Paerau Corneal


Paerau Corneal is a New Zealand ceramicist of Tūwharetoa and Te Āti Haunui-a-Paparangi descent.

Education

Corneal holds a Certificate in Craft Design 1988 and a Diploma in Craft Design Māori 1991 from Waiariki Institute of Technology.

Career

Corneal has exhibited both internationally and nationally since 1988. A consistent theme in her work is Māori female empowerment. From 2013 Corneal has been collaborating with contemporary Māori dancer Louise Potiki-Bryant. Their performance work entitled Kiri references a creation narrative of the first Māori human, Hineahuone and opened for the 2014 Tempo Dance Festival in Auckland.
Throughout her career, Corneal has been involved in varying artist collectives. She was a founding member, alongside Manos Nathan, Baye Riddell, Wi Taepa and Colleen Waata Urlich of Ngā Kaihanga Uku, a collective of Māori Clay workers.
Corneal was also involved with Kauwae, a collective of Māori women artists formed in 1997; Te Rōpū o Ngā Wāhine Kai Whakairo, a collective of Māori women carvers and Haeata Women’s Collective.

Selected exhibitions

Corneal's work is held in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.