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MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER
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New gallery project could become more.jpg "blackshed gallery(copy)") The big Black shed on Cove Road at Waipu may look a somewhat formidable building but it carries a history much more colourful than it’s exterior. Locals take us back to the late 40s when Werner Schultz built and ran what became the local engineering shop and Werner himself became the ultimate ‘fix-it’ man, amassing a pile of steel and iron off-cuts in the adjacent section with which he could fashion into or fix virtually anything.While not exactly coming full circle, that which was old has now become new again and the Blackshed Waipu is about to swing it’s doors open again to reveal a shop and gallery containing a plethora of colour, art, glassware, handmade Spanish crockery, garden pots and a whole lot more. Local women Patsy Montgomery and Susan Williams were looking for a ‘new venture’ at just the very time the shed became available. Patsy is noted for her work in the Waipu Museum and avid interest in things Waipu while Susan has a literary background. Following discussions, Patsys daughter Lucy (straight from working in the film industry) and Susans son and daughter-in-law (with both engineering and hospitality experience) joined the party which seemed a pretty good mix of experience and imagination for such a project. “Retail seemed a good purpose for it,” says Patsy “but given the space it also lends itself to a number of other things such as craft workshops, but we’ll see how it goes. What was most important was to preserve the integrity of the building given it’s history.” Visitors will note that, though it has been lined and tastefully decorated, the gantry is still in place together with the roughly welded display tables and the engineers vise preserving much of it’s previous life. Next door, the red container is taking shape as ‘Little Red’ soon to be the place to stop for coffee and selected food on the move and opening soon for the early morning workforce and travellers. The group have pooled their resources and knowledge and come up with an interesting concept that will most certainly evolve yet still meld well with the overall pattern of Waipu. NEW VENTURE: Susan Williams (left) and Lucy look happy with the gallery arrangement. Note the old steel welded table and engineers vise still in place. |
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