“THE SPIRIT OF CARVING”

Tu Tangata, Issue 9, 1 December 1982, Page 25

“THE SPIRIT OF CARVING”

The Te Mauri Whakairo Award for Maori Carving: 1982

If the symbols of carving have changed, the mauri of the wood still speaks and it speaks loud. Thousands of Aucklanders prove it. They were all visitors to the exhibition of carving entries in the Te Muri Whakairo Award, on display in the Auckland Building Centre, prior to judging.

The pitau, the koru, the manaia were there with the domed head of the north and the twisting path of Taranaki mountain. The entries in the Award made up the most impressive display of modern Maori carving, perhaps ever collected together in one place.

The Te Mauri Whakairo Award was jointly sponsored by Television New Zealand and L.D. Nathan’s through their Woolworth’s Variety stores. It was the first major national Award for Maori carving and although it offered big prizes Award is not intended to be a competition. Nearly 250 entries came in from all over the country. Judge Para Matchitt spend five days scrutinising an incredible diversity of entries. Many carvers chose familiar traditional subjects. There were 13 waka huia one from John Wikiriwhi of Christchurch, receiving a special commendation from the judge a number of taunt and detailed waka taua canoes, door lintels, canoe bailers, a putatara conch, wall panels large and small, many tekoteko figures and a fine selection of walking sticks.

Some of the carvers made statements about social issues. Murray Kestle an inmate of Waikune Prison entered a work called “Identity Crisis”. It was an allegory about the social forces pressuring young Maoris and transformed the traditional personalities of Rangi and Papa into a brooding father, angry at what confronts his tamariki and a mother grieving for her lost children. The look of the

carving though was very traditional. And what did the judge look for? Uppermost in Para Matchitt’s mind was to find a work complete in itself, balanced design, good use of decoration and evidence that the carver understood his material and no one who witnessed the diversity of the entries envied the judge his task. But he had to choose the top carvings and after a long week, often alone with the carvings in the darkened building he picked the two leading carvings. The Te Mauri Whakairo Award has two section. A Novice section for carvers under 18 years and an Open section for carvers over 18. The prizes in both sections were sponsored by Woolworths.

The Novice section turned up something of a surprise. The prize here, SSOO and a set of Swiss steel carving tools valued at S3OO. The winner was Nichole Dionne Richard, aged 14 from Wairoa. The surprise was for the organisers who hadn’t realised that N. Rickard was a girl. Nichole’s work was called Patuki Topi and started life as an old fence post her father found on Mahia beach. The work had been completed as part of an art course at Wairoa College. The school also received a set of tools valued at S3OO donated by Woolworths. It looked almost crude compared to some of the carvings. But it impressed

the judge with its robust simplicity and a feeling of action and movement set up between the stance of the figure facing right and the direction of the paua eyes looking left. The work was undecorated and made a simple straight forward

and complete design statement. It had a sublty reminiscent of the best preEuropean carving. For the judge the carving tells you about itself only if you know about the carving.

Highly commended in the Novice section were lan Howich aged 16 ot Lower Hutt, Gavin Dyer, aged 13 of Tauranga, and Roger Neame aged 14 of Nelson.

The major prize of S2OOO went to Tupari Te Whata, a 43 year old carver from Kaikohe. He entered a delicately carved tokotoko stick called “Te Hunga iti” the humble people. It takes its name from a Marae near Kaikohe that burnt down recently. The tokotoko is intended to grace the inbuilt Marae. The stick was one of the few works entered for the Award that completely followed the dictates of the material. It was made of tanikaha that had a natural bend at the top. This bend formed a closed circle for the handle. The carver followed the natural shape of the wood and decorated it with dozens of figures each taking its stance and expression from the bumps in the wood itself. The carving was highly individual and fully developed in its design and story telling. The judge could see it encouraging an orator and filling both speaker and audience with well being.

The judge wished to highly recommend two pieces in open section by Reere Poakaroa of Auckland and J. Wikiriwhi of Christchurch.

For the organisers the Award has been highly successful. It attracted a wide range of carvings, many from young, new carvers and the exhibition of entries was seen by thousands of visitors. It is hoped to run the Award every two years. The next Award in 1984 with an invitation section for experienced master carvers in addition to the existing two sections. Tihei Mauri Ora.