Ngā Kaihanga Uku is a
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
collective of
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
Clayworkers. They formed in 1986 during a Ngā Puna Waihanga (Māori Artists and Writers collective) gathering, under the leadership of
Baye Riddell and
Manos Nathan.
Founding members also include
Paerau Corneal,
Colleen Waata Urlich and
Wi Taepa.
Contemporary Māori clay artists
Ngā Kaihanga Uku was formed to support the growing use of clay within Māori-based art practices in the 1980s.
Although customary Māori society was not a
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...
culture, the intrinsic properties and physical relationship of clay being from the earth offered Māori clay artists a new avenue through which to portray Māori lives and knowledge. Hineahuone for example, who is considered to be the first human, was formed by clay at Kurawaka.
As Wi Taepa states, ‘Clay is more than an artistic material, it is a blood relative. Working with it requires an understanding of the genealogical links between humanity and Papatūānuku (earth).
Selected exhibitions
*2013-4 ''Uku Rere: Ngā Kaihanga Uku & beyond''
Pataka Art + Museum, Whangarei Art Museum: Te Manawa Toi, The Suter Art Gallery: Te Aratoi o Whakatu,
Waikato Museum
Waikato Museum () 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. Outside the museum is ''The Tongue of ...
: Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, Tairawhiti Museum: Te Whare Taonga o te Tairawhiti, and
Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science + History, Palmerston North.
*2003-5 ''Ngā Toko Rima'' Ngā Kaihanga Uku.
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...
; Tinakori Gallery, Wellington.
*1998 ''Uku! Uku! Uku!'' International Festival of the Arts, Wellington.
*1994 ''Kurawaka''
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 2 ...
, Lower Hutt.
Publications
*Kedgley, H. Nicholas, D. (2013) ''Uku Rere: Ngā Kaihanga Uku & Beyond''. Pataka Art + Museum, Porirua City.
*Urlich, Colleen Waata. (2009) ''Nga Kaihanga Uku: National Collective of Māori Clayworkers'' Dargaville NZ.
*Riddell, Baye. (2023) ''Ngā Kaihanga Uku Māori Clay Artists''. Te Papa Press. Wellington, NZ.
References
External links
Crafts and Applied ArtsNgā Kaihanga Uku on Radio New Zealand National
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nga Kaihanga Uku
New Zealand artist groups and collectives
New Zealand Māori artists