A story of resilience, a life dedicated to creativity while also acknowledging the hardships of choosing a creative path.
Alan Rhodes is a successful potter and musician, well liked and respected in the Coromandel area and beyond. He was a founding member, lead vocalist and guitarist of the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band (HCBB), who have been delighting audiences with their vibrant, fast-paced music and rich vocal harmonies since the late 1960s.
Alan got hooked on bluegrass music at age 14, and with his friend and fellow HCBB founding member, Paul Trenwith, learnt how to play bluegrass songs. “Paul and I used to slow the records down and work out how to play the songs, and we finally got to the stage where we could play well.”
HCBB enjoyed great success in the 60s and 70s – they were a regular fixture on NZ’s The Country Touch show in the late 60s, toured Australia with Slim Dusty for two years, and were invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The band was honoured in May 2021 with a special exhibition ‘NZ Bluegrass Icons’ at the Waikato Museum that celebrated their illustrious career. That same month, they reunited for a one-off ‘old-style’ concert at the Whitianga Town Hall, a sell out show.
Alan’s dad was an amateur musician, and his mum had a beautiful voice, always singing along to records at home. His dad gave him a guitar and encouraged him to practise regularly. While music was the beginning of Alan’s creative career, performing actually wasn’t top of the list. “I can’t remember me being that interested in actually performing at that point in my life, I used to love listening to music though. I just remember walking past a music shop in Cambridge when I was waiting for the bus to come home … and there was this guy in there, he was playing electric guitar and it sounded fantastic! I just got hooked on the music, no matter what music it was.”
But HCBB is only one half of Alan’s creative life – the flip side is his passion-fuelled commitment to the craft of pottery. He describes himself as a ‘craft potter’ rather than an art potter, specialising in creating unique handmade domestic ware. “I make functional things for people to enjoy every day. I’m never happier than when I am using my hands to shape a piece of clay into something that I know will bring years of use to whoever ends up with it.”
Next year, it will be 50 years since Alan became a self-employed potter, a path he deliberately chose. After HCBB disbanded in 1974, Alan and his wife Julia had settled in Hamilton, but the creative life beckoned again.
After a visit to his friend Bryce Stevens, a potter based at Tapu Creek Potteries, Alan was inspired to take up pottery. Bryce was mentored by Barry Brickell at Driving Creek, and generously passed on knowledge and know-how to Alan, who admits he wasn’t a natural straight away. “It’s a craft that anybody can do, but you just have to stick with it. It’s like riding a bike, you have to keep getting on the wheel, keep throwing, and eventually you’ll get there. I wasn’t a natural, I had to work at it.”
Every day after work and on weekends he’d throw pots to hone his craft, setting up a space in the garage with a pottery wheel and building a kiln to fire pots. He started producing domestic ware for supply to craft shops around New Zealand.
Meanwhile, the Rhodes were so inspired by the laid-back Coromandel lifestyle Bryce was thriving in that in 1977 they relocated to Whenuakite. Alan was buying clay from Nelson to work with, but then petrol rationing in the 80s brought price increases and an alternative was needed. In what can only be described as serendipity, the Rhodes’ Whenuakite property had the answer. “We noticed there was a track down to the river and it had exposed all this bluey-white clay, and I thought, we could try this, it might save us money. And it was the best thing we ever did. Not only was it a clay we could use, but it was the exact type of clay I needed to make domestic ware”.
In 1984, an unfortunate fire destroyed the Rhodes’ pottery workshop, and in the time it took them to rebuild, the craft shops they were supplying found other clients. So it was time to build the Alan Rhodes Pottery shop. The Alan Rhodes story isn’t complete without giving kudos to his wife Julia, who Alan describes as his ‘right hand woman’, assisting Alan with the crafting, running the shop and managing their public profile on social media.
Alan is quick to acknowledge that the creative life can be challenging. Over the years, as interest in handmade pottery ebbed and flowed, and their family grew from two to five, Julia started working at local schools, Alan picked up gib stopping and the rural delivery run, and with their oldest son Dave they formed covers band ‘Incognito’, to supplement their income. But the pottery career remained steadfast.
“The reason I’m a potter is both because I love the craft, but also because I didn’t want a ‘proper job’, I wanted to work for myself. But you’ve got to be quite disciplined and it’s not for everybody. I treated it like a proper job, so it became one. I look forward to getting up each day and getting stuck in.”
For those contemplating that creative path, Alan recommends joining pottery clubs or attending classes, e.g at Driving Creek, where you can learn the skills and get your pots fired. Then with a bit of experience under your belt, and some financial stability, move towards getting set up at home.
These days you can catch Alan and Julia playing Americana music with Pippa Le Lievre as the trio ‘Good Gracious Annie’. For the pottery experience, pop into Alan Rhodes Pottery at 1/1369 Tairua Whitianga Road, open every day from 9 am – 5 pm (6 pm in summer). Visitors are always warmly welcomed, and if they time it right they can watch Alan throw or glaze pots.
“Whatever your craft, whether it’s pottery or music, it takes practice more than just having talent; though having a bit of talent helps. And definitely the drive … I have no regrets. I mean my body is breaking down a bit, but I’m still playing music and still making pots, and that’s always been the dream.”
Stay connected with Alan Rhodes Pottery by following them on https://www.facebook.com/AlanRhodesPottery/ and https://www.instagram.com/alanrhodespottery/
Help us take Coromind Magazine to new heights by becoming a member. Click here
