Artist Stevei Houkamau originally planned to study Ta Moko before she was seduced by the feeling of clay in her hands and her ability to carve into it. It was 2011 when she met members of the Nga Kaihanga Uku - the Maori Clayworkers Collective. They included the late Manos Nathan, Baye Riddel and the artist who would become her Tuakana or teacher, Wi Taepa. Stevei's gone on to establish her own distinctive style of uku carving, referencing whakapapa, customary vessels and tattoo practices of Ta moko and Tatau. She's just opened her first solo exhibition - Ira Tangata Ira Atua - in the South Island/Te Waipounamu at Nelson's Suter Gallery. Stevei tells Lynn Freeman that her first encounter with the Collective uku artists got off to a shaky start.