The tale of the Little Blue Penguins oiled in the Rena disaster will be retold through a pottery exhibition hosted by Creative Tauranga next month.

As part of Auckland sculptor Jill Guillemin's first solo exhibition the penguins will celebrate a return to the ocean following the grounding of the cargo ship on Astrolabe Reef and subsequent environmental disaster.

Sculptor Jill Guillemin with her hand crafted Blue Penguins as part of her return of the little blue penguin exhibition at Creative Tauranga next month.

The exhibition, from Saturday, February 9 to Tuesday, February 20, depicts the penguins' happy return to the ocean after the spill of more than 350 tonnes of oil into the ocean off the Western Bay of Plenty coast.

It features 31 hand crafted and limited edition, individually made penguins of all shapes and sizes.

Jill, who has been sculpting since 2000, says the Rena disaster had a big impact on her and she was persuaded by friend and fellow photographer Colin Lunt to create a realistic series of little blue penguins.

'Initially I was going to make penguins covered in oil. But rather than the sadness we decided to make it a happy return of the blue penguin.”

The penguins took six months to create and went through three, three day processes of firing in a kiln, one day at 1170 degrees and two days to cool down.

'The exhibition will make you think deeply and smile often.

'I'm just really hoping this will inspire people to perhaps become more involved in the environment.”

The Rena hit the Astrolabe Reef about 25km off the coast of Tauranga on October 5, 2011 spilling more than 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the ocean.

More than 300 Little Blue penguins were affected by the spill.