Wheku - Sketching ideas

 My first task was to come up with some sketches for my wheku.  I decided to base them on the mahi whakairo on Rau Aroha whare at WGHS.  I had the pleasure of seeing those taonga daily for 3 years while teaching there.  The carvings are done by our own local tohunga whakairo Te Warihi Hetaraka.  Once you've studied his figures, they are pretty easy to identify.  His large foreheads, 4 scale unaunahi and a lot of subtle little signature marks.  I developed two ideas and then decided to combine the two and took some features from both to try and carve.

I like the shape of the head and waha.  I thought to change the paua eyes.  I like the bowl shape tongue because of the representation of a kaiako.  Ngāpuhi features are:  Shape of head, 4 niho/teeth, and unaunahi (4 scales).

Again I like the shape of the head and waha.  I like the tognue shape also but want to use the bowl shape tongue because I want it to be a self portrait.  I like these eyes better as they remind me of the eyes one of my art mentors taught me about - Juliana Hoogeveen.  She was one of my first mentors when I started teaching Art @ Whangārei Intermediate School.

The niho and tīwhana are similar to those on Reitu and Reipae on Rau Aroha.

I've decided to do a practice wheku before tackling my MDF wheku to get me head around the process.