Wi Taepa
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Wi_Taepa_ONZM_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Wi_Taepa_ONZM_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Wi Te Tau Pirika Taepa
Early career and training
After leaving school, Taepa worked as a window display designer for a Wellington department store for five years.[2] He enlisted with the New Zealand Army in 1968 and served in Vietnam from 1970 to 1972.[2]
After his military career, Taepa worked as a prison officer at
In 1985 Taepa became a social worker at Kohitere Boys Farm and again introduced art as a form of connection and rehabilitation. He began working with clay at this time as obtaining wood for carving was expensive and the tools potentially dangerous.[2]
After the closure of Kohitere Taepa enrolled in the four-year course for the New Zealand Certificate of Craft Design at
Career as a clay artist
Taepa dates his interest in clay back to the 1960s, when he saw an exhibition of ceramics by an English artist, Jo Munro, at Willeston Gallery in Wellington.[5]: 246 In 1985, while living in Levin and working at Kohitere, he attended night classes with the Levin Pottery Club.[5]: 246 He prefers to handbuild his work rather than throw it on the wheel.[5]: 246–8
In 1986 Taepa, alongside
Taepa has exhibited both nationally and internationally including a solo exhibition Wi Taepa at
In 2016 a major survey of Taepa's work, Wi Taepa: Retrospect was organised by
Taepa has continued to teach, including at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. He says 'I'm interested in using clay as a form of creative expression. Teaching is also an art, so combining clay and teaching is an enjoyable challenge'.[5]: 245
In the
Public collections
Taepa's work in held in private collections and also in public collections including the
Family
Taepa descends from a line of
Taepa's sons Ngataiharuru Taepa and Kereama Taepa are also respected contemporary artists. The three artists showed work together in 2013 in the exhibition Papa Tipu at Expressions Whirinaki in Upper Hutt.[15]
Further information
- Wi Taepa: Retrospect, exhibition catalogue, Pātaka Art + Museum, 2016
- Clay artist Wi Taepa’s retrospective, Standing Room Only, RNZ, 29 April 2018
- John Hurrell, The Clay Artistry of Wi Taepa, EyeContact, 4 June 2018
- Bridget Reweti, A Hole in the Pocket (on Māori artists working with ceramics), The Pantograph Punch, 11 June 2018
References
- ^ Mane-Wheoki, Jonathan. "Contemporary Māori art – ngā toi hōu - New generations of artists". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "Biography of Wi Taepa". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
- ^ a b "Artist Overview: Wi Taepa". Auckland Art Gallery. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- hdl:10179/14691.
- ^ ISBN 0909010862.
- ^ "Craft and applied arts". Te Ara: Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Uku Rere, Ngā Kaihanga Uku & beyond". Toi Māori Aotearoa. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Artists profiles". Pataka Art + Museum. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Who got funded?". Creative New Zealand. Ministry of Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Wi Taepa Retrospect". Pataka. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
- ^ "Wi Taepa: Retrospective". Auckland Art Gallery. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
- ^ "The Queen's Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours List 2022". The New Zealand Herald. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ a b "Biography of Wi Taepa". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Wi Taepa". Māori Art market. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Papa Tipu". Expressions Whirinaki. Retrieved 14 June 2015.