Te Horo: Thomas Baker, Resident Artist at The Kilns at Te Horo.

The Residency at The Kilns at Te Horo has let Thomas Baker “play”.

That is his term for generating his ongoing excitement about working with clay and
where it leads.

The six-month residency at Mirek Smíšek’s former pottery on the Kāpiti coast has
allowed him to make some good steps forward. “I have resolved a few older ideas,
explored new thoughts I’ve been sitting on, and found new aspects of looking at clay,” Thomas says.

“I’ve been trying to figure out more ways of letting the clay have its own voice and find its own form. It’s the technical which excites me. It’s like having to arrive through multiple failures and learnings”.

Thomas’ work for his end of residency exhibition opening at Toi Mahara in Waikanae on 22 March 2025 is a stage on that journey. There will be pieces with bold curves and soft pillowy feelings.

“It’s a concept that might challenge non-potters views or expectations of traditional pottery. Again, I’m trying to let the materials speak for themselves”.

At Te Horo Thomas has been using some locally sourced clays in his experiments. He’s also been let in on the secret of Mirek Smíšek’s slips and glazes. The landscape viewed from the Doreen Blumhardt Studio where he has worked has allowed Thomas to appreciate the qualities Smíšek sought to portray with his decorations and surfaces.

“It’s been an utter privilege to use and develop those recipes further in my own way.” Future residents may benefit too as Thomas intends to leave notes on his
adaptations.

Art or artist are terms Thomas eschews for himself or his work, having started out throwing what he says traditional pottery. After more than four years in Nelson,
throwing pots, co-founding a gallery, a business and the now thriving Clay Week he is moving – perhaps not yet in his own terms – away from the functional.

“I need to find a way of incorporating into the story the dramatic before and after.” He has his own measure of satisfaction.

“Work that confuses you at first is really strong work, because it can make the viewer curious and want to understand why so.

You should be able to return again and again to strong art and it should speak to that curiosity. The longer people can engage, hopefully the more satisfaction there is to be gained from the work.”

As well as the exhibition at Toi Mahara Thomas has been working for a joint exhibition with Riccardo Scott and Scott Brough at Auckland’s Public Record Gallery
also opening on the 27th February – 16th March. As yet Thomas is undecided where to next after the Residency at The Kilns. Another residency appeals. Perhaps in an equally pleasant climate in the antipodes.

Jenn Leov will be the next short-term Winter Resident at The Kilns from 1 April 2025.

Whanganui | Artist Open Studios

Whanganui Potters Studio will be exhibiting as a working community studio as part of Artists Open Studios. AOS is the OG arts trail, starting way back in 2001 https://openstudios.co.nz/about-us/ 

Our open studios are the first and last weekends of Artists Open Studios [AOS], with an exhibition of artist’s work for sale, pottery demonstrations in studio, plus public raku. See our Artist open studio weekends:

15th/16th March,  Sat/Sun, 10 – 4pm, and 22nd/23rd March, Sat/Sun, 10 – 4pm.

See our studio listing here: https://openstudios.co.nz/studio/whanganui-potters-studio/

Some individual Whanganui potters and ceramists will be exhibiting in their private studios. See the full AOS programme here https://openstudios.co.nz/artists/

Wellington

The Dowse Art Museum | Current exhibition

Whenua Whetu | Māori Ceramics from the Dowse Collection until March 2, 2025.

Whenua Whetu exhibition highlights a selection of uku (clay) works in the Dowse collection by nine Māori artists: Paerau Corneal, Davina Duke, Stevei Houkāmau, Tracy Keith, Manos Nathan, Hana Rakena, Baye Riddell, Aaron Scythe, and Wi Taepa.

The Dowse: Upcoming exhibition | Flash Cats March 8 – July 27, 2025.

Silicone sphynx cats for ‘Flash Cats’.

What happens when you give ten tattoo artists from around Te-Whanganui-a-Tara and Te Awakairangi

each a tattooable sphynx cat made of silicone? The result is Flash Cats, an exhibition and snapshot of

tattoo practices around the region. But rather than working on skin, the artists have been tasked with

using a life-like cat as their blank canvas.

https://dowse.org.nz/exhibitions-and-events/exhibitions/2025/flash-cats