Matariki: Ipu Whenua – Korero and Clay Creations

What does it mean to create a sacred personalised vessel?

The intention behind this workshop is to create an ipu (vessel) whenua (land) that explores our connection to the land and what it means to return to the land through a combination of contemporary and traditional practices where vessels can be made to contain the likes of whenua (placenta), pito (umbilical cord) Koiwi (bones), or, in recent times, ashes.

Participants are invited to a clay workshop to learn basic hand-building skills and techniques to create their own small unfired vessel using those methods and personalising it through various decorating, engraving, and adornment applications.

Participants will be encouraged to bring some items that make interesting indents, pebbles or shells, stencils, muka/wool, all the while considering what it means for them to create a vessel to hold something precious.

The purpose of unfired clay is so that it is buried and offered back to Papatūānuku, whenua ki te whenua. Additionally essential is the korero/discussions shared around these different kaupapa which will also be passed on.

Clay will be provided.

Rhonda Halliday
Uku Sculptor Rhonda Halliday
Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu, Te Uri Taniwha, Ngāti Hineira, Pākehā

Rhonda was born 1970 and resides in Waipapa just north of Kerikeri. She gained her Bachelor of Applied Arts Visual Arts from Northtec Whangarei in 2000 and has enjoyed the mentorship of Colleen Waata Urlich and Manos Nathan before their passing in September 2015. She is owner/operator of Uku Toi Gallery and Studio in Waipapa, Northland, and a member of Te Taitokerau Māori Artists Collective and Ngā Kaihanga Uku, a contemporary Māori clay artists collective. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and has also been actively involved in several Toi Ngāpuhi exhibitions and other indigenous art cultural exchanges and events.

Over the years Halliday’s art style has been mostly recognised for her highly burnished smoke fired patina pieces representing rebirth and emergence. However more recently her work has begun to shift and move into new forms and techniques. One area of exploration is combining clay with mixed media to enhance her stories and personal views on various topics hoping to encourage conversation and awareness especially around our environment and the importance of water.

Chantel Matthews
(Ngāti Hounuku, Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Ikaunahi, Tainui, Pākehā)

Chantel Matthews is an artist, writer, and curator. Her practice explores her subjectivity as a
woman, mother, artist, and wahine Māori that traverses between installation, performance,
and sculpture. With a particular interest in how wāhine hold space, her practice conceptually
explores whanaungatanga & manaakitanga through kai kōrero, wānanga and collaboration.