AFTER a cancer diagnosis in 2020, Zore Zulumovska-Scholz turned to the pottery wheel.
Mask-wearing and homeschooling became part of the daily routine as she underwent chemotherapy treatment for stage-4 breast cancer during the first year of COVID-19 in Sydney.
Art became her escape.
"During my treatment, it made me relax and unwind," she tells Weekender.
"I remember after one chemo session, I walked up to The Pottery Shed in Surry Hills and they let me have my own space to sit in this little room and I just threw on a wheel over and over.
"It made me feel really rejuvenated.
"For me, it really was the touch of the clay, it was the feel of it, and how it grounded me".
"It's tactile and it's therapeutic. Whenever I touched the clay during chemo sessions, my whole body would respond positively."
Art as therapy is a concept explored at The Art Department, the new art space, gallery and studio that Zulumovska-Scholz launched in Newcastle last month.
It marks a new chapter for the former University of Newcastle fine arts student, who traded a "fun and intense" career working in top advertising firms in Australia and overseas to return to her hometown of Newcastle. In early 2021, she created the community-minded art space.
The Art Department not only provides a creative outlet for her artistic desires, but allows her to share her passion for clay and art with the wider community.
The inner-city location at 1/133 King Street in Newcastle offers a range of experiences and classes, including clay and sip, date night Thursday and kids' after-school classes.
Additional classes and longer workshops for experienced potters will become available in the coming months.
A kiln with a firing service will also be offered for experienced potters to use on a membership basis.
"We wanted to create an environment for people to come to, making it open in a non-exclusive space," she says.
"We wanted to offer a creative area within the city of Newcastle. It's there for people.
"Everyone and anyone can come in, book a class and give it a go."
GROWING up in a big Macedonian family, Zulumovska-Scholz's early years were spent in Bennetts Green with her family who, at the time, operated Newcastle's largest fruit shop.
"I grew up in Lake Macquarie on top of a fruit shop called Chris' Fruit Market, so I'm a fruito's daughter," she says.
"It was kind of quite famous back in the day.
"I never thought in a million years that I would ever come back to Newcastle."
However, changing priorities and a passion for working with clay led her to pursue The Art Department.
The name is a nod to her early days working in art departments at ad agencies.
"It also pays homage to the Newcastle University fine arts department that closed as we arrived back in Newcastle, and that's where I got my degree," she says.
Eventually, The Art Department has plans to expand the studio and opportunities to work with local businesses.
"I'm leading a more relaxed, slower-paced life, and I am conscious about what I eat and drink, hence the products we use for the grazing boards and wine for the classes are carefully sourced," she says.
"We have Krinklewood biodiversity wine and all organic food products."
The studio will also be available to hire for openings and events, or for team-building exercises and design seminars.
She also wants to use the space to provide jobs for TAFE art students.
"I was made to leave after uni because you couldn't get work after a fine arts degree," she says.
"I'm trying to give back, and give jobs to the younger students instead of moving away to big cities like I had to".
- The Art Department gallery shop can be viewed online. The studio space is available for hire from Monday to Wednesday. Kids classes from Monday to Wednesday afternoons, Clay & Sip classes from Thursday to Sunday (evenings and days classes also available). Visit theartdepartment.com.au/classes to book.
