Keeper of the treasure

An art teacher who quit the classroom to become a potter is the 2010 Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year.

Nigel Ogle was "preparing for another day at the office" at his Tawhiti Museum near Normanby yesterday morning when told he'd won the award.

"That's crazy," was his first reaction. "Wow, what a surprise. We opened Traders and Whalers in March and now this. It has been an amazing year really."

He acknowledged the deeds of the four other finalists, former New Plymouth mayor Peter Tennent, St John stalwart Jack Chivers, Taranaki rugby coach Colin Cooper and White Ferns captain Aimee Mason.

"I'm an admirer, particularly of Peter Tennent who has been an inspiration. So has [former South Taranaki mayor] Mary Bourke, and I have learnt a lot from both of them."

The support of his family was key to the success of the museum.

"If I make something I always get [wife] Teresa to have a look. Jeremy is the deputy of Highlands Intermediate so there is education input there, while the girls, Jenni and Paula, have had vital parts to play."

He reflects on the day he left teaching at Hawera High School in 1988 and headed to his farmlet a few kilometres away.

"I couldn't have picked a worse time to become a full-time potter," he said. "It was right when the Chinese imports started to hit the country. There were big garden planters everywhere all of a sudden.

"New Zealand had a very vibrant potting industry at the time. They were all over the place, up valleys, living in tree huts in the bush. There were some very skilful people but so few survived because of those imports. It was tragic."

But it only served to harden the Ogle resolve.

"I suppose we can thank the Chinese for Tawhiti," he said with a smile. "I turned to niche pottery, stuff they wouldn't do, and set about getting the museum started."

The pinnacle came this year with the opening of the Traders and Whalers exhibition in March.

It was his most elaborate project and was four years in the making after gaining backing from the South Taranaki District Council.

"The council was courageous in taking it on. It raised a few eyebrows as there was quite a bit of money involved and a private-public partnership hadn't been tested before. It just would not have happened without them."

You can sense the pride when he talks about any of his work. The intricacy is obvious in the 800 unique figurines that make up the 1820s Musket Wars display, which opened four years ago.

"I actually made 1000 but took 200 out because it was too cluttered with all the dogs and pigs and horses."

The exacting detail of the landscape and flora is a hallmark. The late New Zealand historian, Michael King, marvelled at it.

"A friend of mine, Buster (Maurice) Walden, brought Michael here a few years ago. It was a few weeks before he was killed in a car accident. He just stood in front of it and didn't say anything for about two or three minutes. I was a bit worried but he finally turned to me and said: `This is what I'd hoped we would see when Te Papa opened'."

Nigel Ogle was humbled by that.

"I couldn't have asked for a better compliment. I had great respect for Michael."

Mary Bourke champions the Tawhiti Museum.

"It's a sort of a hidden treasure but that's part of the reason that makes it so good," she says.

"If this was somewhere else in the world, like Britain or the US, you would have to line up for hours then fight for your space. It is great to see the museum utilised to the point where they have gone underground with this latest work."

PETER BINGHAM - Taranaki Daily News
Last updated 05:00 01/01/2011


AWARD WINNER: Nigel Ogle with his trophy after being named the 2010 Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year.
CAMERON BURNELL/Taranaki Daily News
AWARD WINNER: Nigel Ogle with his trophy after being named the 2010 Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year.