Short pot

Ko Selwyn Wilson te Māori tuatahi kia whakapōtaehia e tētahi kura toi i Aotearoa, i whiwhi i a ia te Tītohu mō Fine Arts, kaupapa peita, i te tau 1951. Whai muri atu ka whakauru ia ki te Auckland College of Education ki te ako i ngā mātauranga hou mō te uku i raro i a Hillary Clarke.

I te tau 1957 ka whakawhiwhia ki a ia te pūtea Sir Apirana Ngata hei haere ki Rānana ako ai i te matapaia i te Central School of Art, o reira. Nā te rawe o tāna mahi i reira, ka taea e ia āna ipu te hoko atu, ā, ka puritia āna ipu e rua ki te kohinga tūturu a taua kura. Ka tae atu ki te tau 1960, kua ū te kaupapa matapaia hei kaupapa matua mōna, ka mutu, i tōna hokinga mai ki Aotearoa, ko ia te ringa toi uku Māori tuatahi tonu ki te whakaatu ōkawa i āna mahi toi. Ko ngā āhuatanga o ngā toi uku a Wilson he matauri kaha, he whakamahi i ngā āhua ihiihi, i ētahi wā kua mahia ā-wīra kaiuku, ā-ringa hoki. He tikanga mataku kore āna mahi kirimōhinu, i ētahi wā he mata pīataata, i ētahi wā he hā ā-oneone.

Selwyn Wilson was the first Māori male to graduate from a New Zealand art school, receiving his Diploma in Fine Arts in 1951 in painting. Soon afterwards he enrolled at the Auckland College of Education, where he attended Hillary Clarke’s innovative classes in clay.

In 1957, Wilson was awarded the Sir Apirana Ngata bursary so that he could study ceramics at London’s Central School of Art, London. Such was his success that he was able to sell his pots and two entered the permanent collection of the school. By 1960, ceramics had become his main medium, and following his return to New Zealand, he was the first Māori ceramic artist to exhibit. Wilson’s ceramics have strong silhouettes and utilise dynamic shapes, sometimes thrown using a potter’s wheel as well as closely shaped by hand. His glazing techniques are bold and vary between lustrous surfaces and earthy tonalities.

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