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On a Sunday in mid-July, celebrated Mangawhai potter Barbara Hockenhull made a point of carefully finishing every one of the pieces she was working on that day before heading home to put her feet up.
When her daughter, Melissa, called to check up on her an hour later, she discovered her mother had quietly passed away. She was 82.
Friends, family and admirers of her work, who subsequently gathered at The Dune restaurant to celebrate her life, recalled the owner of The Pipi Gallery’s penchant for coming out to serve customers with a big smile and clay still liberally daubed over her hands.
Barbara would frequently invite visitors out back to see how some of the works in the gallery were created. She also enjoyed entertaining her grandchildren and great grandchildren there, passing on her knowledge and skills.
Barbara was born in Auckland and attended Epsom Girls Grammar School. She showed early aptitude for the piano and was influenced by her mother’s love of flower arranging. But her career as ceramic artist did not start until she married Barry, moved to Albany and started a family of her own.
Barbara enrolled in a pottery class at Rangitoto College and never looked back. She eschewed the potter’s wheel and instead concentrated on forming her works entirely by hand. She used fabrics, including old fashioned lace, to create intricate patterns in the clay. Barry, a builder, became similarly intrigued by the craft, but unlike Barbara, was fond of using a wheel to create his pots. The pair became foundation members of the Albany Village Pottery Cooperative. The couple decided to build a house on Wayby Station Road, south of Wellsford, and they opened a gallery there called The Palms, which ran for several years.
The family also had a bach in Mangawhai, and around 1980 decided to move there permanently, purchasing a commercial site to build the Smashed Pipi Gallery, closely followed by an adjoining café and bar. The whole family was involved in creating the beautiful iconic buildings, which took Mangawhai by surprise. Barbara and Barry ran the gallery, while their children ran the café and bar.
The name Smashed Pipi relates to the family’s love of collecting and eating shellfish, and the condition a pipi might find itself in if it ended up at the family’s bar.
Barbara was eager to support fellow Kiwi artists and filled the gallery with only New Zealand works from all over the country with an unerring eye for high quality.
Outside the gallery, Barbara enjoyed spending time in her garden, drawing inspiration from the flora and fauna she found there. She was a devotee of the Sogetsu school of Japanese floral art and delighted in making custom pots to hold flower arrangements.
Barbara was also a fan of rock’n’roll and loved taking her grandchildren to concerts, most recently U2.
She saw the Rolling Stones several times and the London-based New Zealand band I Am Giant.
Barbara exhibited widely in New Zealand and Japan and some of her work is in the Auckland Museum. When Barry died in 2006, Barbara moved her gallery closer to home and renamed it Pipi Gallery. Those who visited could always be sure of a warm reception.
“She was always outgoing, cheerful and happy,” Melissa recalls.
