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Len Castle
2003 Icon

Potter

Len was born in Auckland in 1924. He trained as a secondary schoolteacher and started making pottery in 1947. Initially self-taught, he was the first potter to be awarded a fellowship from the Association of New Zealand Art Societies, travelling to St Ives to work with Bernard Leach in 1956-7. In 1963 Len gave up lecturing science at Auckland Teachers' College to become a full-time potter. He was a founding member of the New Zealand Society of Potters in 1963 and has been a regular exhibitor in the annual New Zealand Studio Potters Exhibitions, which started in 1967.

An essential part of Len's career has been his overseas exposure. In 1966-7 he studied in Japan and visited potters in Korea and China, returning there in 1974 as a member of a cultural delegation sponsored by the New Zealand Department of Foreign Affairs. In 1991 he was one of twelve New Zealand ceramicists invited to represent New Zealand at the World Expo in Seville, Spain.

With his scientific background, Len has always been curious about the natural world and interested in extending his knowledge and understanding of it. He enjoys constant exploration, an attitude that has opened the paths of creative production for him. He usually starts with a distinct idea for what he wants to achieve in a new project and-after 56 years of potting experience-is extremely adept at translating this idea into the finished product. Of course the results do not always match the artistic vision that inspired them, but after a lifetime dedicated to potting, they are generally pleasing, as he modestly acknowledges: "I'm at my peak. I used to say, I can't often hit the nail on the head-;now I can say, I hit the nail on the head more often."

Len received a CBE for Services to Pottery in 1986, a New Zealand Commemorative Medal in 1990 and received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland in 2004.