Individual, hand-built organic vessels, sculpture and objects inspired by nature and early civilisations

Quarry Ceramics Awards 2026

Honoured to be a finalist with

Never Erased

10 Apr - 2 May

Yvonne Rust Gallery
Quarry Arts Centre
21 Selwyn Avenue
Whangarei

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Waiheke Small Sculpture Prize 2026

Honoured to be a finalist with

Vessel for Forgotten Dreams

27 Mar - 17 May

Waiheke Art Gallery Te Whare Taonga o Waiheke
2 Korora Road
Oneroa
Waiheke

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The Private Members Bathing Club

Sculpture based on Ancient Greek aesthetics and the homoerotic "bathing" trope of western art history.

Available at:

satellite2 gallery
61A Victoria Road
Devonport

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Coiled works

Sculptural vessels inspired by landscape, natural and figurative forms using marbled clays.

Available at:

Black Door Gallery
251 Parnell Road
Parnell

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Sacred Tree Urn

This large coiled sculpture was a finalist in Waiclay Ceramic Awards 2025. My inspiration was of a 'future relic' - 1000 years from now after a period of global warming where surviving trees were revered and even their fallen leaves collected and held sacred in a sealed container. This example has had that seal broken off and is in a form that represents the hot winds scouring the Earth.

Available at

Black Door Gallery

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About

I use coiling and other handbuilding techniques to make individual, organic sculpture - simple forms, mostly unglazed surfaces, often marbled or textured (representing the earth from which the clay came). 

Inspired by the human figure and natural landscapes I sometimes reference ancient relics or iconography which provide a window into the beliefs of past civilisations. I find the ‘object as part of ritual’ fascinating, particularly when juxtaposed with today.

My ceramic practice is a means of processing my thoughts on my own path through this world. Combined with the inevitable dance when working with clay, it is more a journey of questions and discoveries that somehow materialise into three-dimensional objects.

© Copyright Paul Herbert Ceramics 2025