Born: Rawene, Hokianga, 1948

Tribal Affliations: Te Roroa, Ngati Whatua, Nga Puhi

Works: out of home studio/workshop in Dargaville and Ahi-ka-roa workshop and kiln, Matatina Marae, Waipoua Forest

There was no tradition of ceramic among the customary art forms of the Maori. However the cosmological/creation narratives include the origions of clay, ochre, fire and water; all elements required for the fashioning of ceramic works.

"In my efforts to create an identity/profile for works in clay, I have adapted design and symbolism from the customary art forms of wood, stone and bone carving; from ta moko and from the fibre arts of ta niko and tukutuku. I have also drawn on the rich heritage of allegory and metaphor found in pakiwaitara, purakau and pepeha (folklore, myths/legends and proverbs) as a source of inspiration for the creation of Maori clayworks."

Since taking up a Fullbright Grant in 1989 to visit and work with Native American potters and Artists. Manos Nathan has fostered and maintained links to indigenous peoples with a clay tradition in the Pacific and in North America.

Works held in public collections:

Te Papa - Museum of New Zealand

British Museum - Museum of Mankind

Museum of Scotland, Edinborough

Museum Fur Volkerkunder, Berlin, Germany

Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Burke Museum, University of Seattle, USA

Selected Exhibitions:

2004 - Whenua: Born of the Land - Tinakore Gallery, Wellington

2003-04 - Notions of the Figurative: A Contemporary Survey,
Milford Galleries, Dunedin

2003 - Nga Toko Rima; Contemporary Clay Works - Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand

2003 - Kiwa: Pacific Connections - Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada

2002 - Taiawhio: Continuity and Change - Te Papa,
Museum of New Zealand

2001 - Beyond Tradition - Festival of the Arts, Rotorua

2000 - New Sculpture - Milford Galleries, Auckland

1999 - Whata ra te Toi Tangata - Suter Gallery, Nelson

1999 - Fusion: Tradition and discovery - Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, B.C. Canada

1998 - Maori: Maori Arts in the Brittish Museum

1998 - Uku Uku Uku, Maori Clayworkers Exhibition, New Zealand International Festival of Arts, Wellington

1998 - He puaawaitanga whakaaro: recent Maori sculpture, Govett Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth

1997 - New Zealand today: Maori viewpoints, John Royal Gallery, New York and Chicago, U.S.A.

1997 - Te Atinga: Contemporary Maori Arts, Bath International Arts Festival, U.K.

1996 - Patua, City Gallery, Wellington - New Zealand International Festival of Arts

1996 - Kurawaka, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

1994 - Te Waka Toi, touring exhibition of comtemporary Maori Art, San Diego, Phoenix, Chicago, Seattle, Hawaii -U.S.A. Auckland, Wellington - New Zealand.

Publications:

work featured in:

Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rakau - Northland Maori Carving

Deidre Brown - Reed Publishing - 2003

Contemporary New Zealand Sculpture - themes and issues

Priscilla Pitts - David Bateman Ltd - 1998

100 New Zealand Craft Artists

Helen Schamroth - Godwit Press - 1998

Mataora - the living face

Contemporary Maori Art

Adsett, Ihimaera, Whiting - David Bateman Ltd - 1996

Major Comissions:

NZ Olympic Committee

*Ceremonial vessel - Ipu Whenua
Buried in allied war cemetary, Pharleron, Athens
2004 Olympic games

APEC Leaders Gift, Prime Ministers Advisory Group for Art and Culture

* ceramic vessel

Auckland City Central Library - develop kaupapa for artworks

* design for glass and aluminium

Covered Walkways - Porirua City - Urban Renewal Project.

*sculptural commission

New Zealand Department of Justice, Waitangi Tribunal, seabridge House, Wellington

*carving and ceramics

Whangarei Art Museum

*Ceramic Sculpture

(c) Copyright 2001, Manos Nathan All rights Reserved