This diverse array of teapots has been amassed by Lindsay Garmson.  Lindsay was born, educated and studied fine arts in Auckland.  At the age of 18 he held his first solo exhibition in the then new 246 building in Queen Street, Auckland.

He moved first to Port Jackson and later to Paritu Bay on the Coromandel and it was there he met Maurice and Shirley Brickell, who organised a solo exhibition for him.  This led to him meeting Helen Mason and Barry Brickell, and before long he had a studio at Barry’s Driving Creek, where he worked for many years.

In 1988, with Helen Mason’s help, he started the Coromandel Christmas Exhibition, an event which is still successful.

At Driving Creek he began collecting studio pots, especially teapots.  Barry told him “A potter must use all the clay techniques to make a teapot.” and Lindsay recounts from the English potter, Michael Cardew, in the New Zealand Potter magazine (Vol 22/2, Spring 1980) “A teapot has little to do with the efficient pouring of tea, it is first and foremost a poem written in form.”

Lindsay wrote a book, with an introduction by Barry, about the granite industry on the Coromandel which was launched in 2014.  He had been collecting photos and researching for thirty-five years.

He remains involved in painting, writing and working with clay, and still has a strong connection to Driving Creek.

Lindsay has generously collated and transported this amazing extravaganza from the Coromandel to Whanganui in order to share it with a wider audience.

Rick Rudd
2020