Untitled (Punch Patterns), 2002

Ko Wi Taepa tētahi o te kāhui mema tuatahi tonu o Ngā Kaihanga Uku. Kua rongo nuitia āna toi matapaia mō tāna whakataurite i te huritao mākoha me te tūnga tūturu, hihiri tonu. E ai ki a Taepa:

Ko te whanaungatanga kei waenganui i te kaimatapaia me te uku, he hononga e pai ai ki a rāua tahi; kaua e whakaū i tō kaupapa ake, engari me mahi tahi kē ki te uku.

He taroa, he aweawe, he pūkare ngā āhua e tohutoro i ngā tikanga toi o Te Ātiawa. Kei te kitea te kauruku whakahāngai, te pākati, me te tauira māka panihi, he tohutoro ki ngā māka panihi whakairo a Te Ātiawa e kitea ana i runga i ngā haumi waka, i te raranga hoki.

Wi Taepa is a founding member of Ngā Kaihanga Uku – the National Māori Clay Workers Collective. His ceramic artworks are renowned for balancing their contemplative tranquillity with a dynamic physical presence. Taepa believes:

The relationship between a ceramicist and clay is symbiotic; one must not enforce their ideas on the clay but rather work with it.

These vessels are tall, majestic and evocative forms that reference the art traditions of Te Āti Awa. We see a cross-hatching, incising and punch mark pattern that references Te Āti Awa carved punch markings found on haumi waka (canoe bow-pieces) but equally renowned raranga (weaving) patterning. (Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, 2020)

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