Kapa Haka Performer@ Te Puia
Rotorua
May 2009. Ajr
Showing posts with label Te Puia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Te Puia. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
More From the Kete Files
Of the dozens and dozens and dozens of kete (baskets) I have photographed over the last year, this one remains my favourite. I snapped it at the Weaving School at Rotorua's Te Puia - a marvellous place to see weavers at work. There you'll see the whole process - from green fibre all the way through preparation, drying, dyeing and weaving. And in the unlikely event you get bored with that, you can walk next door to Te Wananga Whakairo - The Carving School...which I've also featured on this blog recently. (Click on words in the label line below this post if you'd like to see more). www.tepuia.com Thursday, March 4, 2010
Weaving - In Four Parts
I love trying to capture the detail of craftspeople of any kind at work. There's often a greater beauty (for me) in those tiny, close-up movements than in the bigger picture. I took these photographs at The Weaving School at Rotorua's Te Puia. www.tepuia.com Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Making an Entrance
When Rotorua's leading tourist attraction Te Puia created a new mutli-million entrance and extension a few years back, they went all-out on the construction of a spectacular new entrance. Unfortunately it was raining the day I swung by last year, but this shot will give you some idea of the stunning carvings that adorn the gateway. The entrance is marked by a set of five carved waharoa (gateways), each slightly smaller than the one before it. According to Maori tradition, each represents the five stages of development in the creation of the physical world. Through the waharoa, visitors enter Te Heketanga-a-Rangi (Heavenly origins), a large, serene space filled with many more amazing carvings, that represents the spiritual beliefs of Maori. It was opened in 2007 as part of Te Puia's major re-development that has, to my mind, turned it into one of the best Maori cultural attractions in the country. If you'd like to see more photos of the entrance, click on Te Puia in the label line below. www.tepuia.com Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
An Historic Wharenui
I photographed this beautiful little wharenui at Te Puia in Rotorua last year. Te Whare Wananga a Hatu Patu was built in 1901 and transported to Christchurch, where it formed part of the traditional Maori village that was constructed in Hagley Park for the Royal visit in 1906. It was later returned to Whakarewarewa. It's beautifully carved and contains classic examples of Ngati Porou carving from East Cape. Monday, February 15, 2010
Te Wananga Whakairo
Last year's trip around New Zealand researching my travel guide manuscript (Frommers New Zealand), provided me with a bounty of photographic opportunities for both my blogs. My visit (one of many) and tour of Rotorua's Te Puia was especially fruitful - this despite the grim, wet weather on the day. A core part of Te Puia is the New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute, which features both weaving and carving schools.
Te Wananga Whakairo (The Carving School) was established in 1966. The school's first Tohunga (Master), Hone Te Kauru Taiapa was appointed when the school opened and remained its head until he passed away in 1979. He was succeeded later that year by the now-late Master Carver, Tuti Tukaokao. Heads and carving tutors have since been appointed from the ranks of successful, experienced graduates of the carving school. 
If you visit Te Puia, you can enter both the weaving and the carving schools and watch the craftsmen and women, as they work on their weaving and carving projects. In the carving studio, the smell of timber and wood chips is pleasantly strong and visitors come and go, taking photographs and chatting with carvers, who have a little time on their hands. The key lesson at Te Wananga Whakairo is "learning the art to pass it on to younger generations.""Ehara i a te rakau te whakaaro, kei a te Tohunga tarai i te rakau te whakaaro"
"It is the carver, not the wood that has the understanding."
'If you forget your ancestors, you too are forgotten."
I found it a fascinating place to spend time in and my camera was kept busy as I photographed close-up carving details and the intent expressions of carvers at work. They're used to the attention, though some obviously relish it more than others. Fulltime students spend three years at the carving school under the guidance of master carvers, many of whom were once students at the school themselves. In the forty or more years it has been operating, the Carving School has (partly or fully) carved over 30 wharenui (meeting houses) throughout New Zealand, plus "countless gifts for official guests and dignataries visiting new Zealand. www.tepuia.com Friday, February 12, 2010
A Swirl of Patterns
I am seldom without my camera. This means I can almost always try and capture some pleasing visual encounter; and invariably, that is as much about the small, often overlooked details of things as much as it is the wider view. Other people for instance, photograph the bigger scene of the Maori cultural performance; I home in on the small vignettes, the little peeps into the bigger picture - the fabrics and fibres, the tattoos, the traditional jewellery and in this case, at Te Puia in Rotorua, the traditionally, patterned carpet. For me it makes a richer picture. It alludes to the unseen and it makes you consider something that might otherwise never have been seen.Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Craft Traditions
Whakarewarewa Thermal Village, Rotorua. May 2009. AjrIf you’ve ever been to a Maori kapa haka performance, you’ll be familiar with that lovely clicking sound that the traditional piupiu (skirt) makes as the performers move. Made of dried harakeke (flax), each piupiu requires a great deal of time and fiddly effort. When I visited Te Puia at Rotorua recently I watched a group of women making them in the Arts & Crafts Centre (below images), so by the time I got to Whakarewarewa Thermal Village and saw these piupiu for sale in one of the family craft outlets, I had a much better understanding of just how detailed the process is.
Te Puia Arts & CRafts Centre, Rotorua. May 2009. AjrOnce the fresh flax has been cut to the required length, each leaf is marked with a piece of shell, or a knife, to designate the areas of darker pattern on the end garment. The shiny green leaf surface above and below the dark area is then scrapped off to reveal the inner fibre. Traditionally the flax was dyed – often in dark mud (containing iron oxide) and then set in a mix of pounded hinau bark and water. Once the dying process is completed, the dyed leaves are hung to dry (as above). That’s when the normal part of the leaf curls into a hard, straw-like cylinder (which makes the clicking noise during movement). The leaves are then woven together at the top to form a skirt. www.tepuia.com www.whakarewarewa.com
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
One Tattoo, Two Views
Rotorua. May 2009. Ajr I photographed this beautiful ta moko (tattoo) when I visited Te Puia in Rotorua last month. Several women in the performing kapa haka group had large and striking tattoos on their backs. I appreciate that these photographs are a little blurry but I’m rather pleased about that because it precludes anyone copying the design. Readers of this blog – particularly those from overseas – should be aware that someone else’s tattoo should never be copied, for each tattoo is designed specifically for the wearer and invariably tells the story of their ancestry. If you copy a ta moko design, you are basically wearing someone else’s family tree, which is highly inappropriate in Maori culture - and should be in any culture!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Maori - The Old and the New
Te Puia, Rotorua. 2007 Ajr I was writing about Te Puia's weavers yesterday but it's also worth mentioning the stunning examples of traditional Maori buildings you'll find at Te Puia - one of Rotorua's major attractions. The whole place received a gorgeous NZ$20-million facelift in 2006-2007 and I happily spent about two hours walking around checking out the old (a replica of a traditional Maori village as shown above) and the new (modern in interactive touch-screen galleries that outline histores and legends). Te Puia is also home to the dramatic hissing and gushing of Pohutu Geyser, which erupts 10-25 times a day to up to 20-metres. www.tepuia.com
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Weavers at Work
Te Puia, Rotorua. 2007 Ajr I love watching Maori weavers at work. There's something quite mesmerising about watching their fingers fly as they deftly weave the strands of harakeke (flax) into often elaborate articles. I was in my element then, at Te Puia in Rotorua, when I visited during my last Frommers New Zealand trip in 2007. They are home to the marvellous New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Insitute, where you can watch art works being created in both the carving and the weaving schools. www.tepuia.com www.frommers.com
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Te Puia Carvings
Te Puia, Rotorua. 2007. Ajr These are four carvings I photographed at Te Puia in Rotorua during my last Frommers trip in 2007. One of New Zealand’s major attractions, Te Puia had then recently opened its revamped facility. One of its most striking features there is the magnificent sculpture Te Heketanga a Rangi, which forms the entrance to the complex. It features twelve beams reaching skyward, each decorated with an intricate carving. These represent the realm of the Supreme Being from which all things spiritual and physical originated. You can get a better view of the main entrance by checking Te Puia's website - www.tepuia.com
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