James Greig

James Greig (1936–1986) was a New Zealand potter.

Early life and education Greig was born in Stratford, New Zealand in 1936. He studied at Wellington Technical College and went on to Auckland University to study architecture. There he met fellow architecture student Rhondda Greig, whom he married in 1962.

Career An encounter with the work of potter Len Castle encouraged Greig to take up pottery, and he attended Castle's evening classes for three years before moving to the Northland Region in 1961 to set up a pottery studio.

Greig was made a Cultural Ambassador by the New Zealand Government in 1986. In 1986 he exhibited over 200 pieces of his work in the Tachikichi Department store in Kyoto. The day of the exhibition, Greig suffered a heart attack and died in his hotel room. Greig received many invitations to fly around the country, many of which he accepted while also focusing on his ceramics career. He has exhibited with The Group and the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

Further information Kimitoshi Sato, Beyond East and West: Potter Jim Greig seen from the perspective of Japanese colleague Kimitoshi Sato, New Zealand Crafts no. 24, Winter 1988 Michael Volkerling, Jim Greig, New Zealand Crafts no. 19, Summer 1986. Combining culture and landscapes, interview with Defying Gravity exhibition curator Sian van Dyk, Upbeat programme, Radio New Zealand, 21 December 2016 Mark Amery,Review of Defying Gravity, The Big Idea, 17 January 2017 Artist website