About Kay
Kay with Basil + Bertie
I’ve lived in Havelock North since 1999 when I moved to Hawke’s Bay with my husband but sadly, he died shortly after our move. It was a difficult few years that lead me to fill my life with creativity.
Today my work life is creating ceramic figures and painting in acrylics on canvas. I have a practice in both mediums which provides a beautiful interactive balance.
From a potting shed to a studio
“Stable companions”, by Philip E. Stretton 1909
“Stable companions”, by Philip E. Stretton 1909, was handed down through the family and it was the sale of this painting that helped with the convertion of the old potting shed in my garden into my studio.
By working many, many hours here I became a ceramic artist, joined more recently by a practice in painting with acrylic paint on canvas.
I’m very grateful for this legacy.
Kay welcomes visitors to her studio by appointment & opens up her studio during the annual Hawke’s Bay Art Trail.
Making figures in clay has been my constant preoccupation for two decades. I like to create natural-looking forms that convey the emotion and life experiences common to all humanity.
Therefore, it is very relatable; readable in the body language and facial expressions and therefore very moving.
Years ago, I began my art practice as a painter for pleasure, when my busy life permitted a little solitary time. I only returned to painting on canvas in 2023, picking up the brush again when I enrolled as a student at the Toimairangi School of Contemporary Māori Art.
As a non-Māori New Zealander this has been a privilege and a joy to become immersed in the view of life from a Māori cultural perspective..
My course work is therefore informed by deep research into Māori history and stories, and this has been incredibly insightful and rewarding.
My twenty years as a sculptural artist working in clay underpins my painting practice and these aspects are revealed in my new paintings (see galleries).
Exhibition History
Solo Exhibitions
2018 (May-June) - Hastings City Art Gallery | ‘Waiting for life to begin’ | Installation of Twelve standing figures 50+cm tall, Hastings
Selected Finalist in Group Exhibitions
2024 - Richard T. Nelson Awards for Sculpture | Matariki | selected finalist, Wellington
2023 - Richard T. Nelson Awards for Sculpture | We are all in this together | selected finalist, Wellington
2023 - UKU Clay Hawke’s Bay Awards | selected finalist, Hastings
2022 - UKU Clay Hawke’s Bay Awards | Hastings Community Arts Centre | ‘More than I know’ | selected finalist, Hastings
2022 - Richard T. Nelson Awards for Sculpture | ‘Archeus’ and ‘Françoise’ | selected finalist, Wellington
2021 - Hawke’s Bay Art Review | Creative Arts Napier | ‘Seeking Truth’ | selected finalist, Napier.
2021 - ‘Pania, 70 years on’ | Creative Arts Napier | By invitation 10 artists created likenesses of Pania sculpture’s original model, Mei Whaitiri (now in her mid-80s), Napier
2021 - NZ Small Sculpture Prize | Waiheke Community Art Gallery | Finalist, Waiheke Island
2020 - ‘EAST 2020’ | ‘Novel Coronavirus Lifestyle’ installation, at Hastings City Art Gallery, a selected exhibition, Hastings
2020 - UKU Hawke’s Bay Ceramic Awards | Hastings Community Arts Centre | a selected exhibition, Hastings
2020 - Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition | ‘Earthling’ series (six 50cm tall ceramic figures). Selected artist, Hastings
2019 — 2020 - ‘Earth Wind and Fire’ | Muse Gallery, featured artist, Havelock North
2019 - ‘It’s a Long, Long Road’ | Arts Inc Heretaunga Gallery (installation of 11 figures), Hastings
2018 - UKU Hawke’s Bay Ceramic Awards | Hastings Community Arts Centre | a selected exhibition, Hastings
2018 - Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition | a selected artist, Hastings
2016 (February) - ‘The Fashionista Collection’, at Art + Enterprise Napier (now Tennyson Gallery) as featured artist, Napier
2016 - Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition | a selected artist, Hastings
2016 - Portage Ceramics Award | Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery | Finalist, Auckland
2015 - NZ Small Sculpture Prize | Waiheke Community Art Gallery | Finalist, Waiheke Island
2014 - Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition | a selected artist, Hastings
2014 - Waiclay National Ceramics Award | Finalist, Waikato
2014 - Wildflower Sculpture Exhibition | a selected artist, Hastings
Arts Education
Eastern Insitute of Technology
Kay Bazzard welcomes requests to exhibit
The Herbalist
“This was the first piece we purchased from Kay.
I fell in love with this sculpture and have called her, 'The Herbalist". I'm sure anyone who loves spending time in their garden or out in Nature lost in contemplation, will relate to her pose.
Thinking, dreaming, planning. Beautiful."
Georgina Langdale
Claude
"Claude saw me before I saw him. He was quietly watching me from his position in the corner of the studio.Once we made eye contact there followed a frank appraisal and mutual acknowledgement of presence. He is a strong, silent type, sharp and focussed. He is the strong man in the room. His presence demands attention and acknowledgement. Then he remains interested and engaged. I quite often find myself sharing my thoughts with him and he provides a quiet comfort just being there."
“I think he’s a good man”
Martin Fine