Our August Featured Artist is the renowned and beloved ceramic sculptor, Karen Kennedy. Karen’s work has won many awards through the years and her unique sense of humour always shines through her pieces. She has been a full-time ceramic sculptor for about 35years, selling to galleries throughout New Zealand.
When catching up with Karen about her journey as an artist, she had the following to share.
“I lived in Glendowie and we had a muddy creek at the bottom of our section and as kids, we dug out sticky yellow clay and made things. My Mum was very encouraging and loved unfired ash trays that disintegrated. Whenever the pot plants leaked. I have always been creative. Drawing, painting, doing craft work. Became an Occupational therapist because I loved the craft work, but there was very little of that being done by the time I graduated. I became a mother, did a night class in pottery and realized sculpture was my thing. Took a box of figurines into our local craft shop and never looked back. I have done all sorts of small courses and tutorials and read a lot of pottery books. I teach a pottery class once a year, in April at my home.”
When asked about her proudest achievement, she proudly talks about the big Dragon Seat in Devonport on Chinaman’s hill, just up from the supermarket. He is a ferro cement 3-seater with hand-made tiles. Her first one is another in Onehunga, on Main Street.
For any artists starting out her advice is to just be disciplined and not wait for inspiration. She recommends working out a quote to do every week whether you feel like it or not. She advises to be realistic and to be clean and tidy as a mess in not conducive to good work. Take a class in whatever you fancy as she likens that to a pressure cooker – you learn fast.
Karen’s favorite subjects to portray are fantasy, dogs and birds. She likes to tell a story and her medium of choice is white clay that looks good painted with ceramic stains and a clear glaze. Her bigger pieces have traditional glazes, and she has her own studio and kiln.
She also enjoys painting rocks as a hobby. She acquires or buy smooth pebbles and paint them, using $2 shop acrylic paints. She muses: “Frogs, dogs, people, birds, unicorns, dragons, mice, cats, anything that takes my
fancy. I walk my dog, usually round Lake Panorama and hide rocks for kids to find and keep or re hide. It is quite a big thing in West Auckland, and you see whole families out rock hunting around the lake.
All the parks have rocks hidden in them somewhere. These are freebies, I never sell them. It is a nice thing for kids and the community. Some of the big rocks round the lake have my paintings on them. My own rocks that I take in and cement in place. This is because I heard a lad wailing to his mother, “Mummy, there aren’t any rocks.” There are ceramic button paintings glued to some of the rocks, and a big ceramic Conan the Barbarian tile by the pathway. I have plans for more ceramic pieces to sneak into parks.”
As for a message she would like to share through her art – she says:”Don’t wait for inspiration. Make something. Paint something. Creativity is one of the best pathways to happiness that I can think of. And if you can’t sell your work, give it away. Make somebody else happy.”
Phone number: 09-838 5733
Email address: wccac@waitakerearts.com
Office hours: Monday to Thursday, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm, closed on Friday
All entry forms must be FULLY completed, including pricing. Incomplete entry forms and late entries will not be accepted.
Please note, running a member’s exhibition is reliant on volunteer help. Please let us know if and when you will be able to volunteer in any of the below capacities:
- Helping out on Bring In Day (receiving artworks)
- Helping at the Help Desk during the Art Exhibition/Market
- Helping at Pack down
- Delivering leaflets/posters to libraries/community centres etc
- Putting up signage
Credit Card payments will incur an extra 2.5% charge.
All artworks must be for sale and a 25% (inc GST) commission applies on sales. This will be deducted from the artist’s payment at the end of the exhibition.
Payments may take up to 14 working days (from 18 May 2026) to process and will be direct credited to your account.
Personal tax liability is the responsibility of the artist.
Insurance of artwork is the responsibility of the artist. Although Waitākere Arts will take all care, we will take no responsibility for lost or damaged work.
Work must NOT have been entered in any previous Exhibitions, must have been completed within the last 12 months and not part of any tutored workshop or class. It must be completely original.
The Committee reserves the right to refuse an entry if it does not comply with the Terms and Conditions or is deemed inappropriate or is poorly presented.
Any changes to your details must be made on or before Bring In Day. No changes can be made after this date.
All artwork must be dry. No wet paint.
Entries must be ready for hanging on hooks, with D – Rings, cord attached 1/3 down from the top of the artwork. There will be a charge for purchase of D Rings or cord on the day of $10.
Each entry must be identified with a swing tag attached to the hanging string, with artist info – (Artist Name, Title of work, Medium, Category, Price).
Work over 3kg cannot be wall mounted. (Please consult with Waitakere Arts if over 3kg).
Note – our exhibition will be on black panels.
NOTE: Failure to collect work will result in a $10 per day fee to cover moving and storage of the artwork, useless it’s an emergency and prior arrangements have been made with the Office Manager. Artwork will become the property of Waitākere Arts Council and be sold or donated to charity if not collected by 1st July 2026.
All entry forms must be FULLY completed, including pricing. Incomplete entry forms and late entries will not be accepted.
Please note, running a member’s exhibition is reliant on volunteer help. Please let us know if and when you will be able to volunteer in any of the below capacities:
- Helping out on Bring In Day (receiving artworks)
- Helping at the Help Desk during the Art Exhibition/Market
- Helping at Pack down
- Delivering leaflets/posters to libraries/community centres etc
- Putting up signage
Credit Card payments will incur an extra 2.5% charge.
All artworks must be for sale and a 25% (inc GST) commission applies on sales. This will be deducted from the artist’s payment at the end of the exhibition.
Payments may take up to 14 working days (from 18 May 2026) to process and will be direct credited to your account.
Personal tax liability is the responsibility of the artist.
Insurance of artwork is the responsibility of the artist. Although Waitākere Arts will take all care, we will take no responsibility for lost or damaged work.
Work must NOT have been entered in any previous Exhibitions, must have been completed within the last 12 months and not part of any tutored workshop or class. It must be completely original.
The Committee reserves the right to refuse an entry if it does not comply with the Terms and Conditions or is deemed inappropriate or is poorly presented.
Any changes to your details must be made on or before Bring In Day. No changes can be made after this date.
All artwork must be dry. No wet paint.
Entries must be ready for hanging on hooks, with D – Rings, cord attached 1/3 down from the top of the artwork. There will be a charge for purchase of D Rings or cord on the day of $10.
Each entry must be identified with a swing tag attached to the hanging string, with artist info – (Artist Name, Title of work, Medium, Category, Price).
Work over 3kg cannot be wall mounted. (Please consult with Waitakere Arts if over 3kg).
Note – our exhibition will be on black panels.
NOTE: Failure to collect work will result in a $10 per day fee to cover moving and storage of the artwork, useless it’s an emergency and prior arrangements have been made with the Office Manager. Artwork will become the property of Waitākere Arts Council and be sold or donated to charity if not collected by 1st July 2026.
This awards exhibition is open to artists 19 years and over at the time of entry. Please select Youth form for under 19 years.
No Digital Artworks or Couriered Works accepted. Payment must be received for entry to be accepted.
No photography section for Adults, only for Youth (13-18 Years Old)
All works will automatically enter the “Open section/competition”.
Adult works may be entered into only one themed awards category.
- LOOKING WEST: “Capturing the impressions and spirit of West Auckland” (only open to artists living in West Auckland)
- OUR PEOPLE OUR PLACE: “Embracing the changing face of the people within West Auckland” (must contain a figurative element)
- INSPIRATIONAL AOTEAROA: Finding that unique factor which identifies with AOTEAROA | NEW ZEALAND
All work must have been completed between September 2025 and September 2026 and not have been previously exhibited anywhere else. All Adult work must be priced.
Waitākere Arts' commission on Adult work sold is 30% of the sale price (incl. GST) & 20% of the sale price on Youth work. Personal tax liability is the responsibility of the artist.
Insurance is the responsibility of the artist. While all due reasonable care will be taken with your artwork, Waitākere Arts does not accept responsibility for loss or damage whilst work is in transit or being exhibited.
The judge’s decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into. All work will be judged. Any work that does not meet exhibition standard will not be hung.
All work must be original and the sole work of the artist (thereby not subject to copyright infringement) and must NOT have been done in a class of instruction. All work entered must be signed by the artist. Direct copies of other artists’ work or copies of copy-righted photographic images will not be accepted. We will not accept wet, badly presented work and/or inappropriate content. All mixed media work needs to adhere to all copyright laws and not exceed 40% usage of unoriginal printed material. (i.e. Must be your own work)
Any hung work must not exceed 120cm or 3kgs, including the frame. Oversized or heavy work will not be accepted. 3D/Sculpture – if your work is heavy or fragile, please consult with the office prior to registration/submission of your entry.
Label Identification: Please attach a swing tag to the back of your artwork’s cord. The swing tag must include Artist’s Name; Phone no; Title of Work; Category; & Price and Medium used.
Work entered for this exhibition must remain on display for the full duration of the exhibition and CANNOT be picked up by the artist before the end of the Exhibition.
You will only be contacted prior to the exhibition if you have won a prize, though we encourage all participants to support their fellow artists and attend the opening evening and awards ceremony.
Collection of work is the responsibility of the artist. You may collect your work from Shed 2, from 4:30pm -6:30pm, Sunday 18 October or 10am – 1pm Monday 19 October.
NOTE: Failure to collect work will result in a $20 per day fee to cover moving and storage of the artwork, useless it’s an emergency and prior arrangements have been made with the Office Manager. Artwork will become the property of Waitākere Arts and be sold or donated to charity if not collected by 1 December 2026.
Waitākere Arts reserves the right to photograph and publish any entries in such media as they see fit, to promote these or subsequent art events, and will endeavour to take all necessary steps to protect your work from digital theft.