Mahi Whakarei - Tauira

Blair brought into class some mahi completed by his bro Jason Scott (No Whanganui-a-tara), carved back when he was 15years old. The mahi was impressive and inspirational.  It also served as wonderful 'tauira' (exemplar) for us to carefully look at while planning our own mahi whakarei.  We were grateful to have these pieces to look at.  I often referred back to them to figure out my own cuts on my practice pieces.

Stress cuts

 Whoa... I learnt something new in class tonight.  Stress cuts!

Tom talked about how he creates a stress cut first in everything he does.  When I asked him why he explained that with the first cut you can get a feel for the grain and get an idea of what the rākau might do once you go deeper.  He also said it takes the stress out of the wood - makes sense to me.

Pūhoro me kirikiore whakarei

Once I had finished the koiri kōwhaiwhai patterns, I thought I'd tackle the Pūhoro and kiriore whakarei next.

I learnt from the last task how important the pencil lines were for spacing and symmetry so I spent some time drawing up the pūhoro design first.  I flicked through my photos on my phone for some inspo from one of Ralph's peices at school so I could get an idea of pūhoro placement.  

I found that when I sketched up my design I could see that a couple of the pūhoro were facing the wrong way which meant the unaunahi lines wouldn't look right so I had to add in a koru to break up the unaunahi lines.

Challenges:  Carving the tips of the pūhoro proved challenging because I felt it wasn't a clean curve and required a lot of cleaning up afterwards.

Carving the pūhoro gave me the confidence to continue with attempting the kirikiore.  As always I looked for inspo and i knew I had my bro Johnny's off cut on my phone so I pulled it out to look at carefully.

I looked carefully at the unaunahi and talked to my bro on the phone.  He said to 'chase' the unaunahi and I knew what he meant.  I enjoyed the challenge and again noticed the mistakes you make when you are fatigued (eyes and concentration)  Super stoked with the attempt.  I also remembered what Tom said about the 'holographic' effect that the kiririore can create.

Kāwai Raupapa: Certificate in Māori and Indigenous Art

Long time no blog!  I am excited to be back on the chisels again.  I have enrolled in the Kāwai Raupapa programme for 2024.  Our tutor is Tom Brooker nō Te Pu o Te Wheke (Kaikohe) a recent graduate from Te Kura Maunga Toi.  I look forward to learning from him.

After making sure I was able to attend most noho, I paid my fees!  

Our first task is to learn about kōwhaiwhai - Mangopare and Pūhoro.  We were given a piece of MDF to sketch designs ready to carve (2D whakairo).  I sketched out a design thinking about connecting each of the koru, because I was mindful of the negative spaces in 2D whakairo.  It looked way to busy because I don't have the confidence when carving whakarei.  Most of the mahi whakairo I have done in the past has been based around form.  It's awesome knowing that I have a year to practice whakarei skills.

I was inspired by one of my ex-students during Wednesday nights class - Koa Matete.  As she confidently started carving into her MDF.  I thought to myself, "Yup I need to practice what I used to preach... get into it.  You only get better the more time you spend on the chisels.  So thanks for the inspo Koa x

I found an old MDF board at home that Poutama Hetaraka had carved to help our students figure out carving 2D kōwhaiwahi.  I used it as a tauira... I first carved unaunahi in a line to try and get the feel of carving the curves.  Haha they looked hideous, but as I looked carefully at the tauira, I could see that the unaunahi were carved to look like scales, not just curved lines.  So I carved the other half of the tauira.  It was all I needed to get going... I was hooked into perfecting my unaunahi.

After having a tutu, I decided 'Oh well, might as well get into it".  I set up a space in the spare room cos it was drizzling outside.  It was nice seeing all my chisels laid out and I decided to give my V chisel a spin.  I chose the 12/10 at first but it was blunt as so I grabbed my 12/6 which worked nicely.

Here's some reflections after completing each quadrant of my kōwhaiwhai design.

Reflections and observations tuatahi:

I noticed that there were far too many unaunahi in the first koru (bottom right) AND that they were just curved lines and didn't look like scales at all.

Also, I had trouble finding the right tool for cutting out the v shaped designs at the end of each unaunahi pattern.  I used a 1 chisel that was way too wide so I made a mess of these.

Reflections and observations tuarua:  
I tried to lean the chisel over slightly to try and create scales, there was a slight improvement I think.

I also found a chisel that was smaller AND had a curved edge so it didn't cut into places you didn't want to cut into.  Win!  The chisel felt a lot sharper too.  I look forward to sharpening all my chisels in class next week.

Reflections and obs Tuatoru:

This time I tried to really lean the whao over more and create less unaunahi.  I think they looked better overall.  I realised how important the pencil marks are for when you are just learning.  When I watch some of Mike Matchitt's videos when he carves kōwhaiwahi designs, he can stand in the same spot and carve unaunahi.  I have to move around because my best unaunahi are when I carve from right to left - I look forward to mastering the unaunahi so I can stand in the one place also.

I often watch Mike Matchitt's videos to figure out things - I screen record them and then slow them down so I can watch him carve in slow motion.

Reflections and obs tuawhā:  It was getting dark and my mind was wandering but I didn't want to not finish.  A lesson I learnt at this stage is that if you art tired, just take a break or pack up.  I was making simple mistakes and couldn't concentrate as much.  Also the natural light outside is far more superior than artificial light from a eco bulb which takes a while to fully illuminate.

I am pleased with the progress I am making and now I want to sketch up pūhoro to put on the rest of the board.  Overall I am stoked to be on the chisels again and I am SUPER grateful that I have all the gear needed to carve at home.  Loving this journey and feeling blessed to have another awesome class to look forward to.

Ko Rangiriri rakau whakangautai te taniwha!

 

The progress of Rangiriri...

 I had a tutu on my tekoteko yesterday using toki, whao and angle grinder.  It was nice to work outside even though chips went flying everywhere.  I think next time I'll put the tarpaulin down to make cleaning up easier.

I enjoyed trying to figure out my cuts.  Something Arama shared with us was to 'enjoy' the process, so I made a conscious effort to not stress about any of the cuts I made and 'rolled' with it.  It worked and after my session I felt good.

 

 

Our haerenga ki Waitangi - 10th Oct 2020

 Our class embarked on a haerenga to Waitangi last Saturday.  It was an awesome day for all of us and was described perfectly by one of my fellow tauira Heketia Ahomiro:

"Today we honoured our ancestors, e tātou mā.  We reaffirmed their deeds as great mana, he mana tuku iho, mana atua, mana tupuna, mana tangata, mana whenua. Kei tua ko te aka matua he mana Māori motuhake e.  How blessed are we?"

I managed to capture snippets of our day and put them together in movie form for us to cherish.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Arama Hamiora Davis in the carving shed based at the Waitangi Treaty grounds.  He gave a demo of carving pākati.  I managed to film some of it: