Dorothy Waetford
Biography
Dorothy Waetford
Born 1967 (Ngātiwai · Ngāti Hine · Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu)
Waetford is a Māori uku (clay) artist whose work draws deeply on whakapapa, place, and whenua. Her early years as a dancer — performing with groups such as Te Kanikani o Te Rangatahi and Taiao Māori Dance Theatre — cultivated a fluency in movement and rhythm, qualities that continue to inform her sculptural practice today.
Waetford’s path to clay began through applied arts training and engagement with collective networks such as Ngā Kaihanga Uku (the Māori Clayworkers Collective) and Te Ātinga Contemporary Māori Visual Arts. Her sculptural works reference Māori oral and visual traditions, embedding cultural narrative, te reo and the spirit of place into form, texture and space.
Living and creating in coastal northland, Waetford draws inspiration from the natural rhythms of her environment: the ocean, the land, the light, and the shifting patterns of water and sand. These elements often influence the form, surface texture, and conceptual grounding of her work — creating pieces that feel both grounded in whenua and alive with ancestral memory.