OLD-TIME ART

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 36, 26 January 1932, Page 7

OLD-TIME ART

SCHOOL AT TOKAANU SEEKING ASSISTANCE. INTEREST AMONG MAORIS. Tucked away in Tokaanu, a townlet on the shore of Lake Taupo, there is a little school whose title—To Tuwharetea School of Maori Art and Crafts — clearly gives the purpose of its existence. Much work connected with the founding of the school was done by Mr James McDonald, formerly Assistant Director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington, and a member of the Board of Maori Arts, who owes its birth to the legislation passed by Parliament in 1926. The aim and objects of To Tuwharetoa School of Maori Art and Crafts are as follows: — (1) To organise as a producing unit the few remaining members of the tribo with experienced technique in the various Maori crafts (2) To establish a fund to provide for buildings, equipment, and administrative purposes. (3) To give instruction in the elements of art and decoration, iu the technique of carving, plaiting, and weaving, aud also in the arts of drawing, painting, and modelling. (4) To create within New Zealand as well as overseas a market for the products of Tuwharetoa eraftsfolk. (5) To do all things that are right and proper for the development and advancement of art culture among the Maori people, and for the preservation of the ancient art from disuse and decay. Mr McDonald was in Wellington during the W'eek, and in an interview with a “Post” representative he gave some interesting particulars of Maori art and crafts. REVIVAL OF INTEREST. The ro-erectiou at Tokaanu last year, said Mr McDonald, of the tribal wtiarcpuni, “Puhaorangi, ” and the proposed rebuilding of the old-time wharepuni, “Tapeaa, ” at VV’aihi, the ancient home of the Heuheus and their descendants, has led throughout the Luke Taupo district to a revival of interest in the ancient arts aud crafts of the Maori people. Seeing the handsome interior of “Puhaorangi,” embellisher as it is now with the old-time designs on its heke or rafters, and its wall spaces beautified with the carefullywrought aud ever-pleasing panels ul harapaki or tukutuku work, a desire has arisen among the raugatira of NgatiTuwharetoa for a school in which instruction in Maori art and in the an cient crafts may be given to the younger generation; and not only in the art but iu drawing, painting, and model ling, for if pakeha people are taught those arts, way not the Maori alsoi “In the Lake Tauop district, as in practically ever other part of New Zealand, contact and association with the pakeha have wrought sad havoc with the art aud craft practised rn former years,” continued Mr McDonald. “Dwellings built on pakeha lines, pakeha clotuiug, and half-hearted pakeha ways of living, have all helped to destroy interest in the art and crafts which in former days occupied so important a place in the lives of the Native people. The attrition processes, begun over a century ago, still continue, and to-day the majority of the younger generation are practically without knowledge of the art of their ancestors. QUALITY OF WORK. “The quality of art and the various crafts has depended, in all generations, not so much on the presence of individuals of artistic genius, but largely upon the attitude of the community, and art with the Maoris of bygone days, iu the decoration of their houses, their persous, and their clothing, as well as in the embellishment of their agricultural implements, their weapons, their canoes, and their fishing and trapping gear, was definitely a communal affair; in fact, there was scarcely an artifact produced which was not given its characteristic embellishment. No artist knew so well aS the tohunga Whakairo, the limitations of decoration —form and function, function and decoration ever went hand in hand, and no Maori craftsman ever sacrificed utility to decorative embellishment. The Maori of pre-European days had an inherent sense of the fitness of things, of utility and beauty, and to recognise this is to widen considerably our appreciation of his ability as a designer aud craftsman, and to increase greatly our appreciation of the many beautiful examples of native art which have been preserved from the ravages of time and neglect. Among most of the native folk of today there is an inherent sense of beauty, and a keen appreciation of rhythm and harmony which become apparent when they join in a haka or poi dance, or wheu they arc shown how to handle a carving tool, weave a band or taniko, or work out a pattern on a panel of harapaki. STIMULUS REQUIRED. “To prevent the ancient art from extinction and to develop it in forms acceptable to modern usage, which shall in time influence our architecture and interior decoration, and thus proa distinctive national art and give a unique character to New Zealand products, it is apparent that a stimulus to practice, an incentive to production is required. In the development o. a national decorative art wc have a great deal to learn from the art of hga tailgate whenuathe people of the kind —in which they excelled. With loving care, exacting skill, and thoughtful workmanship they ever strove to do the best that in them lay. As Mr Elsdon Rest has truly said: ‘The Maori of old ever worked on the principle that a thing worth doing is worth doing well, and that is a principle which both the pakeha and Maori of to-day may well take to heart ’ ” It is the aim of Mr McDonald to stimulate among the Maoris of the Lake Tau; district—the heart of Maoriland, it has been called —a greater interest in the ancient art and crafts, and to win them back to some of their old-time skill in the art of designing, and the arts of carving, plaiting, and weaving, and also to guide them in the pakeha arts of drawing, painting, and modelling. • i GAf’Y FROM SHADOWY PAST” A keen interest, has been shown by rhe Governor-General, Lord Bledisloc. ui the (fork of pefp4lu4ting Mm-’i

carving. .Speaking at Kaiapohia on the subject His Excellency made the following remarks :— “The ancient Maori carving, with its symmetric beauty and historic symbolism, is a rich legacy from the shadowy past, indicative of a high standard of primitive culture. It should be perpetuated by modern Maori craftsmen as a source of racial pride and of future commercial profit. The discontinuance of such characteristic craftsmanship would he n definite loss to this country and to the prestige of the .Maori people.” And to quote the late Mr Elsdon Best: “Tho Maori of old was more than an artisan: lie was an artist. He loved to adorn, the commonest artifact fashioned bv his bands and to express in nil ho did a keen appreciation of I no» and faithful work.”