Portage 22

Te Uru is delighted to present the Portage Ceramic Awards 2022. This annual award provides a vital platform to showcase the diversity of contemporary clay practices in Aotearoa. The awards are open to all New Zealand artists both established and emerging whose work spans sculptural and domestic clay traditions as well as other disciplines, including photography and videography.

Te Uru is delighted to announce that Karl Chitham is the judge for the 2022 Portage Ceramic Awards.

Karl Chitham (Ngā Puhi, Te Uriroroi) is Director of The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt. He is interested in interdisciplinary practice across toi Māori, contemporary art and craft. His ongoing association with craft practice includes projects such as A Mua: New Lineages of Making co-curated with Kolokesa Māhina-Tuai, Whenua Hou: New Māori Ceramics co-curated with Objectspace and Silk Web curated in partnership with Shangri La, Honolulu. Chitham was a judge for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and The National Contemporary Art Awards, and was on the selection panel for the New Zealand Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale. Chitham co-authored the major publication Crafting Aotearoa: A Cultural History of Making in New Zealand and Wider Moana Oceania.

Congratulations to this year’s winners. The Premier Portage Ceramic Award for 2022 was awarded to Richard Penn for Artefacts. Second prize was presented to Helen Perrett for No space in my head, and Merit awards went to Evelyn Hodowany for 12 pack #1 “I can’t spare a square”, Elena Renker for Three tea bowls and Dorothy Waetford for AO and HR.
The 2022 finalists are Stephen Aitken, Leigh Anderton-Hall, Greg Barron, Heath Bell, Maak Bow, Annette Bull, Oliver Cain, Peter Collis, Anna Crichton, Rosie Parsonson & Richard Darbyshire, Rod Davies, Peter Derksen, Mel Ford, Mandy Gargiulo, Evelyn Hodowany, Tracy Keith, Yueh Luo, Paul Maseyk, Kylie Matheson, John Parker, Richard Penn, Helen Perrett, Teresa Peters, Elena Renker, Rick Rudd, Takaaki Sakaguchi, Sylvia Sinel, Janna van Hasselt, Dorothy Waetford and Pip Woods.

26 November 2022 – 5 March 2023

Image credit: Richard Penn (Premier Award), Artefacts, 2022. Image courtesy by Studio La Gonda.