She undoubtedly is an amazing woman whose energy and influence has been too large for this survey to cover. Included on the walls here are personal comments from artists who have worked with Yvonne and known her well. I can only recommend that her work here in Northland be celebrated in some more appropriate way than this survey is able to do.

'The following 1993 Northern Advocate article by Rosemary Roberts describes the 'Spirit of the Quarry' and the 'event' of making it;

QUARRY SPIRIT SOARS WITH SCULPTURE'S COMPLETION by Rosemary Roberts

There has never been anything like the just finished sculpture Spirit of the Quarry at the entrance of the arts and crafts centre at the end of Selwyn Ave, Whangarei --but then, the Quarry is a unique venture. Revered potter, painter and teacher Yvonne Rust began the sculpture four years ago as an entrance piece to express the co-operative and welcoming spirit Quarry administrators strive for. Over the years many people well-known in the art world joined her to work on the sculpture as part of their commitment to the centre's ideals. Among them were David Sarich, Sue Foreman, Anita Thompson, Jan Gillespie, Greg Barron , Maureen and Mac Hitchins-Lewis, and Lin Weining of Fosham, Canton, who works from one of the Quarry's studios. The work was sculpted over one of two large blocks of concrete which once supported a gate and stands about 2.5 metres high. The figures forming the centre piece represent a wide variety of people who come to work and learn at the Quarry's studios. The sculpture is topped by a birdbath, its green wavy shape suggesting both the unfurling of ponga fern fronds, and a large fungus. The surface is set with a mosaic of broken shards of china, pottery, tiles and glass, contributed by the many supporters of the Quarry. The tessellation (to tessellate: To make, pave, inlay with a mosaic of small tiles) idea came about mid-way through the project. Yvonne Rust, like a cook sampling a recipe in the process of development, decided the figures needed something more "and it had to be mosaic. Work was intermittent, because she spent time on the West Coast and also had to prepare a series of paintings for a major exhibition. Sculpting at the upper levels was demanding, she says, and "climbing up and down ladders with buckets of concrete and shaping it when you are 66 is not funny -- but everyone helped. The work is finished, but later a few pottery birds may be set on the top of the figures' heads. Provision has been made for a gate to be attached to the sculpture, but until the trust gets a gate -- it fancies but cannot afford wrought-iron -- the sculpture just stands as a welcome and hopefully, a signal.

Yvonne believes there should be more such projects.
"They could be done all up and down the country with everybody helping, with
artists in charge --because it's really rather fun" she said.

Text by Desmond Ford

NB Yvonne Rust died June 2002 in Greymouth. Her ashes were scattered at the Quarry.