Mountain to the Sea: Len Castle

Len Castle (b. 1924) is an extraordinary man and artist who has worked relentlessly and passionately in his chosen medium since becoming a full-time potter in 1963.

Mountain to the Sea is a celebration of the inspiration that many aspects of New Zealand’s landscape has been for Castle, and in particular with the Volcanic and Sea Secrets series that he has been developing since the early 1990s. The exhibition contains approximately 60 works that have been created between 2006 and 2008.

Castle has been documenting the landscape with photography since the 1960s. These beautiful images depict those parts of our landscape where the elements are most extreme, and in which the brute force and unpredictability of nature are most potent. They sit naturally alongside Castle’s ceramic work that so clearly reflect an exploration of the landscape through the medium of clay and glaze materials. These explorations have resulted in a wide range of works, from his elegant blue lake bowls through to the gritty lava tubes and fossil-like forms that illustrate his absolute mastery of clay.