Astonishing adaptations of natural forms

Len Castle: Mountain to the Sea, ceramics, poetry and photographs, Suter Gallery until February 7. Reviewed by Peter Gibbs.

Len Castle is a perfectionist with many passions. The scope and scale of his ceramic works is astonishing, conjuring images of volcanic landscapes, boiling mud pools, fossils and marine growths.

But it's when you see his brilliant photographs of the sources of his inspiration that you begin to realise how thoughtfully he's adapted the techniques and science of the potter to recreate the textures and forms of nature.

Castle has always been a thoughtful observer. Trained in science, he has an uncanny ability to take the mental leap from observed detail in nature to its recreation as a ceramic form.

The most obvious examples are in the depths of the brilliant turquoise bowls, such as Alkaline Spring, which match the colour of the Tongariro Emerald Lake, or maybe the dry textured yellow of Geothermal Sulphur Bowl, 2008, matching the colours of the Primrose Terrace at Waiotapu in Rotorua.

Stepping more into the abstract are the two imposing Inverted Volcanoes,with their striking form and red-hot interiors.

Yet some of the quieter works – the fossil and sea forms – are astonishing in the way Castle's deft handling of the clay has produced forms that spring straight from nature.

If the enlarged photographs give literal clues to Castle's inspiration, a collection of poetry that accompanies the exhibition provides a spiritual accompaniment. I didn't feel these worked as well, possibly because the poets were responding to Castle's ceramic works rather than, as he was, to the direct inspiration of nature.

The overwhelming impression is of the inspiration and skill that an 85-year-old man has gathered over a lifetime of working with clay, distilled into this collection, all made in the last few years with the vigour and power of a man in the prime of his life.

Len Castle is astonishing, and so is his exhibition.

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