Wi Te Tau Pirika Taepa
Wi Te Tau Pirika Taepa
Born in 1946, Wi Te Tau Pirika Taepa (Wi Taepa) is affiliated to Ngati Pikiao, Te Arawa, and Te Atiawa. Wi served in Vietnamand as a prison officer at Wellington's Wi Tako prison, before becoming a self-taught carver. During his employment as a social worker with the Department of Social Welfare, he developed an interest in clay as an alternative to wood in teaching boys in reform institutions how to carve. Clay offered him a welcome level of freedom compared with the tight specifications usually imposed when he carved in stone or wood. The speed of clay work suited him too – he was able to capture an idea while it was fresh.
Taepa enjoys the unpredictable way the colours of the clay emerged naturally during firing, including the subtle range of browns, silvers, and greys that particularly appear from wood firing. He makes individual pieces using a low tech approach - hand building and sawdust firing, using oxides and other clay slips. He also incorporates Māori design elements.
Taepa's innovations grow out of his knowledge of customary forms and designs. Many of his works are based on shapes like ipu (containers) that were originally made from gourds, flax, and bark. He has studied the way early Polynesian and Māori artists created patterns of notches and lines, and he recreates the same effects in clay using both man-made and natural tools. His imagery evolved from his Māori heritage and the designs of the past, reclaiming and transposing little-known processes to his clay work.
In 1992 he graduated from the Whitireia Polytechnic with a Diploma in Craft Design, and completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Wanganui Polytechnic in 1999.He is keen to develop, with his other Nga Kaihanga Uku a Māori members, a solid kaupapa (purpose) for Maori clay workers. He has participated in many exhibitions in New Zealand and overseas, including NZ Choice (1994) in Santa Ana, United States; at Zimbabwe National Art Gallery (1995) in Harare; the Haka (1998) tour of the United Kingdom, and Kiwa (2003) at Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.
"I was looking for another medium than wood for carving. I found it in clay, the body of Papatuanuku (Mother Earth). 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. Working with clay involves imagination, touch and vision. While my work sustains cultural aspects of Aotearoa (New Zealand), there lies an even stronger connection to Hine-Ukurangi, the clay maiden. We are all connected to Papatuanuku. We thrive off her. It's where we begin and where we end."
