February is shaping up to be a month of whimsy and wonder at the Thames Art Gallery.
That’s because there will be an exhibition of works by not one but two featured artists, who both have a flare for thinking outside the box.
Nicky Ball is set to make her art exhibition debut with pottery pieces made in her shed at home in Hikuai.
“[I’ve] been potting for about two years. I don’t do the wheel, but I do everything else… [I]love hand building, making press molds and slip casting. I’ve got my own kilns and things and I make my mess out there,” Nicky told The Profile.
Slip cast is the process of pouring liquid clay into a mold, while press moulding is where clay is physically pressed into the mold.
“I’ve made my own pieces and then I’ve made a mold of my pieces. So I completely design the pieces myself, but I can repeat them.”
People would find Nicky’s work to be quirky, she said – the sort of art that people would either like or think it’s really ugly, she said.
“I do a lot of faces and I’m getting into my totems made of all the faces that I create and then I tattoo the faces.
“I love garden theme work and would say I’m quite quirky but hopefully it makes people smile.”
Meanwhile, the paintings of Gary Nevin would also be on show at the gallery.
The creator from Paeroa, who now lived in Whenuakite where he built an Earth House known as Artists House, told The Profile “I want my work [to] make people smile and feel good.”
From digging blue clay out of the Ohinemuri river in Paeroa, to becoming a full-time clay worker in the late 80s after his son was born “I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember”, he said.
“The pieces were usually whimsical figures and animals, with a nod to the classical vessels in all shapes and sizes.”
The artist said painting was always “his first love” after music, kumara and women.
“So for the last few months I’ve been working on a series of portraits, still life of the very organic and well rounded kumara, with a very feminine feel to them – which make up the bulk of the exhibition,” he said.
The painter said he felt like he had “some success” after he discovered oil and acrylic sticks and used them for the first time on his portraits.
One “point of difference” was when he finished off one of the portraits by scratching through the oil stick – it was a “unique look”, he said.
“Please come along to the Thames Society of Arts, Tararu and enjoy throughout all of February 2026.”
DETAILS: Thames Art Gallery, 604 Tararu Rd, Thames, open daily from 10am to 4pm.
By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
