SKILLED MAORI WEAVERS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21708, 15 February 1936, Page 24

SKILLED MAORI WEAVERS

PANELS FOR NATIONAL ART GALLERt

IVbRK AT DOMINION MUSEUM

A fine example of tie Maori, art of tukutuku (lading or pleating) is\at present to .be .seen in the Maori section of the Dominion Musedm, Wellington, where eight native maidens from. Otaki are engaged in fashioning a;< number of decorative panels for. the • Maori meeting-house, for the new National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum on the Mount Cook site. , The panels are to be placed in between the carved figures in the meet-, ing-house, which, when completed will be the finest Maori meeting-house in the Dominion. . There will be 26 of these panels in the sides, of the house and about eight in the gables at each end. The Maori women have been engaged in their task" for' about-three weeks, and they are expected to complete it in another five. They come from the Ngati-Raukawa tribe, Otaki. and are experts in the art* They recently carried out similar work far the Maori meeting-house at Otaki, which it is expected will be officially opened in March. It is a typical native scene, and as the women ply their ancient art they sing lilting Maori songs. - ‘ . . ■ Some of the panels are more elaborate in design than others. One worker has been employed on one of the panels for a week, but it is an exceptionally complicated one. The time for completing each varies between two and three days. The women work with their hands, and their only tool is a knife or stick to assist in the lacing of the grass on to the frames. > Picturesque Designs The work was commenced under the supervision of Sir Apirana" Ngata, MJ*. Skilled weavers are not common to-day, and the group, which is employed at the Dominion Museum previously worked under his.supervision in similar work on the Maori meetinghouse at Otaki. . . Each of the panels bears in Maori the name of the design, and some of these, are very picturesque in their interpretation, A selection is: Romata toroa, “albatross tears”; purapurawhetu, “stars”; waharua, double mouthy poutama, “steps”; niho-tam-wha, “dragons’ teeth." Mr T. Heberley, of the museum staff, has completed carvings for the four canoes which will also be included m the Maori section. There are two war canoes, one fishing canoe, and a river canoe. One named Teremoi’ (swiftly or quickly to sleep) came originally from the Wanganui River, and another, Heke Rangatira, from Lake Wairarapa. . , , Mr Heberley is. at present engaged on elaborate carving for the two big Maori storehouses, and has also carved part of the meeting-house. Maori Art Described The most favoured style of decorative panels in Maori times 7 ,'was-that known as harapaki, tukutuku, and pukiore of which the- work at present being done at the museum .Ban example. The process itself, tuitui, as a kind of lacing. To the yellow culms of toetoe, arranged vertically, says Elsdon Best, explaining the process, were tied light, thin laths of wood in a horizontal position. The latter sometimes were blackened and sometimes painted red. The horizontal laths were tied to each reed by narrow strips of undressed fibrous leaves. The decorative. work 1 consisted of the various devices in stitching that were employed, each of which had its proper name, the pattern, in different colours, showing on the outer side of this horizontal laths. The panels were made by two people, one stationed on either side and passing the stitching material through the interstices by a form of wooden bodkin called ah au tuitui. The fibrous materials used were harakeke (green flax), kiekie (light grey in colour), and pingao. (orange). The allied art of weaving, carried out in the house of weaving, the whare pora, had # certain amount of, tapu and ceremony attaching to the acquirement of it; When a young woman desired to learn how to weave fine garments she had to obtain the assistance of an expert. . She had to weave a small piece of fabric under close supervision, and' the task was accompanied by certain ceremonial, including the repetition' of charms by the directing expert