin for the 2020 Wild in Art public art trail. Birds of a Feather was displayed outside the Port & Eagle Brewpub in Kaiapoi. The design brought together a collection of native birds and was inspired by the NEST ethos of bringing people together to share, inspire and support each other’s creative art practice. Laura and Mel also created art for two other eye-catching penguins on the trail – Punk it Penguin and Ice respectively. ‘For me, that was a dream project,’ says Mel. ‘I’ve been following Wild in Art since its early days in the late 1990s and thought that would be so much fun to get involved with.’
This year’s first big installation has been a large mural in Rangiora’s Blake Street Car Park, completed with the help of volunteers. The beautiful image of hands holding a nest with eggs alongside a forest scene full of native birds was created by Mel, referencing both the arts collective as well as promoting a conservation theme. Her design, selected by Keep New Zealand Beautiful in partnership with Resene, was a worthy choice to beautify the town.
Friends and family have pitched in, offering their skills and time to help Mel, Laura and Belinda fulfil the vision.