Colleen Elizabeth Waata-Urlich was a New Zealand ceramicist. Of Māori descent, she belonged to Te Popoto o Ngāpuhi ki Kaipara and Te Rarawa. Through education, involvement in Māori art collectives and production of exhibited work, Urlich was dedicated to the development of Māori art.
Education
Urlich worked as a trained teacher and later returned to study. She gained a Master of Fine Arts with honours from the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Applied Arts. Urlich conducted research on the influence of Lapita pottery patterns within the Pacific. This research was the basis of her Master of Fine Arts with a subsequent paper published in Pacific Archaeology: Assessments and Prospects. This research also influenced Urlich's clay work, which is based on customary knowledge and often acknowledges Pacific genealogy and female Māori deities.
Artist collectives
was founded in 1986 in order to support Māori Clay workers. Urlich was a founding member of Ngā Kaihanga Uku, alongside Paerau Corneal, Baye Riddell, Manos Nathan and Wi Taepa. She was a committee member for Te Atinga, a platform that supports contemporary Māori artists that operates under Toi Māori. She was also a member of Kauwae, a group of Māori women artists that formed in 1997. Urlich was a member of Ngā Puna Waihanga, a collective of New Zealand Māori Artists and Writers that formed in 1973. For the exhibition Kohia Ko Taikaka Anake, which was developed in collaboration with Ngā Puna Waihanga, The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Te Waka Toi, Urlich was the regional organiser for Te Tai Tokerau. In January 2015, Urlich, along with seven other artists with links to Te Tai Tokerau, travelled to Yeppoon, Queensland, to work for 12 days with a group of Aboriginal artists.
Urlich died in Dargaville on 10 September 2015, less than a week after fellow Northland Māori potter Manos Nathan.
Selected Exhibitions
2013-5 Uku Rere Ngā Kaihanaga Uku. Pataka Art + Museum, Whangarei Art Museum: Te Manawa Toi, The Suter Art Gallery: Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Waikato Museum: Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, Tairawhiti Museum: Te Whare Taonga o te Tairawhiti, and Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science + History, Palmerston North.
2011 MAORI ART MARKet Porirua
2009 Kauwae 09 Kauwae Group, a national collective of Mäori women artists. Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne.
1999 Fusion: Tradition and Discovery, Vancouver, Canada.
1998 Kauwae Gisborne Museum and Arts, Gisborne
1997-8 Haka, London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Great Britain.
1997 Te Atinga Bath, England.
1995 Mana Wahine Tucson, United States.
Publications
Urlich, C.E. Waata. 2003. A new perspective: new blooms from ancient seeds, pp. 387–392 in C. Sand Pacific Archaeology: assessments and prospects. Vol 15.
Urlich, Colleen Waata. & Hakaraia, Libby. 2008 Te Kāhui o Matariki. Raupo, North Shore City.
