Story: Crafts and applied arts

Nga Kaihanga Uku

Nga Kaihanga Uku is a collective of Māori clayworkers founded by Baye Riddell, Manos Nathan, Colleen Urlich, Wi Taepa and Paerau Corneal in 1986. The collective had its origins in Nga Puna Waihanga, the national organisation for Māori artists and writers. Māori clayworkers met regularly at Nga Puna Waihanga hui and it was during these sessions that they decided to form their own group.

A major exhibition of the collective's work was mounted by Pataka Art Museum in Porirua in 2013, and it travelled to the Suter Art Gallery in Nelson the following year. Founding members Wi Taepa (second left), Paerau Corneal and Baye Riddell are pictured with Suter curator Anna-Marie White (left) at the Suter in 2014.

Listen to Colleen Urlich talk about the collective's discovery that Māori had a tradition of everyday clay use.

Using this item

Fairfax NZ, Nelson Mail
Reference: 19 February 2014
Photograph by Alden Williams

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Sound courtesy of Radio New Zealand Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

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How to cite this page:

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and Lucy Hammonds, 'Crafts and applied arts - Ceramics, glass, jewellery and textiles, 1980s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/speech/45319/nga-kaihanga-uku (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and Lucy Hammonds, published 22 Oct 2014