My Space: Steve Lovett

The day before the interview for his job at Elam School of Fine Arts, Steve Lovett snuck into the space where he’d be working to get a feel for the place.

“At the interview the next day, I said, ‘These are the things that have to change, and within this time frame, otherwise I can’t start the job.’”

The interviewers clearly approved of his vision. He got the job as technician at Elam’s Mātātuhi/Print Lab and proceeded to change the architecture of the teaching area from a series of discrete rooms into a single connected space, with a large central hub.

And when you hear Steve talk about what goes on in the space, where he manages the technical delivery of all sorts of print-related processes, it makes sense. Printing is a physical activity, and often collaborative.

“So much of the work we do here is literally transferring physical information from person to person, hand to hand. When I get people to learn to screen print, for example, it’s my hands on the squeegee, and they’re beside me. I could explain the process, but it’s much better that they feel what’s happening,” he says.

“Understanding how to do things, where we have to be present – that’s a really important lesson.”

Art, and the tools to make it, are everywhere. A massive table dominates the space’s large, central room, emphasising it as a place of community and collaboration.

“This is a really social space,” adds Steve. “Students love to come up here and we begin to develop a relationship with one another, as they start to understand the possibilities of the things they can do here. I constantly change what’s on the wall because I want people to ask questions and start conversations.”

An artist and researcher as well as an educator, Steve was among three with Elam connections to receive one of the country’s highest visual arts education awards in April – the Premier Award from the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Art Educators. Artist Dagmar Dyck, who is a doctoral candidate at Elam and assistant Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific at AUT, and Elam alumna and Pukekohe High School deputy principal Donna Tupaea-Petero, also received the award.

It was a humbling and overwhelming experience, says Steve, who “absolutely hated school” as a child.

He was in his thirties when he completed a Master of Fine Arts at Elam, and was then convinced by Elam alumna, artist and Manukau Institute of Technology School of Visual Arts programme leader Marté Szirmay, to take on a job at MIT.

It was a pivotal decision, says Steve. He taught at MIT for 22 years, before taking on his current role at Elam in 2017. He clearly loves teaching students the visual language they need to master the artistic processes that will bring their ideas to life – ultimately starting the important conversations that art sparks.

At 66, still absorbed in research, transdisciplinary projects and considering a doctorate, he has no plans to retire.

“This is never a job; this is an opportunity, and it has been for 35 years, for me to think and grow and explore and have conversations.

“There are teachers who have transformed my life many years ago who I’m still in touch with and I tell students that today: there’s this extraordinary opportunity in education to begin a conversation that can change our lives utterly.”

– Caitlin Sykes