Creator: Aimee Ralfini, Art Ache, Ambury Park Centre
Artform: Pottery, Workshops
Timeframe: October 2025 – June 2026
Location: Māngere Bridge
About
The Pottery Programme at Ambury Park Centre is a year-long initiative comprising 50 four-hour workshops delivered during school terms. These workshops will follow an “open studio” format, allowing participants to engage at their own level and pace. Some may stay for the full session to develop deeper skills, while others may join for shorter periods to contribute to specific activities such as carving into greenware, painting bisqueware, pouring molds, or creating functional items aligned with the cultural calendar.
Each term will focus on a specific skill or project, resulting in a small series of completed pieces that contribute to a larger collective body of work. These pieces will also stand as usable, tangible outcomes. At the end of each term, the completed works will be exhibited and made available to the public as part of Ambury Park Centre’s community engagement and fundraising events, which occur roughly every three months.
This project addresses a clear gap in the community for neurodiverse teenagers and adults with special needs. Clay, as a medium, is particularly valuable for this group, as it supports coordination, physical strength, creativity, and confidence. Unlike many art forms, pottery bridges functional and artistic outcomes, producing items that can be raffled, gifted, or sold—building confidence in ideas and fostering connections with whānau, friends, and the wider community.
Location
The project will be delivered at Ambury Park Centre, Māngere, in their dedicated Art Room, which is equipped with suitable amenities and a pottery wheel. Workshops will take place during school hours, over the course of 50 sessions from October 2025 – June 2026.
Ambury Park Centre has generously agreed to provide the venue free of charge, including use of their Art Room, amenities, and pottery wheel.
About The Creator - Aimee Ralfini, Art Ache
I am the founder and creative director of Art Ache, an arts activation platform established in 2012 to increase public engagement with the arts. Over the past decade, I have collaborated with hundreds of artists across Tāmaki Makaurau and beyond, providing mentoring, integrated marketing campaigns, and public activations designed to connect artists with their communities and foster long-term sustainability in their practice.
Since moving to Ōtāhuhu five years ago, I have worked extensively with artists in the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu and Ōtara-Papatoetoe local board areas, leading and supporting successful, locally funded art projects that strengthen community connection through creative expression.
Alongside my curatorial and community work, I am pursuing my own art practice in ceramics. I hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam and am a member of Auckland Studio Potters, where I continue to refine my technical skills and artistic voice. My recent work—including a tank teapot exhibited at Pah Homestead with the Arts House Trust—explores functional form and sculptural storytelling through clay.
I live and work in Ōtāhuhu, and my creative practice is directly connected to the local community.