Start With A Vase: Curated by Sebastian Clarke

Estelle Martin, Keil Cas, Elena Renker, Nichola Shanley, Katherine Smyth, Laurie Steer, Isobel Thom, Daegan Wells, and archival digital prints by Kim Meek.

For Estelle Martin, ceramics started with a vase.

In 1950s Hawke’s Bay, Martin took ikebana classes taught by artist and florist Louis Theakstone, who introduced his students to Japanese ceramic containers for displaying flowers. These charming objects were unavailable locally, so Estelle’s husband Bruce suggested she produce her own. This charted a new course for Estelle and Bruce, which blossomed into their prolific pottery production spanning over four decades and a lifetime spent surrounded by flowers in clay vases.

Start with a Vase provides an opportunity to acknowledge Martin’s entry into ceramics, as well as celebrate and consider contemporary vases made by ceramicists and artists who, like Martin, continue to find inspiration in one of the most abiding forms in ceramic history. This exhibition demonstrates the exciting diversity in current ceramic production in Aotearoa, and the enduring appeal of the clay vase.

This exhibition has been supported by the Ceramics Association of New Zealand, and is presented in conjunction with the launch of Issue 3 of Ceramics New Zealand Magazine.