BEAUTIFUL LARGE RED BEECH BURR BOWL

I've just done this stunning huge bowl. It's approx. 600mm long, 470mm wide, and 120mm deep. It had a little knot in the middle, so I've put a piece of paua in there. You could fit a lot of fruit in this one!

MATAU WITH POUNAMU

I was asked to do a sculpture for Pacifica Restaurant in Napier, who were voted the best restaurant in Hawkes Bay last year. Jeremy and Rebecca Rameka are the owners. Jeremy, who is Maori of Ngati Tuwharatoa descent, is the head chef. They have a space where they had a very nice, but Indonesian carving, and wanted something New Zealand, and to reflect the name of the restaurant. I chalked out quite a few potential carvings, before getting to work on on a couple. One is a long and slender whale tail; a bit differnet because of it's length. I made it tall to match the size of the carving it was to replace. The other was a matau, or fish hook in a traditional Maori style, but made from a very old piece of red beech, so looks, when finished, like an artefact. At about 600mm high, both fitted their space perfectly.

I created an eye, and then thought I might as well put some rope there, so got my daughter Tash to weave me some rope out of flax, again in the traditional Maori style. I've got a mate up North, Kerry Strongman, who does this and attatched burr wood sinkers. I've been doing some greenstone (pounamu) carving lately, so thought why not add a pounamu sinker? (talking with Jeremy about his Maori ancestry inspired this). I had a beautiful little river worn stone just the right size in my collection, so I carved a notch all the way around the stone, again as the Maori used to to create their sinkers, and attatched it to the rope.

They took the Matau, so now it is in pride of place in the best restaurant in Hawks Bay, and I have a new whale tail for sale.

NEW DOLPHIN

At last I have something new to write about. Sorry, I've been having a bit of a break over Christmas/ New Year, and enjoying my time with my family, but I have just completed a beautiful new dolphin. A good size to tansport, at about 50cm long, I have carved it out of red beech. Many of the pieces I do are carved from a piece of driftwood that may suggest the carving to me, but in this case, it looked nothing like it. See the next one lined up in the background!

Uenuku

Uenuku means rainbow (four rays going up, with the three gaps, making the seven rays of a rainbow) and is a Maori God. Uenuku was a man in his life, and became a rainbow in the afterlife. He was inspired by the great 12thc. Tainui artefact of the same name who is housed in the Te Awamutu museum, which is close to where I was brought up. Ever since I first saw it, I've always loved it. As you can see, kids love it too. That's my gorgeous grand daughter, Ashley-Rose Linda Etu Marama Cooper.

Pania of the Reef

Well, here she is at last! I did a matau (fish hook) which I posted on October 28th. In it's raw state, I'd sawn it down the centre. I was going to do two the same - mirror images of each other, but this one then morphed into - this!

So she's a fish hook - beautiful, hooks men in. She's Pania of the Reef. We look out on this reef, and there's a local legend that goes wth it. Pania lived out there - in the ocean, then met a man and they fell in love. She came to live on shore, and they had a son. But Pania couldn't bear to be away from the ocean, so she moved back there. Apparently if you go out to the reef, you can see her on the ocean floor.

So I've done her as a mermaid. I think she must have been one, if she lived in the ocean and on land, and local Maori who I have shown this to (and I have another Pania who I've done as a mermaid) have told me - "Well, yes, she was!"

Koru Manawa

I split a whales tooth down the middle to form two pendants. Each one I carved with koru so they are mirror images of each other. Koru are fern fronds, meaning new life. If you put the two together, the opposing koru form hearts, or manawa. I then cut a red beech burr in half, and carved out spaces to insert the pendants into the base. On the lid, I caved a manawa (heart), and you can see how the two koru form the manawa. So we have two halves, new life forming a heart - the ultimate wedding gift.

It is at Otarere Maori Arts and Crafts, which is located at 577 State highway 1, just north of Otaki and is run by Cheryl, Coral and Henry. They're really nice, so call in and see them (look for the marae style building, with some wicked carvings) or phone them on (06) 3679317 or a/h on 027 736 6229. They also have a beautiful red beech burr bowl with a paua inlay of mine there.

New Matau

I've just finished a great matau (fish hook), and am putting the finshing touches on another. The matau is an old Maori symbol, which is in common use today, often as pendants. The matau is the symbol of prosperity and abundance (fish were abundant in those days!), and because fishermen were the hunter gatherers on the ocean, matau also symbolise courage and protection on, and near water.

At the top, I've put a koru, or fern frond, which symbolises new life, and the negative space between the shaft and the hook also forms a koru.

The matau is made from red beech, and has the most amazng fiddleback (shimmies) in it.

This sculpture, in it's raw state, was quite thick, so I split it down the middle. I was going to do two the same; mirror images of each other, but the second piece has morphed into something quite different, but it's not quite finished yet, so you're going to have to wait for that one.

This one has a very different texture on each side, as one side came from the outside, and one from the middle. The outside side, I've left much of it in it's natural state, but the other side really shows off the fiddleback amazingly.

I've put it on a stand, but left it so it can be removed from the stand, and I've applied felt to the inside of the stand so it doesn't damage the matau. Ive done all of this so that the buyer has the option of leaving it in the stand, or taking it out and hanging it on the wall, showing off whichever side they prefer. The stand itself is a beautiful piece of wood, made from pohutukawa.

I've just delivered it to Kura Gallery in Lower Albert St., Auckland Ph +64 (09) 302 1151 e: auckland@kuragallery.co.nz.