Artist in Residence:
Mick Haigh
Mick Haigh brings nearly three decades of experience to ceramics, and works from his base in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Raised among the plants of his family's garden business, Mick developed an early appreciation for the natural environment, an influence that permeates his art.
His career in pottery started in Hogsback and grew as he established his studio in Fort Nottingham. The Anagama kiln, now rebuilt in Rosetta, is located near the clay where landscape and materials combine to inspire his work.
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Experience our Artist in Residence:
Curación House, 9 Orphan Street, Cape Town
6 - 30 August 2026 (excl. Mondays and Sundays) from 10:00 - 17:00
Clay Gathering & Preperation
Mick hand-collects clay from a riverbank near his home in KwaZulu-Natal, valuing the physical connection to the land and preserving its natural texture, which he sees as essential to the clay’s identity.
Forming the Work
Mick forms each piece on a manual kick wheel, valuing its slower rhythm for control, and shapes vessels through wire cutting, hand-building, and intuitive distortion - guided by natural forces and a belief that form follows function, fun, and fire.
Firing in the Anagama Kiln
Mick fires his work in a wood-burning Anagama kiln, where flame, ash, and reduced oxygen create natural, unpredictable glazes; firings last up to 72 hours and are often repeated to build layers or refine each piece based on its unique response.
In Conversation With
“My approach is not cerebral, clay comes from the earth not a plastic bag. Wood comes from trees and time from the sun. All these raw elements speak for themselves , I connect the conversation. My approach is counter intuitive , what can this clay around me do ? , what temperature will it vitrify at ?, how thick does the vessel wall have to be to stand up to fire and how long will the fire heat take to vitrify the clay. So materials influence the making as much as my ideas about what to make.”
“Slowness and process intertwine through materials. Clay air dries at a its own rate based
on airflow and humidity and wood burns at the rate of oxygen supply. My practice is governed by how my materials behave , and how much I can modify them.
The sun and moon cycles happen independent of how busy we are. Our minds bend time.
Natural materials like clay and wood behave outside of time. My practice captures this time
recording the slow process of turning malleable clay born of eroded rock over millions of years
into hard enduring rock again. Bending time through material provenance.”
“Provenance is very powerful , connecting humans to source. Being rooted in familiar warmth of earth , the non challenging warmth of things made by hand for human comfort gives a sense of I am part of this pace , not a superior observer but part of this living world which I effect and which effects me. Connection.”
“Human living / leisure environment can only be as good as the evolved thought put into its creation. I create pieces which I feel are not available. I have thought about how I can supply vessels , art works , pieces to enhance living spaces and quality of life. I feel much goes into the building and designing of structures , and not enough attention goes into how they feel because of what we put in them and how we use them. What we choose to live with. After decades of designing and making table top ceramics , I am now using my clay knowledge and skill to explore vessels as art pieces as feelings of expression. I strongly feel the living / workspace edit is long overdue. The values we have in common lies in the quality of feeling and expression, no more average to get the job done.”
Kiln IV collection
