Rick Rudd: creating New Zealand's only museum devoted to the ceramic arts

Rudd has lived at the Quartz Museum of Studio Ceramics - Aotearoa’s only museum devoted to the ceramic arts and the largest ceramics display in this country - ever since.

The museum was born from Rudd’s concern that there was nowhere where you could see the history of New Zealand ceramics - at a time when there has been a huge revival of interest in the art form.

The two-storey premises near Whanganui River and Moutoa Gardens is full to the brim with hundreds of pieces in thoughtful displays.

It features both permanent displays of significant artists' work and numerous temporary exhibitions. The entire collection is well over 4000 pieces.

Quartz brings together Rudd's own sizable collection with those of other artists and collectors to tell the diverse story of our work in clay.

A man with a strong eye for design, the building formerly known as Moutoa Chambers, took Rudd's attention because of its brutalist architecture. The recipient of a New Zealand Institute of Architects design award, unusually it was built in two stages, the ground floor in 1964 and the first floor added in 1978.

Perfectly for a museum, each of its small rooms is filled with light, as it was designed for engineers and valuers requiring natural light for architectural drawing.

One of the initiatives Rudd is most proud of is the Rick Rudd Foundation's Emerging Practitioner in Clay Awards. Now in its third year, the winner receives $15,000 and the finalists are exhibited at the Quartz Museum.

It's Rudd's way of giving back to a new generation - recognising how life-changing it was for him to win the Fletcher Brownbuilt Pottery Award back in 1978.

He went on to become one of our most significant studio potters, and hundreds of diverse examples of his work are on display at the museum.

Entries close for this year's Emerging Practitioner in Clay award on 30 June with information available on the Quartz website.