Richard Parker

Richard John Parker (born Nelson, 1946) is a New Zealand potter who has been based in Kaeo for most of his career.

Education and teaching career

Parker attended Nelson College from 1960 to 1964, and graduated from Christchurch Teachers Training College with a diploma in primary school teaching in 1966. Between 1967 and 1973 he taught at a number of schools around New Zealand.

In 1973 Parker attended a workshop run by potter Yvonne Rust in Northland, which prompted his decision to become a full-time potter. Through the rest of the 1970s he worked in Northland, producing domestic ware, until making the decision to focus solely on art pottery in 1979.

He works in grogged terracotta covered with a local white slip. His techniques include coiling, cutting, press moulding, throwing and slab building, and he uses a lead glaze for brightness and iron and copper pigments.

In 1987 Parker received a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant to be artist in residence at The Quarry arts centre in Whangarei, where he worked alongside artist Shona Rapira Davies.

Collections

Parker's work is held in collections throughout New Zealand and Australia, including The Dowse Art Museum, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the Otago Museum, the Suter Art Gallery in Nelson, the Whangarei Art Museum and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

Further sources Louise Guerin, Richard Parker, New Zealand Crafts 21, Winter 1987