Ross Mitchell-Anyon at the Bedford Avenue woolstores in 2014. Photo / Paul Brooks
Ross Mitchell-Anyon at the Bedford Avenue woolstores in 2014. Photo / Paul Brooks
Ross Mitchell-Anyon, one of Whanganui's finest artists, is being remembered as a man with a wide-ranging legacy.
Mitchell-Anyon died last week aged 68.
His career in ceramics spanned more than 40 years and, without his advocacy for the city's many heritage buildings, central Whanganui in particular might look a wholelot different.
Mitchell-Anyon, born in 1954, worked as a potter after graduating from Palmerston North Teachers' College in 1975.
Speaking to the Chronicle in December, he said a classroom there did only ceramics.
One of his most renowned students, Paul Maseyk, said he turned up in Whanganui with some work and Mitchell-Anyon interviewed him for a place on the course.
"Ross was a bit disparaging about what I had made, but in a nice way.
"He still saw something in me and let me do it."
Maseyk said he got more out of his tertiary experience by "just hanging around with Ross".
"It was just having a role model. I was young, and I wanted to make pots and build my own house, like him.
"I guess I found the right person."
Mitchell-Anyon's work is held in public collections at the Sarjeant Gallery, Quartz Museum of Studio Ceramics, Auckland Museum and the national art collection at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand.
Maseyk said he stood by his opinion that Mitchell-Anyon was the best potter New Zealand had ever produced.
"He didn't fuss around with the works. They were made on the wheel, dumped in a bucket of glaze and fired in a wood kiln.
"Ross was just born with it. He found the right thing to do with what he was given.
"Maybe it was his personality and the fact that he was left-handed, which he loved."
Sarjeant Gallery curator and public programmes manager Greg Donson said he first encountered Mitchell-Anyon's pottery while working at the gallery during his university holidays.
"The staff tearoom had Ross's cups and a teapot, and there was also a giant teapot that was used for big morning teas and functions. At that time it was part of the gallery's functional collection.
"This totally sums up Ross's approach and how his beautiful ceramics operate in the world and in people's lives, they are made to be lived with and used."
Ross Mitchell-Anyon and his dog Meg at his home in 2021. Photo / Mike Tweed
Mitchell-Anyon made things en masse, but each piece encapsulated his skill, energy and the qualities of the clay he loved, much of which he dug by hand in Pahiatua, Donson said.
He frequently visited Bedford Ave to fossick through Mitchell-Anyon's "shelves of treasure".
"Twenty years on these objects are a vital part of our everyday family life, they are beautiful, hardy, well used and loved."
Mitchell-Anyon was a Whanganui district councillor from 2001 to 2004.
He had strong views on planning and retaining the historic nature of the city, former council chief executive Kevin Ross said.
"He was a thinker, and able to give a view that was alternative to the norm.
"That is what you need on council, a mix.
"Even though he and I differed on a number of things, I always acknowledged his value to the organisation. He was a really good contributor."
Whanganui had a strong heritage in arts and culture and Mitchell-Anyon being a champion of that was proving more important over time, he said.
"We were lucky we had that tradition and we hadn't lost all the buildings that other cities that developed more quickly had.
"He was always advocating for protecting what we had remaining, and he actually did that personally by going out and getting those buildings himself.
"He didn't wait for bureaucracy to protect them either, he took it into his own hands."
Mitchell-Anyon's local building acquisitions included the Bedford Ave woolstores, the Freemasons Lodge in Bell St, the Chronicle buildings in Drews Ave, Putiki Store, Kokohuia Hall, Gonville Town Hall, Waverley Courthouse and the Ministry of Works building in Taupō Quay.
While he loved his pottery, Ross said the biggest value to the community was Mitchell-Anyon "the person".
"At the council, he really didn't hold a grudge.
"You could have a decent argument with him and front up to him the next day.
"He would definitely try and influence and was definitely frustrated he didn't get everything his way, but he always kept a smile on his face at the end anyway."
Mitchell-Anyon died just before receiving his medal as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in Wellington, an honour he was "absolutely blown away" by.
Maseyk said he was one of seven guests invited to attend the ceremony.
"I went to see Ross and his family, and offered to go down and get his medal if they wanted me to.
"Ross had another old friend, Ian Smail and his wife Sheryl, already waiting in Wellington, so we all went up to Government House and picked it up. It was really nice."
Mitchell-Anyon was an integral part of the artistic glue of the community, Donson said.
"We have much to thank him for. He was a tireless doer, agitator, river dweller and man of clay.
"His beautiful work will continue to bring quiet joy to many people's lives for generations to come, and that's a pretty amazing legacy."
