Don Harkness Wood Turner

I work with exotic and native timbers to create turned and sculptured items.  These include bowls, boxes, goblets, candlesticks, dolphins, wands and more.  My latest works are mosaic trays with over 20 different types of timber in each piece, all set into resin.

For 28 years I worked out of a successful studio at The Arts Centre of Christchurch until the earthquake of 22 February 2011.  Since then I’ve been working from home. 

In 1984 Christopher Doig, newly appointed Director of The Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust was on a mission.  His goal was to populate the former University of Canterbury buildings, then empty, with creatively talented arts tenants.  Thus in 1984 he found me, a young self-taught woodturner, whom Doig deemed ideal for the fledgling arts facility.  The Arts Centre Trust was formed to foster local artists and craftspeople, providing a supportive affordable setting in which they could work.  I slotted right in – raw, enthusiastic, talented and broke.  Gratefully (and quickly) accepting Doig’s invitation, I served my internship at The Arts Centre of Christchurch in a humble studio.  Later on I moved to a bigger space which not only accommodated my lathe, but also a retail showroom.  From here, visitors could see me at work and view my finished pieces, which reassuringly, they often bought.

During my time at The Arts Centre I cultivated a reputation as one of New Zealand’s leading woodturners creating both turned and sculptured works.  International and local visitors rewarded my efforts with return custom from around the world.  I continued to enjoy the supportive environment of The Arts Centre of Christchurch for nearly 30 years.  It was a place to fulfill my creativity and provide a living for my family.

That livelihood literally came to a shuddering halt on 22 February 2011 when the Christchurch earthquake devastated the city, including the historic Arts Centre site.

Professionally inexperienced at anything other than woodworking, I have since set up a workshop at our severely damaged eastern suburbs home. An unlikely source of timber has been my own backyard, as we live next to the South Brighton Estuary Reserve where countless trees have been felled by continuing aftershocks and subsequent tidal flooding. 

5 words that describe my work:

1 - wooden

2 -  there

3 -  are

4 - no

5 - rules

Favourite toy as a child:

the teddy bear I got on my 1st birthday - I still have it

And now:

toss up between my chainsaw and my telescope

What is making me happy right now:

Watching my children grow and develop into wonderful, beautiful, original little people.  Oh and Prozac.

What did I dream about last night:

I can't tell you that!!  But the other night I dreamed of sailing a yacht down a busy street.

Something that can always make me feel better:

Re-reading a favourite book.

What I do to inspire creativity:

Inspiration is never a problem.  I have so many ideas that its more a matter of what to leave out in the short space of time I have, rather than needing new ones.

Was I popular in high school:

Girls seemed to like me.

Fav quote(s)

"Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out"

"Never play leapfrog with a unicorn"

"Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded"

"When two opposite points of view are expressed with equal intensity, the truth does not necessarily lie halfway between them.  It is quite possible for one side to simply be wrong"

I want to be remembered for:

My steak & cheese pie.