Whakairo

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A craver in a blue jacket carving a traditional Māori wood carving
Carver working at Te Wānanga Whakairo of the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in 1982
Pouwhenua carved by Eruera Te Whiti Nia and dedicated to the Māori Battalion (1996)
Carved doorway in the porch of Rauru, a wharenui (meetinghouse)

Toi whakairo (art carving) or just whakairo (carving) is a Māori traditional art of carving in wood, stone or bone.[1]

History

Timber was formed into houses, fencepoles, pouwhenua, containers, taiaha, tool handles and waka (canoe). Carving tools were made from stone, preferably the very hard pounamu (greenstone). Bone was used for fish hooks and needles amongst other things. Designs on carvings depict tribal ancestors, and are often important for establishing iwi and hapu identity.[2]

After European contact, many traditionally carved items were no longer widely produced in favour of using Western counterparts, such as

waka taua (war canoes), however this declined during the 1860s when waka taua were superseded by whaleboats or small European style sailing ships.[2] During the decline, carvers focused instead on carved marae, objects such as tokotoko, or carved aspects of buildings such as churches.[4][2] Most traditions that survived this period into the late 1800s were centred around communal whakairo schools, mostly located around Rotorua, Te Urewera, the Whanganui River and the East Coast.[2] Carving schools balanced producing art for their own people with commercial works, with many of the most successful being Te Arawa (Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Tarāwhai), located near Rotorua, during the tourism boom to the area in the 1870s, with an increased need for carved works such as the model village at Whakarewarewa, and souvenirs.[2]

The

Māori Renaissance in the 1960s there has been a resurgence of whakairo, alongside other traditional Māori practices, and an expansion into contemporary art. Many carvers express their practices in explicitly spiritual terms.[7] The Māori Art Market (funded by the state-sponsored Toi Māori Aotearoa
) is a significant venue for the promotion and sale of whakairo.

Features

Wooden Māori carvings are often painted to pick out features. Before modern paints were available this was often a mixture of kōkōwai (red ochre) and shark-liver oil. This was thought to preserve the carvings and also imbue them with a tapu (sacred) status.[8] Following the introduction of metal tools there was a substantial increase in decorative ornamentation, particularly in wood and bone carving.[9]

Notable carvers

Te Papa and Auckland Art Gallery have substantial holdings of whakairo, with Te Papa in particular having many digitised in their Collections online website.[15]

References

  1. ^ Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "Ruatepupuke and the origin of carving". teara.govt.nz.
  2. ^
    Wikidata Q58677410
    .
  3. Wikidata Q58623349
    .
  4. Wikidata Q58623341
    .
  5. ^ "The carver speaks of his work". Waikato Times. 3 August 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  6. OCLC 1296712119
    .
  7. ^ "Janet McAllister: Sacred practice of creating art". nzherald.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  8. ISBN 978-1-86966-244-8
    .
  9. ISBN 079000903X
    .
  10. ^ "Kapua, Eramiha Neke - Biography - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Pukehika, Hori – Biography – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  12. ^ "Taiapa, Hone Te Kauru – Biography – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011. 1911–1979
  13. ^ "Taiapa, Pineamine – Biography – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  14. ^ "Te Wiata, Inia Morehu Tauhia Watene Iarahi Waihurihia – Biography – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". teara.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  15. ^ "woodcarving – Collections Online – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.

Further reading

  • Archey, G., 1977 Whaowhia: Maori Art and Its Artists. Auckland, Collins.
  • Barrow, T., 1963 The Life and Work of the Maori Carver. Wellington, Government Printer.
  • Barrow, T., 1965 A Guide to the Maori Meeting House: Te Hau ki Turanga. Wellington,
    Dominion Museum
    .
  • Barrow, T., 1969 Maori Wood Sculpture of New Zealand. Wellington, Reed.
  • Brown, D., 1999 "The architecture of the
    Journal of the Polynesian Society
    108 (3):241–276.
  • Brown, D., 2003 Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rakau: Northland Maori Wood Carving. Reed, Auckland.
  • Day, K., 2001 Maori Woodcarving of the Taranaki Region. Auckland, Reed.
  • Firth, R., 1925 "The Maori carver".
    Journal of the Polynesian Society
     34 (136):277–291.
  • Kimura, A., 1991 "The heart of its people." New Zealand Historic Places 33:43–45.
  • Mead, H.M.
    , 1986 Te Toi Whakairo: The Art of Maori Carving. Auckland, Reed Methuen.
  • Ngata, A.T., 1958 "The origin of Maori carving". Te Ao Hou 22:30–37, 23:30–33. full text
  • Phillipps, W.J., 1941 Maori Carving. New Plymouth, T. Avery and Sons.
  • Shadbolt, M., 1973 "Pine Taiapa: Master Carver". New Zealand Heritage Vol. 6, Part 87:2433-6.
  • Wilson, J. 1993 "The Pride of Ngapuhi".
    New Zealand Historic Places
    44:37–40.
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