6 - Amorangi Hikuroa

Clay Artist

I am Amorangi Renata Hikuroa.

I am of Nga Puhi and Ngati Maniapoto  decent.

I reside in Whangarei

I am a Clay artist and member of Nga Kaihanga Uku (Maori Clay Workers Crew)

For me the medium of clay is a very powerful alchemy, we wield all the elements to create our mahi.

I feel privileged to be part of the whakapapa of Uku, an ancient history connecting us to our pacific Tupuna.  I am influenced by Te Ao Maori, and by the ceramic histories of our ancient peoples from which Uku has had a part to play in their story for thousands of years. From the tangata whenua of Amerika, of Africa, of Europe, of Asia, all the way back to the Jomon people of ancient Japan 6000BC.

I am attracted and inspired by good form, line, and the story old and new, Fire, Water, weather, the great oceans that link all lands,  every day happenings,  the simplicity and complexity of our environment, the vast unknown universe  gargantuan and microcosmic, and heaps of other choice stuff.     

Establishing Uku as an accepted Maori art form has been a focus of the Muddies of Aotearoa. Our Tupuna left us with the knowledge, narrative and skills to do this. Uku has always been in our stories.

We are Clay, the body of the mother.