Overview
Wi Taepa's interest in clay was sparked by an exhibition of pottery by Jo Munro at the Willeston Gallery, Wellington, which he would recall years later when he was looking for an alternative to wood as a medium of expression. 'I found clay was the answer. I can manipulate the clay into different forms, alter it, take it away or put it back. I was also introduced to low-tech firing of clay which still intrigues me to this day.' (1) Although clay is not a traditional Māori medium, he believes it is ideal for expressing Maori cultural values.
Wi Taepa was born in Wellington in 1946. He belongs to Ngāti Pikiao, Te-Roro-o-Te-Rangi, Te Arawa and Te Ātiawa. His father, Hohepa,was a Church of England minister and the family lived in Wellington, Otaki and Wanganui, where Taepa studied at Wanganui Technical College. He comes from a line of Te Arawa master carvers and with his uncle, Taunu Tai Taepa carved the pulpit in Rangiatea Church, Otaki. He also carved a replica of St Faith's Church, Rotorua, and many wharetupuna around New Zealand.
When he left school, Taepa spent five years working as a window display artist in the Wellington department store DIC. There was a limited budget, so he had to use his ingenuity to find creative solutions, and this proved to be valuable training for his later art work.
In 1968 Wi Taepa joined the New Zealand Army and served in Vietnam from 1970 to 1972. The time he spent in Southeast Asia also exposed him to new cultures, influences and means of artistic expression.
Taepa spent a number of years as a prison officer at Wi Tako (now Rimutaka) Prison and used art to open the lines of communication with the prisoners. He taught Māori wood and bone carving, as well as leather and copper work. Among his achievements at this time was participation in the carving of two pou for the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington, and helping to complete the Orongomai meeting house in Upper Hutt.
When Taepa became a social worker at Kohitere Boys Farm in 1985, art was an important part of his work in rehabilitating the boys. He was obliged to look for alternatives to wood carving because wood was expensive and the carving tools potentially dangerous. Clay was the best material because it was cheap and readily available.
The closure of Kohitere meant redundancy for Wi Taepa, so in 1989 he enrolled in the four-year course for the New Zealand Certificate of Craft Design at Whitireia Polytechnic, Porirua. On graduating he was offered a position at Whitireia as a tutor, specialising in clay sculpture. He now lives in Levin and teaches part-time at Whitireia Polytechnic and at Wanganui Polytechnic as artist/mentor. He also participates in national and international workshops.
Wi Taepa is a member of Nga Kaihanga Uku, a group of Maori clayworkers founded in 1987. Other members include Manos Nathan, Baye Riddell, Paerau Corneal and Colleen Waata Urlich. Before this Māori clayworkers had worked in isolation. Now thanks to their shared knowledge and experiences they have developed a foundation for Māori clayworkers to build on.
Taepa does not use a potter's wheel but instead shapes the clay by hand to make his vessels and sculptures. He uses coil, pinch and slab methods to create form, texture and surface patterning in his work. At first he used traditional Māori designs to decorate his vessels, which was also a way of expressing his cultural heritage. Over time, still drawing from his cultural tradition, Taepa has redesigned kōwhaiwhai, tukutuku and weaving patterns to suit the development of his ideas and philosophy. Inspired by the notching in early Māori carving, he often uses punch marking to create surface decoration, inlaying other materials such as flax or bone.
Taepa's works are unglazed and are sometimes fired in a hole filled with sawdust, which is lit and burns slowly overnight. Sometimes they are fired in gas or wood kilns.
Taepa works with a variety of forms, from gourd-shaped pots to life-sized figures. His work is held in private collections in the United States, England, Europe, Africa, and Samoa. He has exhibited widely in New Zealand as well as in the South Pacific, England, the USA, and Zimbabwe which he visited in 1995 as part of an extensive research trip. His main influence is Māori and New Zealand culture but he acknowledges other influences, such as Lapita pottery and the work of native American, African, and Fijian potters.
Reference
1. Whitireia art on show. Porirua news, 30 October 1997
Text originally published in Tai Awatea, Te Papa's onfloor multimedia database.