Kaitiaki - Trustee/Guardian

I love walking a city and unexpectedly coming upon a work of public art.

Wellington is perfect for that because of the intimate nature of the city and the proliferation of public artworks. Here, in Auckland, because of the far greater spread of the city and the tucked-away nature of many of the sculptures (and, it must be said, a lack of promotion), I tend to "stumble on artwork" far less often. So I was delighted when I walked around the corner and discovered this gleaming work "Kaitiaki II" (Trustee), by Maori artist, Fred Graham.
It's located down the lower end of Queen Street.

A few days later, I happened upon this second dramatic piece by Graham, Kaitiaki .

It's part of the Auckland Domain Scupture walk, initiated in 2001 and funded by the P.A. Edmiston Trust with assistance from the NZ Lotteries Grants Board Millennium Fund.

Fred Graham (b 1928), Ngati Koroki, Ngati Raukawa, studied art at Ardmore and Dunedin Teachers' College and became one of the young Maori artists to work under celebrated Maori carver, Pine (Pineamine) Taiapa, Ngati Porou (1901-1972), who between 1946-71 worked on 39 traditional meeting houses, including the spectacular whare runanga on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds). Graham though, soon became interested in alternative materials and non-traditional expression and moved toward sculpture, using stainless steel, copper and native and exotic timbers. This work in the Auckland Domain, close to Auckland Museum, represents a hawk.

I like the way it's huge, swooping, menacing form so perfectly represents the predator qualities of the hawk at the same time, casting a vast, protective shadow across the land beneath.

Museum Stories

I took these two photographs in Auckland Museum last year. I was taken not only with the beauty of the carving but also the story behind how they came to be there. The boards were created in the late 18th century by the Te Whanau-a-Apanui people of the eastern Bay of Plenty (East Cape) at Maraenui, near Te Kaha. The museum exhibit shows the central barge boards (maihi) and doorway (kuwaha) of a pataka (storehouse), which was dismantled in the early 1820s and moved to Raukokere, where new carvings were begun. Before they were completed they were hidden in a cave at Te Kaha to protect them from the 1823 raids by the Northland Ngapuhi tribe. They were recovered from the cave in the 1890s and bought by the Auckland Museum in 1912. I have featured the Maraenui Marae, Te Kaha and Raukokere on this blog previously. Just click on any of the names in the label line below this post to take you to photographs of each of them.

A Model Village

An Intricate Model of a Traditional Maori Pa

Fortified

On Display

Auckland Museum

www.aucklandmuseum.com

A Museum Piece

The Maori adze, or toki, was a woodworking tool, usually made of a hard stone fastened to a wooden handle. The most prized were made of pounamu (greenstone). This early example is one I photographed at Auckland Museum. It was found near Hamilton and is made from greywacke stone. Regional construction styles were common. www.aucklandmuseum.com

A Museum Piece

One Beautiful Kete

Used to Carry Kumara to the Store Pits

With the Aid of Strong Kawe

(Shoulder Straps)

As seen at Auckland Museum

www.aucklandmuseum.com

April 2009. Ajr

Tea Anyone?

When I was at Auckland Museum earlier this year, I gasped at their stunning collection of Royal Doulton ‘Maori Ware.’ It’s a rare find these days and you pay a premium price for it. So when I was at a tiny antique store in ‘the back of beyond’ last week – actually Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsular – my mouth fell open when I saw a cup and saucer set tucked into the rear of a glass cabinet. The owners let me photograph it and here it is. Beautiful! Apparently you can now pay up to $600 for a perfect cup and saucer set. British-based Royal Doulton produced a number of New Zealand-themed porcelain series including the Kia Ora stoneware (1907), this Maori Art Teaware (1907) and a New Zealand International Exhibition series (1906). Maori Ware features this red, black and white kowhaiwhai design (based on the koru) and included cups, saucers and plates. It remained in production until 1923. The antique shop owners told me they are lucky to find one or two cup and saucer sets a year now, hence the staggeringly high price you pay for the pleasure of owning a set. www.royaldoulton.com

The Back Cupboards

New Zealand photographer, filmmaker, artist and designer, Neil Pardington (Ngai Tahu, Ngati Mamoe, Ngati Waewae & Scottish descent), opens his amazing show The Vault at Christchurch Art Gallery tonight. I’ve been looking forward to this exhibition for months for it brings together all the things I love – museums and especially museum storerooms, photography, taxidermy, artefacts, collections, the notion of memory and stored histories – they’re all there in beautiful, brilliant images that resonate with a million of my own stored memories. I collected everything as a child and my father made me little glass-fronted cases for storing my birds’ egg collection, my butterflies, my pressed leaves and flowers, my seed and nut collection, my stone and gemstone collections. How I never ended up working in a museum I’ll never know – but it’s no surprise to me that one of my sons does. (He’s at Auckland Museum).

That aside, Neil Pardington’s ‘Vault is another matter entirely – a brilliant ‘expose’ of the behind-the-scenes artefacts and collections in storage. He got the idea for the photographic series while he was working behind the scenes at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and it has been a work in progress ever since, as he has explored the vaults, archives and basements of museums, art galleries, archives, banks, libraries and hospitals – “my focus is on places we store those things that are precious to us and conversely, those very similar spaces we store the obsolete and unwanted,” he has said of his work.
In the Christchurch exhibition, Pardington presents 40 photographs (taken on large-format camera) that ‘expose storehouses of memory and places filled with mystifying treasure.’ They include my favourites, the stuffed animals and birds…all with cute little cardboard labels attached to their legs; paintings attached to sliding storage walls; specimens in jars; rooms filled with mannequins; shelves filled with rolls of film in tins; Maori artefacts; buildings filled with army vehicles; textiles, card catalogues and much more. It’s a scrumptiously voyeuristic peek into the normally unseen, off-limits world of the nation’s treasures and it will be on show at Christchurch Art Gallery until March 14, 2010. www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz www.neilpardington.com
Images supplied by Christchurch Art Gallery are, from top to bottom:
Neil Pardington Taonga Maori Store #4, Nelson Regional Museum 2007. Lambda/C-print, dimensions variable. Reproduced courtesy of the artist.
Neil Pardington Taonga Maori #2, Whanganui Regional Museum 2006. LED/C-print. Reproduced courtesy of the artist.
Neil Pardington Land Vertebrates Store #1, Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira 2008. LED/C-print. Reproduced courtesy of the artist.

A Museum Visit

Auckland Museum has one of the best collections of Maori artefacts in the world - and this is one of them, the pataka (storehouse) Te Oha, which was sold to F.D.Fenton in 1885 by Te Mata Tahuri-o-Rangi. It was purchased by Auckland Museum in 1906. Pataka were generally used to store food, although they sometimes housed valuable weapons, cloaks and baskets. www.aucklandmuseum.com

Casting Shadows

Auckland. April 2009 Ajr

I took this photograph in Auckland Museum as much for the tracery of shadows flickering across the wall as for the beautifully-detailed carving itself. This stunning pare (carved door lintel) has its origins in Ngati Paoa and Ngati Tamatera in the North Island’s Hauraki Plains area. According to the museum material, it was probably carved in the early part of the 19th century with stone tools. It stood at Patetonga Pa. www.aucklandmuseum.com

Taonga - Treasures

Auckland. April 2009 Ajr
Auckland Museum's Maori Treasures Gallery is a place of so many taonga (treasures) that it leaves you feeling a little overwhelmed. There's an intangible sense of power there too. It's a place that demands time and attention. This carved head is a Kahia (palisade post) carved in the style of Ngati Manawa and the Tuhoe iwi of the Bay of Plenty Region.

www.aucklandmuseum.com

From the Collection

A kiekie kete (basket) used for collecting karaka berries

Now in the Auckland Museum kete collection

www.aucklandmuseum.com

A Museum Moment

Auckland Museum. April 2009. Ajr

I loved these two amo (carved upright posts) on display at Auckland Museum. According to the label, they are from “the famous pataka (storehouse), Hinana, which first stood at Pukawa, near Tokaanu, at the south end of Lake Taupo. The amo stood at the front corners of the pataka to support the maihi (bargeboards). Hinana was built in 1856 by Te Heu Heu Iwikau of Ngati Tuwharetoa." www.aucklandmuseum.com www.tuwharetoa.iwi.nz

Sweet Music

Auckland Museum. April 2009. Ajr

Putarino is the generic name for Maori flutes played with the mouth. Koauau is the generic name for Maori flutes played with the nose. I photographed these gorgeous examples of carved putarino at Auckland Museum. The group includes nguru or whistle flutes, which were usually made of wood, stone or whale bone. They were short, carved and may have been played by blowing across the open end. The flute was one of the most popular Maori instruments and as I stood looking at these in Auckland Museum, I was slightly mesmerised by a video of a man playing traditional flute. It really is the sweetest of music – beautiful and haunting. A number of museums carry fine examples of these ancient instruments but you rarely find contemporary Maori who are able to play them. www.aucklandmuseum.com

Catching Crays

At Auckland Museum. April 2009. Ajr

This was how the Maori caught koura (crayfish) in the old days. I photographed this beautiful piece – “Taruke (Ngati Maru, Thames)” at Auckland Museum. They have a superb collection of Maori carvings and artefacts. This craypot is made from “young manuka stems bent around a supplejack and manuka frame and tied together with harakeke (flax) and vines.” www.aucklandmuseum.com

Maori Bookends

Auckland Museum. April 2009. Ajr

I photographed these beautiful ceramic bookends at Auckland Museum recently and was very disappointed to discover they had no label. I left without discovering their origins. Quite by chance, two days later, I was in a Britomart cafe reading magazines when I picked up an auction catalogue. There was another pair exactly the same. Turns out they are Crown Lynn Wharetana Ware - "Pair of bookends modelled as moko mokai" the caption said; and expected to reach around NZ$2,500-NZ$3,500.

Shadow Play

Auckland, April 2009. Ajr

I've long had a passion for shadows and photographing them; and I love kete. So when the two came together at Auckland Museum last week, I was more excited than was probably decent. The gallery has a spectacular collection of kete and I loved them all; but I came away just as excited about this funny little photograph. I guess I'm easily pleased. www.aucklandmuseum.com

Another Graphic Moment....

Auckland Museum. April 2009. Ajr

...this time from Auckland Museum

www.aucklandmuseum.com