MATARIKI MĀ PUANGA
Opening event Thursday 19 June, 5 - 6.30pm. All welcome.
Opening event Thursday 19 June, 5 - 6.30pm. All welcome.
We are extremely proud to bring you Matariki Mā Puanga, an exhibition featuring contemporary Māori art by a group of practitioners at the top of their game. Local legend Jacob Scott (Ngāti Raukawa, Te Arawa, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Kahungunu),
a respected Māori Mason, along with Jason Kendrick, is Te Ara Hihiko, whose magnificent work you may have seen recently at Te Whare Toi Heretaunga, Hastings City Art Gallery. Their innovate sculptural pieces of Māori inspired designs are carved using CNC machinery out of sustainable materials, including sea plastic, plywood and recycled native timbers. There is a lovely local connection with the Matariki Mā Puanga panels carved from recycled Rimu tongue and groove from an old villa on Napier Hill.
They share the space with Sheree Willman (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne), a painter based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. Willman’s work is a personal journey of reconnection with Te Ao Māori and her whakapapa. Drawing inspiration from the weavers of her tīpuna, interpreting traditional crafts practiced by Wāhine Māori in paint. Willman presents panels based on kaitaka (fine flax cloaks woven from harakeke) held in the Te Papa and Auckland Museum Collection, as well as one from the MTG (Aho Wāharua Kōpito) woven by her tīpuna.