In 1968, he joined the New Zealand Army and was posted to Vietnam during the war from 1970 until 1972.
"When I came out of the army, I joined the prison service because I really liked the disciplined life but that was when I first developed my interest in working with clay.
"I was doing recreational work with inmates and it was hard to get them to engage.
"I was doing woodwork but there was always that feeling that if you turned your back someone might stab you with a chisel.
"I started going to night classes and learning to work with clay and then I would teach the inmates what I had learned the night before."
Taepa says there is something about working with clay that softens people and helps them relax.
His enjoyment of the medium led him to Whitireia Polytechnic in Porirua where he received encouragement from American artist and teacher Ann Filburn and completed the four-year course for the New Zealand Certificate of Craft Design.
He has taught art and design at Whitireia and other schools and faced a number of redundancies when there have been cuts to arts funding.
He is working with Te Kiko Charitable Trust as a role model for young Maori, travelling to schools around the region and teaching with clay.
He is a finalist in the sculpture competition being run by the Bason Botanic Gardens Trust and plans to travel north to learn about using glazes.
"I have never used glazes before because I have always liked natural, earthy tones but I look at the iridescence of the tui's feathers and I would love to replicate those colours.
"I have been experimenting with spray paint effects, and I took some pieces to a guy who does custom paint work on cars.
"I was happy with it but they weren't the subtle colours I was going for."
Taepa is a member of Nga Kaihanga Uku, a group of Maori clayworkers founded in 1987.
"I wasn't sure about having to abide by the tikanga aspect of being Maori and working with clay as I thought it might constrain my work.
"What I have realised is that tikanga is really about having respect for the material you are working with and I have no problem with that.
"The designs on my work look like Maori designs but they are usually inspired by things I see around me like tyre tracks and other patterns."
Taepa and his partner, painter Liz McLeod-Taepa, live with their two dogs at the Quaker village settlement in Wanganui.
Their two-storey dwelling has plenty of light and studio space now that Liz's children have grown up and moved out.
Taepa has three grown sons, two of whom are award-winning artists and teachers and the other son is a book binder.
He has 11 grandchildren and is stepfather to Liz's five children. What advice does he have for his mokopuna and the children at the schools he visits?
"Walk softly, be precise and find good teachers," he says.
