Maori Battalion Pouwhenua Thorndon Quay 02 (cropped)

Toi whakairo (art carving) or just whakairo (carving) is a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

traditional art of

carving Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...

in wood, stone or bone.

History

Timber was formed into houses, fencepoles,

pouwhenua Pouwhenua or pou whenua (land post), are carved wooden posts used by Māori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand to mark territorial boundaries or places of significance. They are generally artistically and elaborately carved and can be found th ...

, containers,

taiaha A taiaha () is a traditional weapon of the Māori of New Zealand; a close-quarters staff weapon made from either wood or whalebone, and used for short, sharp strikes or stabbing thrusts with efficient footwork on the part of the wielder. Taiaha a ...

, tool handles and waka (boats). Carving tools were made from stone, preferably the very hard

pounamu Pounamu is a term for several types of hard and durable stone found in southern New Zealand. They are highly valued in New Zealand, and carvings made from pounamu play an important role in Māori culture. Name The Māori word , also used ...

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

waka huia Waka huia and Papa hou are treasure containers made by Māori – the indigenous people of New Zealand. ''Waka huia'' was also the name of a long-running TV series on TVNZ. Containers These containers stored a person's most prized personal poss ...

treasure containers being replaced with lockable

seaman's chest A seaman's chest is a wooden chest which was commonly used by sailors to store personal belongings. They are also known as ''sea chests'', not to be confused with the recesses found in the hull of certain ships. Design and Use Seaman's chests ...

s by the 1840s. Traditionally, many expert carvers focused on creating elaborate

waka taua Waka () are Māori people, Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes (''waka tīwai'') used for fishing and river travel to large, decorated war canoes (''waka taua'') up to long. The earliest remains of a ...

(war canoes), however this declined during the 1860s when waka taua were superseded by

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

s or small European style sailing ships. During the decline, carvers focused instead on carved

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

, objects such as

tokotoko A tokotoko is a traditional Māori carved ceremonial walking stick. On a marae it is a symbol of authority and status for the speaker holding it. Poets from New Zealand who win the award of New Zealand Poet Laureate are presented with a tokotok ...

, or carved aspects of buildings such as churches. Most traditions that survived this period into the late 1800s were centred around communal whakairo schools, mostly located around

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

Te Urewera Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, a large part of which is within a protected area designated in 2014, that was formerly Te Urewera National Park. Te Urewera is t ...

, the

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...

and the

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

. 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

, 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. The

Māori Arts and Crafts Institute Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

at Whakarewarewa in

, opened by Sir

Āpirana Ngata Sir Āpirana Turupa Ngata (3 July 1874 – 14 July 1950) was a prominent New Zealand statesman. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have served in Parliament in the mid-20th century, and is also known for his work ...

in 1926, is a stronghold of traditional carving skills. Ngata put arts as a 'vital part' of the rejuvenation of Māori culture. Hone Taiapa was head of this school for some time. Since 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. 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. Following the introduction of metal tools there was a substantial increase in decorative ornamentation, particularly in wood and bone carving.

Notable carvers

* Wero Tāroi (c. 1810–1880) * Eramiha Neke Kapua (1867–1955) * Piri Poutapu (1905–1975) *

Hori Pukehika Hori may refer to: Ancient Egypt *Sewadjkare Hori, late 13th dynasty Pharaoh, also known as Hori II * Hori (High Priest of Osiris) Son of Wennenufer and High Priest of Osiris during the reign of Ramesses II (19th dynasty) *Hori I (High Priest of Pt ...

(d. 1932) * Raharuhi Rukupo (d. 1873) * Hone Taiapa (1911–1979) *

Pine Taiapa Pineamine "Pine" Taiapa (1901–1972) was a notable New Zealand wood carver, farmer, rehabilitation officer, writer and genealogist. He was one of the first students of the School of Māori Arts in Rotorua under Āpirana Ngata. As a carver ...

(1901–1972) * Inia Te Wiata (1915–1971) * Tene Waitere (1853–1931) Maori Carving

Te Papa and

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

have substantial holdings of whakairo, with Te Papa in particular having many digitised in their ''Collections online'' website.

References

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History

Features

Notable carvers

References

Further reading