Suite 2026: Part One

Peter Hawkesby
Heart Basket & other work

One of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most highly regarded ceramicists, Peter Hawkesby moved to Ōtepoti Dunedin in 2020. After many years of living and working in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, he arrived in the South with the assorted set of loose parts that accumulate over a lifetime of working with and thinking about clay. Hawkesby’s current studio is a corrugated iron crow’s nest looking out over the city and towards Te Awa Ōtākou, the Otago harbour, and the ocean beyond. This has provided the backdrop for five productive years, where substantial new works have dovetailed into Hawkesby’s process of excavating and reconfiguring the objects and ideas that he has returned to throughout his career.

Heart Basket & other work brings Hawkesby’s recent series Heart Basket (2023-25) together with what he calls ‘re-jigged’ works – assemblages that are built from ceramic bits and pieces that accrue in his studio over time. There is a different tenor across the two bodies of work: where the series Heart Basket is grounded and contemplative, the post-kiln constructions are energetic and lively. Together, they offer an introduction to Hawkesby’s practice that celebrates the elastic nature of his work – pushing and pulling between past and present, while grounded in a love of clay and its possibilities.

Heart Basket & other work is the first exhibition in Suite 2026. Suite is an ongoing exhibition series that presents recent work by artists living and working in Ōtepoti Dunedin.