Thursday 29 October 2020
Tuesday 27 October 2020
Saturday 24 October 2020
Thursday 22 October 2020
Niuean Artists
Niuean Artists
Sourced from wikipedia
From the research that we have done so far this week you can see that unfortunately traditional Niuean art has died out over the years. There are however many artists who are now embracing their Niuean culture and starting to bring Niuean art back to life. Today we are going to look at a few Niuean artists and what they are doing to bring this art back to life and share with others.
John Pule
John Puhiatau Pule was born on 18th April 1962 in Liku Niue and arrived in New Zealand in 1964. He was educated at Mount Albert Grammar school in Auckland. He is a Niuean artist, novelist and poet. He is described by the Queensland Art Gallery as “one of the Pacific’s most significant artists.” In 2012 John Paule was appointed as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as an author, poet and painter. John Paule’s artwork includes painting, drawing, printmaking, filmmaking and performance. The topics of his work include Niuean cosmology and Christiany as well as perspectives on migration and colonialism. His art work comprises both painting on canvas and bark cloth painting which is a traditional Polyneasian artform. Since 1991 Pule has exhibited his art work throughout New Zealand, Australia, Europe, the USA, the Pacific and Asia. John Pule’s work is held in numerous public and private collections throughout New Zealand and Australia as well as Scotland.
Foufili Halagigie
Foufili Halagigie is an artist who is recognised for creating Lili Fakamanaia (wall hangings) which have been shown in Auckland exhibitions in 2012. She is a member of the award winning Ōtāhuhu-based Falepipi he Mafola Niuean Handcraft Group. Falepipi he Mafola started in 1993 with members aged up to 80 sharing their skills. The group has helped develop and maintain the traditional Niuean practices of weaving, plaiting, netting and carving. The members also enjoy speaking Niuean, dancing and singing and have also released a CD of traditional songs and story telling. Lili Fakamanaia is made of yellow, red, blue and white raffia and kaniu (coconut tree leaf midribs). It takes over two months to complete and is over one metre in diameter. The work references magafaoa (family) and has strong connections to the artist’s homeland of Niue. Its colours are those of the Niuean flag.
Cora-Allan Wickliffe
Cora-Allan Wickliffe is an artist of Māori and Niue descent, originally from Waitakere. In recent years her practice has focused on her efforts to revive the art form of Hiapo. Cora-Allan Wickliffe was born in 1986 and completed her Masters in Visual Art and Design in Performance from AUT in 2013. She has exhibited her work throughout Aotearoa and internationally including Australia, Niue, England and Canada. Her work is a part of major collections including The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa, Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Wallace Arts Trust. She has won numerous awards from 2004 to 2020.
Macksoul Art
Layna is a Niuean artist whose drawings are inspired by Niue Hiapo. She shares her work through social media for others to enjoy and share with others. She hopes that through sharing these she is able to revive Niuean art work in New Zealand and Niue.
Tuesday 20 October 2020
Niuean Art Forms
Niuean Art forms
Sourced from Niue Language week presentation, Exploring ‘the Rock’, Air NZ Culture and Otago Uni
There are many different types of art created in Niue. These include weaving, sculpture, craft, wearable art, hiapo and many more. Today for you reading you are going to learn about some of these different art forms.
Weaving:
Weaving is a popular activity for women in Niue, some men weave too. Lalaga and tia are two popular techniques.
Lalaga - wrap and weft closed weave this is a technique used by many other cultures. Different cultures use different materials.
Tia - this is an open style weave which is shared with other Pacific cultures. It is a process of fashioning “eyes” that are somewhat similar to crocheting and knitting however it is not done precisely the same way. It is sometimes also called stitched weaving.
Weavers in Niue mainly use laufā (pandanus leaves), kā niu (coconut leaf mid-ribs), laniu (coconut leaves) and kala fou (fou fibers). Niue weavers in New Zealand obtain these traditional materials from Niue but they also use harakeke in place of laufā. Weavers also today use modern materials such as plastic strips, plastic bread bags, raffia, wool and string.
Carving:
Carvers make nafa (wooden slit drums from the wood of several different kinds of trees in Niue including the kieto and the telie. They also use New Zealand woods, such as tōtara. If you wander down the sea tracks you will pass small canoes or vaka which the local men use for fishing. Decades ago the arrival of dinghies almost saw the end of traditional vaka building but a handful of master carers still create new ones to order. Young boys in Niue learn to carve while at school and will often create a vaka as a project.
Hiapo:
“Hiapo” is the word for barkcloth or tapa in the language of Niue. Most known pieces of hiapo were produced in the mid to late nineteenth century and are now housed in various museum collections all over the world. Niueans made hiapo by felting and layering pieces of tapa cloth together. By the late 1800’s they had created their own indigenous style of decoration using free hand drawing and applying dye. The dyes were extracted from trees or plants. Hiapo makers incorporated motifs and designs representing shapes of plants and humans into their compositions which show human interaction with the natural environment.
Monday 19 October 2020
Niuean History and Art History
Niuean History
Sourced from Kiddle and Kahn-Academy
Facts:
Niue is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It is 2,400 kilometres north west of New Zealand. Niue is often referred to as the “Rock of Polynesia.” The capital city of Niue is Alofi and the population is 1,626 people.
Brief history:
Niue was settled by Polynesians from Samoa around 900 AD and further settlers arrived from Tonga in the 16th century. The first European to sight Niue was Captain James Cook in 1744, he made three attempts to land in Niue but was refused entry by the people of Niue. No visitors followed Captain Cook for decades until 1830 with the arrival of the London Missionary Society. In the late 1800’s Niue reached out to Queen Victoria to help as they believed their island nation would be taken over by other settlers. A British Protectorate was put in place however Niue was brought within the boundaries of New Zealand on 11th June 1901 which limited the island to the coordinates of its area. Self government was restored by New Zealand in 1974 where Niue chose to self govern the county. Niue is now a free governing state in free association with New Zealand. New Zealand conducts most diplomatic relations on behalf of Niue.
Hiapo: Niuean bark cloth
Little is known about early Niuean bark cloth or hiapo. The missionaries that arrived in 1830 from the London Missionary society brought with them Samoan missionaries who are believed to have introduced bark cloth to Niue. The earliest examples of hiapo were collected by missionaries and are dated to the second half of the nineteenth century. Niuean ponchos (tiputa) collected during this time are based on a style that had been previously introduced to Samoa and Tahiti. It is believed Niueans had a native tradition of bark cloth prior to the arrival of missionaries to the island nation.
In the 1800’s a distinctive style of hiapo decorations emerged that incorporated fine lines and new ideas. Hiapo from this time are illustrated with complicated and detailed geometric designs. The patterns were composed of spirals, squares, triangles and concentric circles. A recurring pattern (motif) decreased in size from the border to the centre of the art work. Niueans created naturalistic motifs and were the first Polyneasians to introduce depictions of human figures into their bark cloth. Some hiapo examples include writing which is usually names which run along the edge of the overall design.
Friday 16 October 2020
Who are the Māori people?
Who are the Māori people?
Sourced from Te Ara
The Māori people of Aotearoa (New Zealand) are descendants of Polynesian peoples who settled in New Zealand over 700 years ago.
Historians and tribal elders often debate the exact date and the number of waka that travelled here, and again there is much discussion and debate about precisely where these ancestors came from. Some argue that they made their way from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands group; others say they left from Raiatea, in the Society Islands. There are some similarities in language that suggest a link between the people of these islands and New Zealand.
According to oral tradition (sharing and retelling history through storytelling), some canoes landed on the East Coast of the North Island. Whangaparāoa, at the very eastern tip of the Bay of Plenty, is often called the ‘landing place of numerous canoes’, including the famous Tainui and Te Arawa. Another canoe, Mataatua, made its landing at the mouth of the Whakatāne River.
Early settlements were often at harbours or the mouths of rivers – close to the sea, with good access to fishing and shellfish grounds. There was extensive hunting of seals and the large flightless bird, the moa.
Pre-European Māori culture was oral, and tribal histories were passed down generation and generation, these were based on whanau, tribes, ancestors, and the land.
Art, Tattoos and carvings became another very important way to tell these stories. Often a carving could represent important tribal histories, or symbols of great stories and legends. Tattoo (or Tā moko) was another way for people to carry these stories with them, and honour them.
Symbolism and Meaning
Meaning and symbols
Māori art including: carving, tattoo, weaving was used for both decorative purposes and storytelling. Carvings could honor key members of a tribe or their ancestors, while tattoos could also often represent family and heritage.
However many of the patterns or symbols can represent other more specific or sometimes more generic things.
Pakati: Dog skin cloak, representative of warriors/battles/courage and strength.
Hikuaua: Representative of Taranaki (a region of New Zealand) as well as prosperity, mackerel tail.
Unaunahi: Fish scales that represent abundance and health.
Ahu ahu mataroa: Shows talent and achievement in athleticism or sport and can also be representative of a new challenge.
Thursday 15 October 2020
Wednesday 14 October 2020
Tuesday 13 October 2020
Monday 12 October 2020
Thursday 1 October 2020
The Adventures Of Me & My Family
Today we went on a trip, so I decided Holiday Blogging. It was so so much fun, I found this topic very fascinating not as I had expected it to be! #It was very supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!! <3 ;) =) o:
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