AOTEAROA’S TOP POTTER PICKED IN THE 2021 PORTAGE CERAMIC AWARDS

Image: Teresa Peters' Premier Award-winning work, ECHOES

Te Uru is delighted to announce the winners of the 2021 Portage Ceramic Awards with Teresa Peters being named as the Premier Award Winner for her clay collection ECHOES. Two Merit Awards were also presented; to Fiona Jack for Rahu Bottles and Andrea du Chatenier for Softfall. 

In a first for the Portage Ceramic Awards, a photographic work has been named as the Premier winner, capturing Teresa Peters’ collection of folded raw clay works. The entry was presented as a large-scale black-framed archival photograph. Exploring earth and fire, Peters’ elemental approach excavates primordial totems, evokes natural history and navigates the tropes of archaeology. Interested in fusing ceramics and contemporary technology, the archival nature of Peters’ work speaks to her interest in preservation systems and museum collections. 

“I liked the way Peters has combined the use of clay, an ancient archival material, and digital technology to respond to our current predicament, in a time of Covid and climate crisis.” 
- Raewyn Atkinson, 2021 Judge

Whilst this is Peters’ first entry into the Portage Ceramic Awards, she has enjoyed a notable career in the arts, working in Berlin, New York and Aotearoa (full biography below.) Earlier this year, she launched a new body of ceramics titled DISASTROUSFORMS.COM, inspired by a field trip to Pompeii, which is now part of the Auckland Museum online collection. Other recent projects include MOLTENENTITIES.COM 2021, exhibiting in ‘Piki Mai: Up Here’ at the Auckland Art Fair, and at RM Gallery in ‘From things flow’. In October 2021, Peters was a finalist in the Ceramics NZ 60th National Jubilee Exhibition and was awarded the Pak’n Save Merit award for her work ARTEFACTS.

For the 2021 Awards, two Merit prizes have also been awarded. Based in Auckland, Aotearoa, Fiona Jack caught the attention of the judge with Rahu Bottles , consisting of five hand-built stoneware bottles that were wood-fired with soda at Rahu Road Pottery in Paeroa. Interested in socio-political issues, Jack has an MFA from CalArts Los Angeles and is a Senior Lecturer at the Elam School of Fine Art at The University of Auckland.

Whanganui’s Andrea du Chatenier is a sculptor turned ceramicist, and her porcelain and stoneware clay work Softfall also sparked a special mention from the judge. Holding a Master of Fine Art from Melbourne’s RMIT, du Chatenier currently teaches at UCOL in Whanganui, and has received numerous grants and awards for her accomplished and challenging work in the theatre of clay.

A total of 33 works made it through the final selection at Te Uru, where judge Raewyn Atkinson, herself a two-time Premier Award winner, made her decision. Reflecting the creativity and ingenuity of Aotearoa’s top artists working with clay, the awards provide a vital platform to showcase the diversity of contemporary ceramic practice.

The annual Portage Ceramic Awards exhibition will open at Titirangi’s Te Uru on 4 December 2021, with all shortlisted works on display to the public for the first time.

PORTAGE CERAMIC AWARDS 2021 WINNERS:

• Premier Award 2021:
  Teresa Peters, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
  ECHOES, clay collection archived as framed photography
  

• Merit Award 2021:
  Fiona Jack, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
  Rahu bottles, stoneware
  

• Merit Award 2021:
  Andrea du Chatenier, Whanganui
  Softfall, porcelain and stoneware clay

PORTAGE CERAMIC AWARDS 2021 EXHIBITION

4 December 2021 – 27 February 2022
Te Uru
420 Titirangi Road, Titirangi

Open seven days, 10am to 4.30pm
Free entry
teuru.org.nz

Proudly supported by The Trusts