Advertisement
Home Inspiration People and Places

Multidisciplinary artist Lucy Hunter shares her many creative pursuits

This Dunedin muso, potter and illustrator is happiest when immersed in a creative project
Lucy Hunter working clay into a vasePhotography: Rachael McKenna

When asked about the correlation between her art and her music, Lucy Hunter serves a simple answer: “It all comes from the same place, I think.” Glancing over the Ōtepoti-based creative’s impressive portfolio (and the numerous awards she has picked up for her ceramics), that sentiment runs true.

Advertisement
Lucy Hunter standing in a doorway

Tell us how you started your journey into art. Were you always creative?

I’m from a creative family – my mum, aunt and uncle are music teachers, and another uncle was an artist. At school I loved drama, making clothes and art. I’ve always been a total flibbertigibbet and was not disciplined enough to be good at classical music.

Lucy's eccentric vases lined up on a shelf
Advertisement

You’re a multidisciplinary creator. Which art medium drew you in first?

Music came first. I like writing songs and can play my instruments adequately for that. I always wanted to do art but I didn’t really start till I was 31. Now I wish I’d done it sooner.

When I first left home, I wanted to be a fashion designer – that didn’t happen. I moved to England with my boyfriend at the time, who was a musician, and he got me into playing bass. When we broke up, I moved back in with my parents and got better at bass, then I got a job as a restaurant pianist for two years. Then Tim, my partner at the time, and I started writing songs, and formed the band Opposite Sex. We moved to Dunedin and recorded an album.

Plates with mythical creatures that Lucy painted
Monsters, ghosts and cryptids (creatures whose existence hasn’t been proven) also appear in Lucy’s pottery. This plate features a chupacabra and a jackalope (a jack rabbit with antelope horns).
Advertisement

I also got an English degree and edited Critic, the student magazine. However, I didn’t like journalism or hospitality, so I tried to get into med school and didn’t get in. I was so sad about it, but I started drawing and got completely obsessed, and Pea Sea Art, a gallery in Port Chalmers, let me have a drawing exhibition. I did a pottery night class about three years ago and decided to throw myself into ceramics.

Lucy working a pattern into a clay vase
Lucy’s studio is filled with a collection of vases, which she says she might exhibit at some point. “I just make a form and then decorate it.”

Do you have a favourite?

At the moment, it’s pottery. I prefer things I can do with my hands while listening to audiobooks or podcasts. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the excitement of opening a kiln and seeing what has happened inside.

Advertisement
The clay off cuts beside a clay case

Talk us through a typical creative day in your life.

I have a part-time job as an assistant research fellow in the public health department at the University of Otago. The rest of my life is quite chaotic. I’m usually juggling a few creative projects and am often behind on them. Having a compulsion to make stuff is a blessing, but it can be hard for me to relax. I’m not great at going on holiday or spending long stretches of time with people. I get anxious and antsy if I can’t do my things.

Lucy Hunter moulding clay to create an eccentric vase
For the work in progress pictured, she says, “I liked the idea of hands holding a ceremonial bowl. I made the walls thick so I was able to carve patterns into the clay.”
Advertisement

If I’m not at work, I don’t worry too much about what I’m doing, as long as it’s something creative. I have access to a pottery studio and band room, and I do drawing at home. I usually have a few half-written songs that I occasionally finish. In the evenings I sometimes have yoga or band practice. We used to play a lot of gigs but we don’t do that so much anymore.

A plate with a cat design in the center

Who or what inspires your work?

I have a lot of creative friends. I’m in a band called Denudes with my friend Lucinda, who is a great songwriter. Veronica Brett is an artist who helped me learn to draw, and my friend Jim Cooper is a cool, old ceramicist who helps me with my many technical pottery problems. My friend Devon is an artist and potter and always good for a chat. I work at the Leith Street Pottery Studio with a great group of potters. My partner, Chris, is very supportive and tolerant of me and my creative whims.

Advertisement
Lucy's cat mugs on a shelf
Lucy began making pottery featuring portraits of people’s pets after a friend asked for bowls for her animals. “I’ve done a lot of dogs and two pigs. Cats are my favourite to paint though, because their eyes are so beautiful.”

Which of your works are you particularly fond of?

I like a large urn I just made, with birds on it, and my band Wet Specimen’s album Wet Dreamin’. My bandmates, Reg and Chris, are wonderful people and friends. We are working on a new album at the moment. Reg and I have made music together for about 10 years, starting in our old band Opposite Sex. When I write new songs, I look forward to playing them to Reggie because I know he will be honest about whether it’s good or not.

My friends and I also made a table-top game called Saints: The Card Game. It was a huge job and I’m so proud of our little group. I illustrated the 50 cards.

Advertisement
Saints: The Card Game laid out on a table

What’s on the horizon for your art?

Last year, I won the Glasgow Street Arts Centre Artist in Residence Programme Award, thanks to Rick Rudd and the Emerging Practitioner in Clay Award, so I’ll be doing a residency in Whanganui next year. I feel extremely lucky to get to do art as much as I do.

I painted pet portraits in gouache and ink on paper for a while. They were fun but time-consuming. When I got into pottery, a friend asked me to make bowls for her pets with their faces on them. I posted them on Instagram and got a lot more commissions. I’ve mostly done personalised pet bowls, mugs and plates, but am open to anything.

Advertisement
Lucy Hunter holding a mug with one of her cat designs on it
Lucy’s friend Antonia Rose Boyle, of ARB Jewellery, cleverly made the beautiful ring worn above.

How can people support your work?

I’m @wetspeci on Instagram. You can email me at [email protected].

Find my music at wetspecimen1.bandcamp.com, lucyhunter.bandcamp.com and Opposite Sex on Spotify.

Advertisement

You can purchase Saints: The Card Game from polycarp.co.nz


Read this next:

Related stories


Advertisement