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:

Tekoteko wero - i haere tonu ahau!

After many attempts using pencil/paper, clay and wood.  I am still trying to get my 'form' right for my Tekoteko. 

I started with my sketches and ideas and once I drew my design onto my maquette and started chunking/cutting it out, I couldn't get my head around how to make the cuts so, I turned to clay/uku.  I figured out some of my cuts using clay and tried NOT to add bits back after I had cut out.  It was pretty tricky.  The upoko and face I found particularly tricky.

   

Once the maquette was finished, I wasn't happy with the form.  I think it was the arms that threw me so I decided to play around with the concept of making a maquette without arms.  Out came the clay again.

 

The form looked interesting but the head reminded me of a moa... NOT the look I was going for.  So I cut the head off and made a different style head after looking at other 'pictures' in books and online.

 

The second upoko didn't quite look right either.  So I ditched the idea of doing a 'human' figure because it still didn't look right.

I thought more about the kōrero of Rangiriri and decided that because he was a totara log that swam against the tide, he might look better as a 'log' figure with maybe a contemporary type head.  So back to the sketch book...  I wanted to create something quite contemporary and thought the pīhere should protrude from the chest.  So I had a go at carving what I could see on paper, and in my head.

 

My next task was figuring out the 'eyes'.  I knew I didn't actually want eyeballs (as such) because of the nature of Rangiriri's enchanted nature so it had me stumped a bit.  Probably because my attempt at creating what I wanted was unsuccessful using clay.  Kawiti came to my rescue and reminded me about the 'tuere' which we drew way back in April in one of our zui sessions.

So, I drew on the eyes and Kawiti showed which whao to use to create the right cuts - check cuts are sooo important.  It ready does stop the rakau from ripping or chipping.  I was pretty stoked with the final look.

 

Kawiti rocked into the workshop with a 'surprise'.  When he asked me a few weeks ago about Rangiriri, one of the stories I shared with him was how Rangiriri would transform and cut the chains of the kauri logs waiting to be taken along the Wairoa river out to the Kaipara Harbour.  Kawiti shared with me that he may have a rakau that I may be interested in.  He pulled it out of a stream in Whakapara.  

 

It was perfect.  There were chains embedded in the rakau and it was a twisted form.  Perfect to represent the transformation of Rangiriri.  My intuitive and initial reaction was quickly replaced with apprehension and fear.  Could I achieve this wero?  Would I ruin Kawiti's log?  So with the roller coaster thought process for the rest of the class, Kawiti put me at ease by telling me it could possibly go to waste if I didn't take on the wero.  So I said I'd take it home and think about it.

So in the shed it sat.  It felt right and I sketched some ideas down in both my head and on paper.  I was thankful that I had a toki sharpened by the matua down at Downtown Tools so bit the bullet and started to toki out parts of the upoko.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and am excited.  I was suprised at how nicely the chips came away and the strong aroma of pine in my shed (it reminded me of cutting xmas trees with my Dad).  So, here I am at the first stage of shaping Rangiriri... A massive wero!

 

 

A visit to Jay's Whakairo Shed.

Today was an inspirational day.  I was invited by Jay to visit Otamatea High School to have a look at her whakairo shed.  

I was impressed with the set up and how well resourced the shed was.  It was great to see the quality of the chisels and tools which shows she values the students and expects quality mahi.  I learnt so much from her today.  One of my greatest challenges next year will be getting my head around NCEA assessments and Unit standards but thanks to Jay, I was able to look at some exemplars.

I met two of her students (Year 12 girls) who were a part of the team that worked on a commissioned waharoa for Whangarei Heads Primary School.  It was erected inside the shed for an open viewing session at lunchtime for students and teachers.  It will then be dismantled and taken to Whangarei Heads School next Tuesday and I'm looking forward to heading along to document the event.

I'm looking forward to the ongoing whanaungatanga with Jay and her students and I'm super excited on the new wero next year.