Masina Creative

'Mamanu'

{pattern; motifs; by hand}

For the culture.

Amanda Stowers, Queer Sāmoan ceramic artist

Talofa lava

Fa'afetai tele lava for visiting. I am Amanda Stowers, the Sāmoan artist behind Masina Creative, based in Pito-one, Aotearoa.

My mahi is made with the intention to build deeper understanding, appreciation and visible representation for my culture.

My Nana comes from the village of Talimatau on the island of Upolu, and my Grandpa comes from the village of Saipipi on the island of Savai'i. Together they followed their dreams across the South Pacific, settling in Aotearoa and raising a family.

I grew up in the diaspora with very little representation of my culture, and spent most of my life feeling isolated as the only person like me in every space I entered.

My driving force is representation: to use my skills to be the person I needed when I was younger, and to help others like me feel seen, represented, understood and appreciated.

Amanda Stowers at work in the studio

At the wheel

Everything I make is unique and made with alofa.

Made by hand

My Mahi

I work mostly with clay, creating handmade pieces that are hand carved with motifs inspired by tatau and siapo.

Throw. Carve. Fire. Glaze. Fire.

Siapo

I also create Siapo, traditional Sāmoan bark cloth, soaked and beaten by hand, adorned with both mamanu and 'elei patterns.
I'm passionate about exploring how the two mediums of clay and siapo can be used together to create unique mahi.

Mamanu

Earlier hand-carved ceramic work

The Mana of my ancestors pour from my hands, through my tools and into the clay as I work on each piece. Everything I make is unique and made with alofa.

Get yours

Stockists

Where to purchase my mahi.

Aotearoa New Zealand

Australia

Exhibitions

Out in the world

Where my mahi has shown and been collected: in galleries, in museums, and in the spaces we share.

BACA — Contemporary Native Art Biennial

To Move Across the Land

Montréal · June 2026

My work travels to Montréal for BACA, the Contemporary Native Art Biennial, showing Sina me le Tuna, a hand-sculpted stoneware eel telling the Fāgogo o Sāmoa of the first coconut tree, and Ipu Popo, wheel-thrown coconut cups fired 100 hours in an Anagama wood kiln.

This is the first year BACA has included indigenous artists from across the globe. I am one of only two Sāmoan artists invited to participate. Our stories belong on this stage.

Opening June 2026

Tapa Moana Nui — Te kōputu Gallery, Fibre gallery

A collective showing

A collective showing · Whakatāne 2025 · Ōtautahi - Christchurch 2026

My mahi showed alongside tapa from across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. The same motifs, different materials, the same kaupapa.

Material Diplomacy — Te Whare Hēra

Material Diplomacy

Te Whanganui-a-Tara - Wellington · 2026

I showed Sina me le Tuna and Ipu Popo as part of Material Diplomacy: From Abya Yala to Aotearoa at Te Whare Hēra, Wellington. The work sat in an altar alongside Māori and Nahua-Mestize artists, tracing what survives when ceremony and practice are suppressed. The same pieces are now travelling to BACA.

Metita — Sky City

Metita

Tāmaki Makaurau - Auckland · 2024

This installation sits inside the private dining room in Metita Restaurant in Sky City Auckland. I carved the installation for Metita completely freehand. Every motif chosen for what it carries — identity, lineage, the people a space is built to honour. Large-scale work like this asks everything of you. The mana of my ancestors pours through my hands, through my tools, into the clay. Every line of it deliberate.

The space won the 2024 Architecture NZ Interior Design Award for Hospitality and was shortlisted at the 2024 Restaurant and Bar Design Awards. Featured in Architecture NZ, July 2024.

Te Toi Uku — Clayworks Crown Lynn Museum

Tali Mālo Selection

Tāmaki Makaurau - Auckland · Permanent display · 2024

The Tali Mālo Selection was made for Te Pou Theatre's production of The Handlers — wheel-thrown forms carved with siapo and tatau motifs. A Pasifika hand reaching into the history Crown Lynn built and placing something of ours inside it.

Moana Fresh — Kū Kahiko Gallery

Fa'asinomaga

Tāmaki Makaurau - Auckland · 2023

Fa'asinomaga is a show about identity. Where you come from and who you carry. This show represents intergenerational connection made physical in clay. My first solo show made with support from CreativeNZ.

And also

  • Emerging Practitioner in Clay Awards Finalist — exhibition 24 Sept 2024–30 March 2025. Quartz Museum of Studio Ceramics, Whanganui.
    2024
  • Hautere kiln build team Te Horo — salt and soda brick kiln, Mirek Smisek Trust
    2023

Contact

Let's talanoa

I run Tapa mono-printing workshops, exploring underglaze printing onto ceramic using beaten tapa. Alongside that, I work regularly with Homeground Pōneke, Ora Toa Health Services, Te Toi Uku and Wellington Museums on community kaupapa.

Keen to stock my mahi, talk commissions, or join a workshop? Reach out.

Fa'afetai tele lava.