Local studio practice
At the heart of Studio18 is a small group of local Waiheke-based ceramicists and artists who work in the studio on a regular basis. They are not organised as a formal collective, and they do not share a single aesthetic or approach. What they share instead is proximity.
Working alongside others allows you to see how different hands approach similar problems, how someone trims a foot, how long another person waits before touching a piece again, how tools are adapted, and how questions are carried over from one session to the next. Much of the learning here happens quietly, through observation and conversation rather than instruction.
A typical studio week is steady and unremarkable in ways that matter. Someone trims work made earlier. Someone else prepares clay. Someone waits because the piece they want to work on is still too soft. Another arrives carrying a question that has been sitting with them for a while. Conversation happens naturally, but it tends to follow the work rather than lead it.
Those who work here gain access to a shared, well-equipped studio, the opportunity to work alongside others with different levels of experience, and a rhythm that supports sustained practice rather than sporadic bursts of activity.
Studio18 grows slowly and deliberately. New participants are invited through conversation and fit rather than open enrolment and changes to the studio’s rhythm are made carefully, with attention to how they affect the work already happening.
If you are interested in joining the local studio practice, the best place to begin is by getting in touch and describing your background, your experience, and what you are hoping to find.
Curious to join us?
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The monday practice
Weekly shared studio practice
Each Monday, a small group of local artists and makers comes together at Studio18 to work on their own projects, side by side, in a shared studio environment. The focus is on regular presence, sustained practice, and the quiet exchange that happens when people work near one another over time. Alongside individual work, the group co-develops shared methods and materials, testing clay bodies, glazes, and tools together as part of an ongoing collective inquiry.
The first Monday of each month is open to visitors who are curious about working in this way and would like to spend time with the group.
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Workshops
Led by experienced practitioners
Studio18 hosts occasional small workshops led by practitioners with deep experience in ceramics or related disciplines such as movement, sound, writing, or other forms of material practice. Workshops are hands-on, practical, and designed for small groups, allowing real exchange rather than demonstration. They take place when they align with the studio’s rhythm and are shaped to work with the space, not override it.
Practitioners interested in leading a workshop are invited to propose an idea.
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Artist residency
Time, space, and shared practice
Once or twice a year, Studio18 welcomes a visiting artist to work in the studio for a short residency. Residencies are open to artists working in any medium who are interested in material thinking, shared practice, and contributing to the Waiheke creative community through presence and exchange. Residents work within the existing rhythm of the studio, sharing methods and ways of thinking informally through conversation and daily practice.
The residency is supported in kind and may include studio access, basic materials, energy, and optional onsite accommodation in shared guest quarters. There is no cash stipend.
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This studio exists to be used, shared, and returned to.
Tim
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I left with my hands dirty, my head clearer, and the sense that time had finally been on my side.
Lyss
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A visit to Studio18 reminds you that making is not about finishing, but about staying.
Tom