Potter Rod Davies has been specialising in terracotta for more than two decades at Fern Flat, where he came to try his hand at self-sufficient living in 1976. Photo / Noel Garcia
Potter Rod Davies has been specialising in terracotta for more than two decades at Fern Flat, where he came to try his hand at self-sufficient living in 1976. Photo / Noel Garcia
When Rod Davies became a part of the 1970s movement heading back to the country, little did he know the idealistic green road would lead him to the shortlist for Aotearoa’s most prestigious ceramic prize.
The name Fern Flat Pottery will likely ring familiar to those who’ve travelled SH10 between Mangōnui and Pēria in decades past, with signs pointing to the idyllic bush-nestled pottery and showroom once essential to visitors finding their way.
Now, Davies said, people usually already knew the work before they arrived guided by a map app.
One of the Far North potter’s contemporary clay works entitled Breaking Waves is currently featured at West Auckland’s Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, where it has been since late November alongside 29 other finalists in the 2022 Portage Ceramic Awards, on display to the public for the first time.
Of his submission, Davies said he “strived to add liveliness to this work through texture and surface treatment. In Breaking Waves I imagine the white horses - or whitecaps - that surround us in the seas of Aotearoa.”
Davies said he felt the win came about because he’d “been playing with clay for 40 years.”
Prize organisers described the exhibition as hugely popular - with thousands of visitors over the summer months - and reflective of the creativity and ingenuity of Aotearoa’s top artists working with clay.
Davies spent his first 25 years as a potter focused on domestic stoneware.
Just prior to the turn of the century, he began working with terracotta (meaning ‘baked earth’), which he’d dug out of a bank at the back of his home.
“It seemed more exciting, more down to earth,” he said.
“I enjoy its simplicity.”
Following extensive overseas travel and work in London as a photographer, then a stint in advertising in Auckland, Davies was influenced by the culture of the day and, in 1976, decided to exit the city and try his hand at self-sufficient living.
He’d heard musicians sing about moving to the country and saving the world, and thought to himself, “Why not?”
Along with being conducive to plenty of fishing and sailing, Davies said “Northland allowed it because of the climate, and the type of people here”.
“It’s quite similar to what people leaving the cities are after now, though the new wave is even greener,” his wife and fellow potter, Marguerite, said.
“We had the luxury of time. The work is more urgent now.”
Today, Davies said he and his wife “have it all.”
“There’s a spring in the hill, reasonably clean air to breathe, and she [Marguerite] is an excellent organic gardener,” he said.
Marguerite described their early years as “poor in money for a long time.”
“But rich in freedom,” added Davies.
Before moving north, Davies explained he had saved $5000 in order to build the home they still lived in today (albeit with many additions), which meant they were mortgage-free.
“And we never lacked company,” Marguerite said.
“The hall at Ōruru was a hub, with plenty of gatherings and market days before market days were a thing.”
Over the years, the Davies have hosted free pottery classes for local primary schools.
They continue to dig up classroom relics from the days when their land was occupied by a schoolhouse, which closed in the 1930s.
With their two daughters now grown and pursuing their own careers in the arts, the Davies continue to savour the simple life: cultivating the garden, making their own bread and preserves, and ‘potter-ing’ away in the most productive sense.
They supply their works to around a dozen galleries throughout the country.
"I imagine the white horses - or whitecaps - that surround us in the seas of Aotearoa," said Rod Davies of his work 'Breaking Waves'. It's currently featured at west Auckland’s Te Uru gallery as part of the 2022 Portage Ceramic Awards. Photo / Haru Sameshima
Davies’ shortlisted entry was his very first to the Portage Ceramic Awards. He credits the win entirely to Marguerite for having done the work of applying.
“If it weren’t for her, I’d never enter.”
They usually submit to three or four prizes annually, and have won a few over the years. One received in leaner years stood out for having paid $2000.
