27 March 2025
Artists’ Studios Re-open at The Arts Centre
Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre has reinstated the tradition of open artists’ studios, where the public can watch artists at work. The open studios were a popular feature of The Arts Centre before the Canterbury earthquakes.
Nine artists now share five studios next to The Arts Centre Shop in the Engineering Extensions building. Studios are open during Arts Centre hours, 10am-4pm daily.
Artist Ira Mitchell loved visiting the old studios as a child, so she jumped at the chance to apply for one of the new spaces. “I always wanted to be part of this place,” she says. “It’s so lovely to walk into The Arts Centre each day. Lots of people need affordable studio space, especially as the cheaper housing shrinks and many apartments don’t have garages.”
Ira hopes that, as word gets out, more people will come to visit and chat about the artwork.
“The studios are a fabulous opportunity for artists who thrive on public interaction. For the public, seeing how artists work deepens understanding of creative practice. For those in the market to buy art, it feels so much more meaningful to buy work created by someone who you have met, talked to, and connected with,” says Arts Centre Creative Director, Chris Archer.
The Arts Centre selected artists to achieve a balance of styles and methods, combined with suitability for the space. Painting and drawing are most common, with some ceramics and a fashion designer in the mix.
The Arts Centre’s studios are light, airy, warm, and dry. Each has large glass windows onto a public corridor, so the public can see inside even when the studio is unoccupied.
The construction of these studios has been generously supported by Boost Ōtautahi donors, with matching funds from The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi, Rātā Foundation and Creative New Zealand; WALK Christchurch; Friends of the Arts Centre; Stout Trust, proudly managed by Perpetual Guardian; and the New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT).
Artist Bios
Studio 1:
Kat Stefanova
Kat is a Bulgarian-born artist based in Christchurch, known for vibrant interpretations of the New Zealand landscape. Her paintings glow with colour, capturing not just the look of a place but its atmosphere and emotion. With a background in fine art and graphic design, Kat blends traditional painting techniques with modern compositions.
Studio 2:
Kay Zhang
Kay’s love for design and modelling was sparked by a passion for travel and living in foreign lands. She has toured and lived across the UK, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, and Australasia, each place enriching her perspective. Over the years, she has navigated diverse creative landscapes as an Architectural Technician, Interior Designer, UX/UI Designer, Ceramicist, and Photographer.
Yumi McLean
Yumi Mclean is an award-winning, Japanese-born ceramic artist now based in Canterbury. Since she moved to Aotearoa New Zealand, Yumi has focussed on hand-built sculptures of items used in everyday life, both in New Zealand and Japan. Yumi’s sculptures inspire senses of nostalgia and surprise.
Studio 3:
Ira Mitchell
Ira’s works are contemporary landscapes inspired by the unique colours and rugged forms of Aotearoa. Educated in fine arts and as an art teacher at the University of Canterbury, Ira has created full time for over 12 years, regularly showing in NZ and internationally. Travel and international art residencies have been part of her learning and career path.
Sheelagh McHaffie
Sheelagh is a figurative artist who specialises in intimate works, using white pastel on black. Her art is emotive, drawing the light and shadow to create drama.
https://www.sheelaghmchaffieart.com/
Studio 4:
Sharon Johnson
Sharon is an abstract expressionist painter. She deliberately celebrates the lyricism of colour and mark making in her works, and emotion and feeling. Her artworks can be figurative and non-objective, and are suggestive impressions of landscapes, domestic scenes, and interior states.
www.instagram.com/artist_sharonjohnson
Rachel Huston
Rachel Huston works predominantly in oil and acrylic on canvas to reflect on the courage of fragile things caught in the web of time. Pastel colours, multiple layers and uneasy rhythms form visual poems inspired by personal experience and convey the joys and anxieties of contemporary life.
Studio 5:
Alex Golding
Alex’s work encompasses multiple practices to explore concepts around the human condition. His current work is a continuation from his graduate project, using large scale supports and gestural drawing to showcase ideas.
https://www.instagram.com/alex.golding
Jasper Mooney
Jasper is a fashion designer specialising in sustainable, slow fashion and costume. His designs are inspired by the shape and form of the human body, the natural world, and abstract forms. Jasper is a new designer looking to build a local foundation and sell his work throughout Aotearoa.