My name is Madison North Cowper.
I am a Filipina-American Kiwi ceramic artist from a small, rural settlement in New Zealand called Waiuku, which means ‘clay water’ in Te Reo Māori. Art-making for me is very much about taking the Earth and playing, transforming it, breaking it down and choosing what deserves to become permanent.

I am 27 years old, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Whitecliffe College of Art and Design 6 years ago in 2020. I have spent most of the past decade travelling to, teaching and making art in various countries such as Spain, Poland, Hawai’i, Taiwan and across the United States.

Making art, for me, is like a trip to a foreign land. I am ignited in discovering the unexpected moments that come out from the kiln that I could never have imagined in my mind. The majority of the time, I am interested in building a world, and I lavish in choosing how things interact with one another in my artificial ecosystems. I like being able to choose what stays, what goes, while ultimately, time and time again, being at the mercy of natural forces, fire and Earth, in one ongoing conversation that speaks through form, raw material and colour.

Clay, for me, fosters respect for our Earth. It is a material that requires close attention. If you disregard it, leave it too long or rush it, it may crack and come apart. You need to spend time caring for the clay, the Earth, to properly use its inner workings.

Recent exhibitions include Soft Landing (Kaiao Space, Honolulu, 2024), Brickell-Brac (Whangārei Art Museum, 2022), and Emerging Artists Exhibition (Sanderson Contemporary, 2021).