Andy Waugh

“Sculpting the many varieties of local Kōhatu/Riverstone that Nelson is well known for, I have been carving for over 40 years in timber, stone and bone. I predominantly use river stone. I have had a lifelong passion for Maori and Pacifica art forms and our unique New Zealand environment. This blend is prevalent in my contemporary sculptural work”.

I have had the privilege of working alongside well respected Tohunga Whakairo.

All of the stone I use is hand sourced locally, their shape refined by thousands of years of movement through mountains, valleys and rivers, gifted by Papatūānuku and Tangaroa. I choose and remove each stone with the utmost respect and always offer a Karakia as thanks.

I am truly in my happy place in my local environment, fossicking in the rivers and mountains finding ancient and unique objects of nature. It is a privilege to reveal the beauty within each Kōhatu and create a sculpture retaining the mauri of the stone”.

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