Kate Fitzharris (born 1974) is a New Zealand ceramicist. She is mostly known for her doll-like figures, and although working primarily in ceramics, also incorporates found materials. She has won three Portage Ceramic Merit Awards, and has held the

Doris Lusk Doris More Lusk (5 May 1916 – 14 April 1990) was a New Zealand painter, potter, art teacher, and university lecturer. In 1990 she was posthumously awarded the Governor General Art Award in recognition of her artistic career and contributions. ...

Residency, the

Tylee Cottage Residency The Tylee Cottage Residency is an artist-in-residence programme facilitated by the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui, New Zealand. Established in 1986, the scheme began as a partnership between the Sarjeant Gallery, the Wanganui District Council and t ...

and a residency at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Japan.

Education

Fitzharris was born in Wellington in 1974 and is based in

Waitati Waitati, from the Māori Waitete, is a small seaside settlement in Otago, New Zealand, within the city limits of Dunedin. It is located close to the tidal mudflats of Blueskin Bay, 19 kilometres north of the Dunedin city centre. The small Waitati ...

, outside

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

in the South Island of New Zealand. She works part-time as a librarian. Fitzharris graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in ceramics from the

Otago Polytechnic Otago Polytechnic was a public New Zealand tertiary education institute, centred in Dunedin with additional campuses in Cromwell and Auckland. Otago Polytechnic provided career-focused education and training, offering a range of New Zealand accr ...

School of Art.

Career

Fitzharris is mostly known for her handbuilt doll-like figures, and although working primarily in ceramics also incorporates found materials. Fitzharris won Merit Awards at the Portage Ceramic Awards in 2002, 2010 and 2014. She also won the People's Choice Award at the New Zealand Potters exhibition in 2010. In 2011, Fitzharris had an exhibition called "Walk" at the Blue Oyster Art Project Space in Dunedin. Fitzharris mostly works in ceramics, but for ''Walk'' she travelled by foot from her home in Waitati to the gallery in central Dunedin, using beeswax to make small beads as she went, and incorporating found materials. In 2017, Fitzharris won the Doris Lusk Ceramics Residency. Fitzharris won a Tylee Cottage Residency in 2018, during which she invited local residents to share significant ceramic pieces with her, to create a "library of things" for her to respond to with her own work. The resulting exhibition "things don't end at their edges" was shown at the Serjeant Gallery from March to June 2019. Fitzharris spent much of 2019 as artist in residence at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Japan, exploring traditional Japanese ceramic techniques and finishes. She was also a finalist for the Wallace Arts Trust Awards in 2019. Her work is held in the collections of the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park Foundation,

the Dowse Art Museum The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Opening in 1971 in the Lower Hutt CBD, The Dowse occupies a stand-alone building adjacent to other municipal facilities. The building was completely remodelled in 201 ...

, the James Wallace Arts Trust, and the

Waikato Museum Waikato Museum ( mi, Te Whare Taonga o Waikato) is a regional museum located in Hamilton, New Zealand. The museum manages ArtsPost, a shop and gallery space for New Zealand art and design. Both are managed by the Hamilton City Council. Outsid ...

Exhibitions

Some of Fitzharris's exhibitions include: * "Walk" at Blue Oyster Project Art Space in 2011. *"Things Don't End at Their Edges", 16 March – 9 June 2019. *"New Familiar’’ at the RDS Gallery in Dunedin in 2020.

Personal life

Fitzharris is married with two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzharris, Kate New Zealand potters People from the Wellington Region Otago Polytechnic alumni 1974 births Living people New Zealand women artists