Wi_Te_Tau_Pirika_Taepa

(Te ArawaA / NgatiI Pikiao / Te Ati Awa)

Wi Taepa worked as a carver before he began working with clay. With clay he felt a greater freedom because there were few of the rules that applied to working with wood. The speed of clay work suited him, too – he was able to capture an idea while it was still fresh.

He also enjoyed the unpredictable way the colours of the clay emerged naturally during firing. They included the subtle range of browns, silvers, and greys that come particularly from wood firing. He continues to use a low-tech approach, building his works by hand and using oxides and other clay slips.

Wi’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 Many of his works are based on shapes like ipu (containers) that were originally made from gourds, flax, and bark.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 Maori artists created patterns of notches and lines, and he recreates the same effects in clay using both man-made and natural tools.

For Wi, the origin of the clay is linked to its eventual use. For example, if he is making a ceremonial ipu (container), he will use some clay from the eventual owner’s ancestral land.

Toi-Ahu 2003 (above)
 
Raku bodied clay, gas-fired with oxides
 
A waka koiwi is a carved wooden container made to hold the bones of ancestors. Wi Taepa has based this vessel on the waka koiwi form, but has given it a contemporary design.
 
This piece was made to honour some of New Zealand’s major artists of the last two centuries, including Anaha Te Rahui, Wero, Taunu Taepa, McCahon, Lusk, and Woollaston.
 
Wi has honoured these artists in a ceremonial way ‘using a shape I can put back into my own culture’. The grooves in the clay resemble the moko kauae (chin tattoo lines) of Maori women.