[As published in September/October BayBuzz magazine.]
When you visit Annette Bull and Natham Crossam’s home on a cold and blustery morning to chat about clay, you can be assured of a couple of things. There will be good coffee and a warm welcome, and you’ll stay longer than planned, because there is so much ground to cover.
You walk in and you’re enveloped by a fantastic collection of art. I’ve known these two for close to 15 years and we reminisce about long ago exhibitions and artists we used to follow and series we loved and, yes, there’s a little bit of gossip too.
We’re here to chat about the upcoming group exhibition, Uku Clay at Arts Inc. Heretaunga, which these two organise to showcase work from around the country.
The first challenge though, is choosing a cup for the coffee. Casually stacked in a sturdy set of wooden shelves is the best collection of cups and mugs, from potters all over the country. The perfect visual representation of how connected and collaborative Annette and Natham are in the world of clay.
Like many conversations even now, a year and a half on, we meander back to Cyclone Gabrielle. All that fractured because of it. All that’s still coming back together. The damage and repair at Waiohiki and how that affected the Taradale Pottery Club. There is a universality to the very particular moments shared. Annette’s parents had a landline and an old phone, so in this neighbourhood, they could get word out that here, close to the sea and river at Clive, they were ok.
We sip coffee and muse about what it takes to put an exhibition together. We talk about the personalities – heroes past, like Bruce and Estelle Martin, and veterans like Gaeleen Morley. Natham brings out a bubble wrapped package and together we take in the vessel. That organic, rustic glaze, the angular planes, a weightiness that makes it a Gaeleen piece. Then comes another (pictured), an abstract vessel by celebrated Whanganui potter Rick Rudd.
Natham pulls back the tablecloth on the kitchen table to show a large birds-eye plan of the Russell Street gallery, with thumbnail photographs of the successful entries. These two have been working on placement. It’s a perfect way to play with the layout, grouping complementary pieces together, creating a narrative of sorts. I imagine there has been much movement at the table, shifting and replacing, completing this jigsaw puzzle.
Casually stacked in a sturdy set of wooden shelves is the best collection of cups and mugs, from potters all over the country. The perfect visual representation of how connected and collaborative Annette and Natham are in the world of clay.
We talk about the uniting force of a group exhibition, and an opening party. The family’s role in pulling this all together (thanks Max and Greta and Josh!). Things right across the arts in the Bay have felt fractured, but there are little bits of coming together, and Uku Clay is one of those.
The first Uku Clay exhibition was in 2018 and it’s been biennial since, making this one the fourth. This year’s selectors Peter and Judy Collis up in Auckland have made some strong decisions, and when Natham flicks through the folder of “in” entries, I can see a cohesive show in my mind’s eye. “It’s a tall show,” they laugh – lots of vessels and abstract pieces with height. And there are some for the wall too. The install is going to be a challenge.
Selecting is done in Auckland like a blind tasting. The Collises went through over a hundred entry images, all anonymous to them, and made their decisions without knowing who the majority were made by. After they’d confirmed their selection, they asked, “Did Rick have an entry in there? Did Gaeleen?” Obviously now, both Rick Rudd and Gaeleen Morley are part of the line-up, but that illustrates how the process works, that this time around they were’t able to recognise for sure the creations of two of the country’s most respected potters, showing that the work really must stand on its own two feet, so to speak. No bias for old mates here!
Natham and Annette will install the show, and once it’s in place, before the opening, Peter and Judy will examine the exhibition and decide the winners of the five prizes. The main prize, this year sponsored by Muse Gallery, is worth $2k and there are three other category cash prizes and an exhibition prize to be awarded.
We wind our way through a discussion about the long artistic process of finding a voice. I’m left thinking that it’s often the same for an art event. Annette’s development as a potter over the years is clear and logical and pleasurable to witness. Uku has a similar feeling to it. It’s developing, it’s getting better and more refined and more important in the wider arts scene as time rolls on.
Past shows have surprised and delighted me. And this one will do the same, differently. The breadth and depth of talent in New Zealand in the field of ceramic art is astounding and Uku Clay is not to be missed.
Uku Clay is part of the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival Taster Series. It opens on Sunday, September 15 and runs until Friday, October 4. The 2026 exhibition is scheduled to return to Creative Arts Napier, where the inaugural one was held.