Chris was born in Te Awamutu in 1956.

His fascination with clay was triggered by clay from the family property in Nelson. His father was making steps in a bank and Chris made his first pots from the freshly exposed clay.

From 1973 to 1976 he attended Otago Polytechnic, first completing a Diploma in Fine and Applied Arts and then a Certificate in Ceramics.

In 1977 he established a studio at Kaniere near Hokitika on the west coast of the South Island. He has taught workshops around Aotearoa New Zealand and was a tutor at Tai Poutini, West Coast Polytechnic (1985 to 1989), and Otago polytechnic (2003 to 2004).

Chris has exhibited widely throughout Aotearoa and in: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and USA. He has won numerous national awards, has received grants, and is represented in public collections around Aotearoa.

His work is thrown and sensitively altered: distorted, squared, squeezed, squashed, slashed, and/or sliced. They often have the addition of shaped wood attachments or handles, either solid or laminated which he creates himself. A major survey of Chris’s work, curated by Richard Fahey was exhibited at

Objectspace, Tamaki Makaurau Auckland in 2023.

Rick Rudd
2025