Collaborative Projects

Toi Whakataa Maori Print Collective

Toi Whakataa is a Maori print collective consisting of a group of artists sharing ideas and knowledge working together to support the medium of print and to display refreshing new artwork that challenges contemporary thinking in the realms of Maori art. The group try to catch up at least twice a year for a Hui and a kai and all members are committed and supportive of the direction and the vision of Toi Whakataa.

The group is diverse and most of the artists have multi discipline practice combining carving, weaving, painting and installation asides from strong components of print.
The first collaborative process to date has been the print exchange with a portfolio collated by Joseph Velasquez, University of Wisconsin and Vanessa Edwards, Whanganui Print studio UCOL. This portfolio was accepted to be shown at the Southern Graphics Council International Print Conference to be held at the University of Madison Wisconsin in April 2006. It was an opportunity for New Zealand printmakers to participate in conjunction with American and other indigenous printmakers through this show.

Details: Crosspolynations: Weaving ~ Raranga
The theme of the conference is Gentic Imprints, how new ideas in technology and gentics affects our quality of life now and in the future, topics related to this a diverse and varied and include such issues as identity, replication, adaption, economics, eugenics, AIDS, duplication, gender, sexuality, cloning, inheritance, sequencing, hybridization, race, transformation and homeland security etc, this conference is an oppurtunity to reflect on the current and future condition of humanity and printmaking.
To check out more about the conference go to www.art.wisc.edu and go to sgc 2006)

Our portfolio is entitled CROSSPOLYNATIONS: Weaving / Raranga and will explore the ideas above from a cultural identity perspective. We want to create a dialogue weaving together ideas from across the world to be experienced by each artist and those attending the conference. How do new ideas in Technolgy and genetics effect our sense of cultural identity now and in the future? How can we sustain our sense of cultural identity against the ever changing world?
Edition; 25
Paper Size: 11 x 14 inches
Deadline: 20th Febuary 2006

There will be ten artists from America and Ten from New Zealand to Participate. Each artist participating will receive a box set of the collection once they are collated and put together. The remaining sets will be placed in collections both here and in America and wil be shown at the print conference in April. I have yet to receive the list of artists from the states but those on my list include

Marty Vreede
Faith Mc Manus
Gabrielle Belz
Simon Kaan
Chelsea Gogh
Susan Elliot
Alexis Neal
Vanessa Edwards
Anna Marie White
Sam Farquar

The outcome of the United States conference proved to a valuable experience and from this other opportunities have been put forward to the Toi Whakataa group for 2007. The goals for Toi Whakataa for 2007 are to achieve a group show at the start of the year, show casing our diverse experiences, heritage and representing our individual professional practices. The second opportunity is for a select few to make a trip back to the States to work and exhibit at the greens gallery studio in Santa Fe for a week in July 2007.

Traces of the Past ~ The Lane Gallery, Jun 2006

In essence, Traces of the Past explores conceptual and narrative threads by artists whose works discuss issues of heritage, constructed identity, nostalgic memories, and a sense of place. These images conjure up sentimental yearnings from the past.

The traditions that have been handed down the generations to be continued through family history can often be lost; and it can be the little things that we often hold dear.

Images, memories and traces of the past are things that shape who we are and often give us a sense of belonging. The things we identify with as being part of our history, sometimes are far removed from our generation.

This group exhibition is an opportunity to investigate a Cross pollination of ideas that explores identity perspectives, historical and cultural heritage that is characteristic of an artist own personal journey. Weaving together new ideas from the past to create a dialogue that challenges social perceptions in the present.

A slight glimpse into oneself, where dual identity and relationships are bound to the past creating a fusion and a new cultural heritage. An awareness of a sense of place and or a displacement occurs we identify our roots in a place removed from home. It can be a reaction to a space in time and place that is sometimes out of reach but near in our memories.

It has been said that Rodney Fumpston prints conjure up a sense of place ‘of homeland’ and the use of personal possessions have had a compelling role to play in his art. Influenced by travel and experiences abroad Fumpston prints speak strongly of home. Clear examples of these themes can be found in works such as Home sick Berlin, Pacific woodcuts and his latest series, Mediated Memories. ‘Conversation’ a simple woven pacific mat image which circular pattern spreads across the entire surface deeply embossed, suggests perhaps the exchange of stories by those who sit on the mat. Individual experiences and heritage have informed Rodney’s work, expressing a strong representation of cross - cultural relationships and origins that are bound, pieced and layered together to tell a new story evident in ‘Pacific Story’. His sensibility to his native lands captures the essence of a sense of place so personal to the artist. Images and motifs are used as icons, but also have been used as quotations or a comment on issues located in contemporary New Zealand Art.

Tracey Williams attention to detail and juxtaposition of constructed imagery are elegant in their execution but more importantly thought provoking. Tracey’s works stem from a fascination with ideology and its shaping of social fantasy, and the consequent imagery reflecting their identity. We are presented with a cross pollination of ideas that demand the viewer to question or define their own personal identity or masquerade of the ‘self and their sense of ‘reality’ in the everyday. “The work in this show refers to the ‘self’ as a collaged object – a woven juncture of reverie, sub-culture, larger-than-life fantasy, tradition and the utterly banal – based on culturally codified ideologies that provide the co-ordinates of our desires.

These works are a selection of appropriated and deconstructed imagery sourced from everyday events and critically bending and juxtaposing stereotypical codes- modern mythology and subcultures together to address the escapist fantasies from which society defines themselves.

Customary dress, decorated weaponry, feathered cloaks, head dresses, and amulets, are often designed for protecting oneself from bad spirits, worn in ceremonial occasions and rituals or worn in battle to attract the enemy. Elaborately constructed costumes have the same desired effect displaying a flight of fantasy and attention to detail in the fine workmanship. What defines these garments is that each holds significant narratives to a place of origin and a place within a historical context that don’t often share society’s constructed ideologies.

Obscure and transparent layers of memory or events in history can be a dialogue or portal to the past. New stories passed down from generation to generation are essential to oral traditions.

Lily Aitui Laita has focused much of her practice on words as metaphor, layering and combining motifs, stories, legends and putting things together to create new directions and investigations. Lily’s subject matter has been sourced from historical, mythological, and scientific research to address the past; referencing Samoan beliefs, ideologies and actions that Samoan culture was founded upon. This large painted canvas ‘Susumai’ is a fantastic example of Lily’s ability to create ghostly bird like figures that elude the painted surface from what remains in the past, but suggests the past is ever present.

It talks about sustaining our sense of identity against a multicultural society that is rich and ever changing now and in the future? How we sustain it and position ourselves within it? Is the challenge? This group of artists have contributed a number of works that are compelling and very beautiful in their execution. Closely interconnected to review Traces of the Past, each artist is working with different surfaces that are constructed, layered, pieced, cut out and creating a marriage of imagery that celebrates the artist unique style and vision of their own personal investigations.

Alexis Neal’s works involve defining a place for women’s cultural identity and has predominantly looked at the duality of artefacts. Previous research has concentrated on areas of customary dress and the similarities between material cultures. Learning the traditional techniques of Taniko cloak weaving has been the pinnacle of her investigations and a very valuable part of representing that knowledge in a contemporary context. With a multicultural background her works discuss issues of cultural identity, personal adornment and Taonga.

Ancestral Threads and Threads of Knowledge have both been influenced by the Kahu huruhuru traditions, feather accessories and fashion garments sourced from different periods and cultures, showing strong similarities. These works on paper are a combination of transparent silkscreen prints with sewn feather work that references to the traditions of cloak patterning. Like most of the woven Taonga found in museum and private collections, these works too talk about the presence of the owner, hence reflecting their status and mana as a result of wearing the cloak.

The artist is aware of the birds’ status and significant role it has played in the folklore of many seemingly separate cultures. Seen as a messenger from the gods widely used as a narrative tool in mythology and symbolic of freedom the use of the bird has been used as a motif signifying oral traditions. This could also be said when making connections between each work, where the bird has been used as the messenger to define a number of conceptual threads that connect this body of artists together. One is the critical subjective research of the ‘self’. It demonstrates the deconstruction of a new language which is created through text and imagery and the cross examining of similarities between narrative and authorship. Perhaps more importantly is how we view the work.

Lonnie Hutchinson’s works have strong visual ties that are executed in minimalist design, similar to the repetitive patterns frequently found within a Samoan aesthetic. Lonnie also offers a balance between male and female, the past and the present. Her recent series of cut outs pays homage to the black veiled women at Sunday mass, pacific craftswomen, and her ancestral land. These cut out works are a nice representation of a simple construction where pattern extends its parameters through the reflection of light.

Slight glimpses of childhood memory and knowledge learnt over time can be seen in works by Faith McManus. A selection of monograph prints compliment each other as the narratives emerge through the surface. The narrative qualities are a mix between Maori mythology and childhood stories. One wonders if this human condition to convert back to childhood memories is a need to connect with familiar surroundings in search of comfort or a search for identity.

Subtle layering of image and surface leading you up the garden path are works by Felicity West. These two monograph prints have a jewel like quality embraced by a necklace of flora and fauna allowing us to explore the surface through the path.

“It was a body of work that paid homage to my parents, for providing such beautiful gardens for me to grow up in. The idea around the many paths provided…a path- way, morally and psychologically. These works were made after my father’s death in gratitude for the paths that we built together, physically and metaphorically.”

Felicity’s works have the quality of a utopian landscape or a retreat that one can loose oneself in. The soft serene green colour palette clouded in layers of transparency adds a layer of mystery shrouded in a nostalgic memory. Like Rodney, Felicity shows the ability to capture the essence of her surrounding landscapes. Her sublime built up surfaces illuminate through the broad bands of colour which create a shift in mood; that of a timeless or untouched land.

Traces of the Past is a mixed media exhibition where subject and narrative dominate the gallery space not weighted by discipline hierarchy, but left with the presence of oral traditions and conversations. “The things that are left unsaid and or left behind”.

A continuum of cultural expression and perceptions are what make up the strengths in this show. Individual artist’s coming together, bringing their own experiences and knowledge, to celebrate their own sense of place within a relative place and time.

Curated by Alexis Neal