Tūāhuatanga o te wā/ Moments in Time – JACK CATHRO & FIONA NEWTON
Tūāhuatanga o te wā / Moments in Time – Becroft Gallery
August 8th – August 27th, 2026 – A Members Merit Award Winners Exhibition
Opening Celebration Sunday 9th August 4pm – 6pm – With Special Performances and a special presentation from Linda Gair
Tūāhuatanga o te wā / Moments in Time is a materially ambitious show of over 70 sculptures, objects, and vessels. Examining the tangible, tactile relationship, Newton and Cathro share with the natural world as they move through it as artists; this exhibition traces how that experience is translated through their mahi.
The work presented represents an amalgamation, a collection, a dispersion, a chapter, the pause at the bottom of an exhale before the next intake of air. A homage to where these artists are, and a prelude to where they intend to move. An appreciation for the moments that shape practices, the assembly and the care, the moving on from work and into new projects. It speaks to honour what is gathered and tending to it when creative chapters close caring for our materials as kaitiakitanga throughout the creative process.
JACK CATHRO
Jack cathro is a Potter and visual artist working in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Based in Titirangi on the fringe of the Waitākere Ranges, his work is greatly connected to this space. Drawing inspiration from nature he seeks to incorporate wild clay and found materials into his practice and to create work that has both form and function.
“Being a potter, I deeply enjoy creating work that will be used. I am keenly interested how we form connections with objects and how the ritual of interacting with objects affects both our lives and our habits. It is always my hope that my work can find its way into someone’s most intimate daily routines.
When I was approached with the opportunity for this exhibition it came at an interesting time for me. I had just finalised my plans to travel to Japan and to spend an extended period working in a pottery in the town of Bizen.
I knew that the dates of the show and this trip would straddle one another quite closely in a practical and organisational sense, But I found that this trip also began to influence me in a creative sense.
As time went on, I wanted to create a body of work that could bookend a moment in time.
I have been making work in this medium for a relatively short amount of time. And while I have managed to learn a lot in this time I have done so by taking wide steps from inspiration to inspiration
I felt that as I have progressed over the years, many of my ideas and inspirations have compressed and refined into the development of a style. This has been happening organically in the background of my practice and is by no means complete but looking back I can clearly see that progression at this stage in my work.
It is my hope that in making work for this show I wanted to look back that these inspirations and to reexamine some of these ideas before closing the door on a creative chapter and starting a new one. as I take my next steps and travel to the Japan that I will see my work morph and change in a new direction and that this exhibition might be a line that marks that change for me as an artist”
FIONA NEWTON
Iwi – Te Aitanga a Hauti, Ngati Oneone, Ngati Konohi
“I started my own practice designing garden art from 2002. Gathering coastal marine waste’s sea glass, Anga-shells, making stepping stones- wall features-mosaicing urns, planters. Selling my work in gift shops gallery shops and a garden design store in Ponsonby.
In 2017, I decided to do an art diploma three years at Hungry Creek Art and craft school. Having a taste of all art practices- Jewellry design, ceramic’s, painting, sculpture, drawing, art history. Having the chance to explore and experiment with design and form. Pushing boundary’s which had put my art making in a new direction in school . Continuing my art practice and sculpture and garden art today. I’ve also been in involved in the gallery space in a volunteering role. My highlight of my art career and making is selling sculpture to Sir James Wallace in 2023 for his vast art collection at Toi Tu Ponsonby. I whakapapa Maori – Ngati Porou – Ngati Konohi – Ngati Oneone – Te Aitanga a Hauiti – Celtic
I believe my creativity is intwined with my cultural blood line, I am a sustainable artist of 25 my ethos to my making is repurposing – harvesting giving objects a voice, a new life, an expression.”
Awards
Hibiscus and Bays Art awards 2019 – 1st place ceramics
Waitakere art awards 2023 – 2nd place in sculpture
Kumeu art awards 2024 – 2nd place in sculpture
Lakehouse Gallery, Zero Waste Hub, Sustainable award – 2nd place highly commended 2025 LAKE HOUSE GALLERY – MERIT AWARD RUNNER UP 2025
2026 Finalist Estuary and Ecology Awards – Sculpture
