Sarjeant Happenings: The Pool Room – a potter's family legacy

The Pool Room: Dolly Mitchell-Anyon's collection of her son Ross Mitchell-Anyon's works, is on display at the Sarjeant's object gallery above the i-Site until October 16. Photo / Supplied

Sitting on a bench beside a display case of The Pool Room exhibition in the Sarjeant's i-Site gallery is a bit like déjà vu for curator Milly Mitchell-Anyon.

The large background photograph of a brick barbecue in one of the displays takes her back to memories of a similar spot where she has sat during family gatherings in her grandparents' garden. Magnificent pots made by her uncle, well-known Whanganui potter Ross Mitchell-Anyon (1954-2022), sit in the foreground. They are part of a treasured collection donated to the Sarjeant by the family when Ross's mother Dolly Mitchell-Anyon (1930-2021) passed away.

The exhibition is about the works that Ross gifted his parents, Dolly and Barrie Mitchell-Anyon (1929-2007), from the 1970s onwards. It is a snapshot of both a home and Ross's different styles and periods of production.

In his parents' house and garden, pottery made by their son occupied a number of special places. Milly called these spaces "The Pool Room" after a scene in the Australian movie The Castle, which became a fondly humorous part of the family culture. An Australian movie about the Kerrigan family living in Melbourne, The Castle (1997) includes a scene in which Sal Kerrigan gifts her husband, Darryl, a ceramic tankard.

"At some point, a joke started that when you would gift them something good it would be going "straight to the pool room". Rather than a physical 'pool room,' there were shelves, cubbies and surfaces throughout the house reserved for things that met The Pool Room standard," Milly said.

Ross's pottery was made to be used, and used it was over many years by successive generations in both garden and house. In the kitchen, pots held jam, honey, spices, flour, sugar - all the day-to-day ingredients of a family kitchen. Dolly made shelves for the pots, which are displayed in another case in front of a photograph of her now "retro" kitchen with its earthy tiles.

Dolly Mitchell-Anyon's home kitchen included many domestic and functional ceramic works by her son Ross which she used every day. Photo / Supplied

"The show is about living with those ceramics and the practical application of them in your life. I had always had this idea of doing a show about the collection, so it's not a reactive show [to the deaths of Ross and Dolly]. It's why I've focused on the relationship between my grandmother and Ross."

A giant pot stamped with a Greek-style labyrinth has a crack in it.

"It's just part and parcel of what can happen with kids running around - who knows? My grandmother stored her walking sticks in it. Everything has a practical use."

There are some unusual pieces included in the show. Milly said sometimes Ross would work with other potters, sharing techniques and collaborating so that not everything looks like Ross's typical style.

While the pots were made as domestic ware, to be used, as they were by Dolly, Barrie and generations of the wider Mitchell-Anyon family, Milly said it is appropriate that the collection stays together, in its new home at the gallery to be enjoyed by others.

"They, therefore, have officially made the transition to Whanganui's 'pool room' – the Sarjeant Gallery's permanent collection, where they'll be enjoying the serenity of retirement from now on."

Curator of collections Jennifer Taylor-Moore said the Sarjeant Gallery is delighted to receive this significant gift of Ross Mitchell-Anyon's work for the collection.

"It provides us with an opportunity to examine Ross's earlier works as he developed and established his signature style, as well as a deeply personal glimpse at the value Ross placed on his family and their long-standing support for his work."