At Lume, our mission is to champion the work of diverse creatives, fostering a vibrant community and serving as a dynamic hub for creative dialogue and the exchange of ideas and experiences. This month, we visited the studio of Bella Christine Hessell, a young emerging artist local to Waiheke Island, ahead of her workshop with the Lume community.
Bella's work celebrates the ephemeral and imperfect cycles of nature. Working primarily in clay and glass, she finds a profound connection to the land through the act of making by hand. By embracing fingerprints and raw textures, her pieces become a tactile dialogue between the artist and the "earth body material."
Since receiving her BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts in 2022, she has continued her studies in Ceramics through Otago Polytechnic, driven by the textures of New Zealand's rugged coastlines.
"Water is the element that best describes me... Like water, I'm interested in change, movement, and the idea that everything is linked beneath what we can see on the surface."
Bella's beautiful work is available to view at Lume Gallery. In April, she shared her Pinch & Coil technique with the Lume community — a workshop focused on the tactile "pinch pot" method, one of the oldest pottery techniques. Using only hands and a few simple tools, participants transformed a ball of clay into a functional piece of art.
