Clearly Indigenous Audio Exhibition
Ngā Tuna Heke (Migrating Eels)
Ngā Tuna Heke (Migrating Eels), 2018, Priscilla Cowie (New Zealander, Māori, b. 1974), H. 8 in. (20.3 cm), Diam. 4 in. (10.2 cm), blown glass, Tacoma Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington L10.2023:51
Verbal Description
Hello, I’m Emily Holtrop, the museum’s director of learning and interpretation. I will be sharing a description of Ngā Tuna Heke (Migrating Eels) by Priscilla Cowie in Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass.
Priscilla Cowie, born in 1974, is Māori. She created Ngā Tuna Heke (Migrating Eels) in 2018 from blown glass. It is in the collection of the Tacoma Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington.
Ngā Tuna Heke (Migrating Eels) is a three-dimensional vessel crafted from blown glass. It is displayed in a wall case with three other artworks and positioned on the left end of the case. This tall and slim cylindrical form measures eight inches tall, with a diameter of four inches, or 20.3 centimeters tall, with a diameter of 10.2 centimeters. Cowie has crafted this object from shiny black glass, only slightly transparent around the rim. The white, curving, and undulating shapes encircling the entirety of the structure likely represent the migrating eels in the work’s title.