Pots festival much anticipated
Returning to O¯ taki in early 2019, the annual Festival of Pots and Garden Art has grown over 10 years to be a much-anticipated event on Ka¯piti’s arts calendar.
Held over nine days from January 19-27, the festival will offer a family experience in a relaxed garden setting, with pottery and garden art for sale. There are artist demonstrations each day, an on-site cafe and free car parking.
Set in four hectares of established gardens at Anam Cara Retreat Centre, the festival will feature a wide variety of pottery and ceramics, alongside framed art and works in wood, stone and steel. Open daily from 10am-4pm.
More than 100 potters and artists from throughout the lower North Island are expected to be exhibiting.
The Festival of Pots and Garden Art was first established in 2009.
Guest artists in 2019 include Wi Te Tau Taepa, Tracy Keith and Jason Dench.
Wi is a sculptor, potter and multi-media artist whose works are included in galleries and collections throughout New Zealand, the United States and Tahiti. For more than 50 years he has used art to tell stories, remind us of whakapapa and make observations about life from a Ma¯ori perspective.
The Auckland Art Gallery featured Wi’s retrospective clay exhibition throughout 2018. The exhibition began at Pataka in Porirua and will be travelling to other galleries.
Artist Tracy Keith has mostly used painting or drawing to convey ideas, but also works with clay because of its organic response and seductive qualities.
For him, clay is a medium with chameleon characteristics and an automatic response, revealing its true possibilities through construction, before undergoing an intense transformation during the firing process. Jason Dench has worked for many years as a metal artist selling his work in art galleries, before realising how much he valued relating with the next caretaker of his creations. He sees his work as so much more than a transaction of money for an object of desire. ‘‘I put a lot of time and energy into every piece and I am very grateful to have found artistic metal working as a form of expression,’’ he says.
Don’t miss these artists and more at the Festival of Pots and Garden Art, January 19-27 2019, held at Anam Cara Retreat Centre on 150 Rangiuru Road, O¯ taki.