ABOVE THE KITCHEN SINK Mark Amery on the exhibition Inspired: Ceramics and jewellery shaped by the past showing at Te Papa
“Raewyn Atkinson is interested in exploring the tension in ceramics between nature and culture. The fragility of the environment and the impact our use of it has is evoked powerfully, poetically in her work. Her 2013 series ‘Wasters’ (a term used to describe discarded or defective pieces of pottery) was inspired by shards recovered from the stretch of northern Californian shoreline used for more than 30 years as a dumping ground for the Tepco pottery factory. Atkinson clearly thinks deeply about what we place value in. Since returning to New Zealand, with a life more focused on family, she has returned to making vessels for use and shared experience, of which the porcelain wheel-thrown cups and plates from the 2014 ‘On a Plate’ series are an example. Dipped in an exquisite icy blue, they’re ordinary yet extraordinary, elegant yet cheekily pinched, minimalist yet creamy-full of natural and human character.”
Mark Amery