KeteKekeKoru
Acrylic on board
600mm
SOLD (
KārikiorangiKoru
Acrylic on board
800mm
SOLD
PounamuKeteArohui
Acrylic on board
400mm x 400mm
SOLD
PātikiKoru
Acrylic on board
800mm
SOLD
TaimamaKeteKoru
Acrylic on board
600mm round
SOLD
Koru
T
āniko
Acrylic on wooden board
300mm round
SOLD
TānikoKowhaiwhai
Acrylic on board
600mm
SOLD
Whā Tāniko
Wha Taniko is inspired from a taniko pattern.
Taniko is a uniquely Maori variation of whatu (twining) and is used to weave the colourful, intricate borders of cloaks. In cloak-making, tāniko is used only for borders since the weave is too stiff to suit entire garments.
Acrylic on plywood board
500x500mm
SOLD
KeteTāniko
Featured in my blog.
Acrylic on wooden box + muka
SOLD
KoruKete
Acrylic on board
300mm
SOLD
NZTāniko
This is very different to what I usually do and how I usually paint. Inspired from a tāniko weave pattern and the 1974 NZ Commonwealth Games logo, I’ve always loved the retro design. I’ve collaborated the two designs together and I’m really pleased with the result.
Sold NZTāniko to Tile Trends and they printed this on the back of tee shirts for there tilers to wear nationwide.
Acrylic on Plywood board
500x500mm
SOLD
WhāKoruKete
Acrylic on board
300mm
SOLD
Kete Aronui
This was gifted to a special friend for her birthday. I always feel nervous when giving a painting as a gift… glad she loves it.
Also the cover for the book A Māori Phrase a Day by Hemi Kelly that will be published in January 2020
Acrylic on plywood board
400x400mm
Private collection
TāniKouraKoru
Acrylic on board
800mm round
SOLD
KowhaiwhaiTāniko
Acrylic on board
400x400mm
SOLD
Stairway to Heaven
This painting is inspired from the Poutama tukutuku pattern, also to be known as Stairway To Heaven. Poutama (step-like pattern) has both religious and educational meanings. The steps symbolise levels of attainment and advancement. In this painting,
In this painting I visualised ascending up through rangi to reach heaven.
Acrylic on Plywood board
400x400mm,
SOLD
KoruNZTāniko
Colours from my wharenui
Acrylic on wooden board
400x400mm
SOLD
Pātiki
Inspired from the Pātiki tukutuku panel - Pātiki or pātikitiki (flounder) designs are based on the lozenge or diamond shape of the flounder fish. They can be quite varied within the basic shape. According to Ngāti Porou tradition, the pātikitiki significance relates to being able to provide 100% - not only for the husband, or the whānau, but for the whole iwi. It acknowledges the fact that women were always looking for ways to supplement their food supplies, even in the dark when the flounders came, while their men were sound asleep.
Acrylic on Plywood panel
300x500mm
SOLD
Koura Tāniko
Koura (Gold) Taniko is inspired from a taniko pattern.
Taniko is a uniquely Maori variation of whatu (twining) and is used to weave the colourful, intricate borders of cloaks. In cloak-making, tāniko is used only for borders since the weave is too stiff to suit entire garments..
I donated this painting to Little Sprouts Charity. Sold this in the art auction at Pataka Art + Museum
Acrylic on board
800mm x 200mm
SOLD
nztaniko
Sold many paintings of this same design in this size in a variety of different colours.
Acrylic on Plywood board
300x300mm
SOLD
Tahoraiti
Going back to my wharenui (meeting house) recently meant I was able to do some research... I learnt that my original wharenui, Aotea was originally in Tahoraiti, Dannevirke. Built in 1893, it was one of the biggest wharenui in New Zealand. As it was rundown and needed repair, they decided to move and rebuilt Aotea wharenui in Mākirikiri, Dannevirke in 1967. This painting is inspired from the pattern of the heke tipi area of the wharenui that was once in Tahoraiti.
Acrylic on plywood board
500x500mm
SOLD
Poutama
This pattern represents the staircase that the god Tane climbed to heaven to get the three baskets of knowledge for the Maori people. Tane is the god who pushed father sky and mother earth apart, so that sunlight could come between them, and thus plants and animals could grow. After he had created food, Tane created man. Tane felt that man needed knowledge too so he set out to find this knowledge. Tane climbed the highest staircase to heaven and it was there that he found the three baskets (kete) of knowledge that he brought back for man.
Acrylic on wooden board
900x300mm
SOLD
Pātiki Matariki | Waitangi
I’ve called this Pātiki Matariki, as I’ve incorporated 7 stars in this painting. Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars known as the Pleiades. When it rises in the north-eastern skies in late May or early June, it signals to Māori that the New Year will begin. In one tradition, Matariki is the whaea (mother) surrounded by her six daughters, Tupu-a-nuku, Tupu-a-rangi, Waitī, Waitā, Waipuna-a-rangi and Ururangi... I’ve put Matariki in the middle of this painting, surrounded by her daughters.
This particular Patiki tukutuku pattern displays a group of star near the Milky Way known as the “Coal Sack” This pattern portrays fine weather and good relationships. Pātiki (flounder) designs are based on the lozenge or diamond shape of the flounder fish. They can be quite varied in the basic shape. According to Ngāti Porou tradition, the pātikitiki significance relates to being able to provide 100% - not only for the husband, or the whānau, but for the whole iwi. It acknowledges the fact that women were always looking for ways to supplement their food supplies, even in the dark when the flounders came, while their men were sound asleep.
Acrylic on wooden board
300x900mm
SOLD
Porourangi Poutama | Waitangi
Porourangi Poutama, another tuktutuku design from the Wharenui at Waitangi. Porourangi Poutama a tukutuku design introduced by Sir Apirana Ngata, representing the famous ancestor Pororangi of the Tairawhiti (Gisborne) district - Porourangi was himself descended from important ancestors. One was Māui, who according to tradition fished up the North Island. This whakapapa (genealogy) shows the line of descent from Māui through Toi and Paikea to Porourangi.
Acrylic on board
300x900mm
SOLD
Pātikitiki | Waitangi
Pātiki (flounder) tukutuku design from the Wharenui at Waitangi | Pātiki or pātikitiki (flounder) designs are based on the lozenge or diamond shape of the flounder fish. They can be quite varied in the basic shape. According to Ngāti Porou tradition, the pātikitiki significance relates to being able to provide 100% - not only for the husband, or the whānau, but for the whole iwi. It acknowledges the fact that women were always looking for ways to supplement their food supplies, even in the dark when the flounders came, while their men were sound asleep.
Acrylic on wooden board
300x900mm
SOLD
Pou Tangata | Waitangi
Pou Tangata represents the many people who have lived in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). I’ve painted the X’s in to represent the people of Tāmaki Makaurau.
Inspiration from the Pou Tangata tukutuku pattern from the Wharenui at Waitaingi, I feel these tukutuku panel designs are special, as they don't only represent only one iwi (tribes) they represent all iwi in New Zealand.
Tukutuku - Ornamental lattice-work - used particularly between carvings around the walls of meeting houses. Tukutuku panels consist of vertical stakes (traditionally made of kākaho), horizontal rods (traditionally made of stalks of bracken-fern or thin strips of tōtara wood), and flexible material of flax, kiekie and pīngao, which form the pattern. Each of the traditional patterns has a name.
(Tukutuku patterns vary considerably from iwi to iwi throughout the land. Certain designs are associated with particular iwi, some may have different names in different regions, or the names may be spelled in various ways. Many forms are related to mythologies, the stories about them vary from iwi to iwi)
Acrylic on board
300x900mm
SOLD
Double Poutama
This is inspired from my original wharenui in Tahoraiti that no longer exists. My Auntie informed me that Aotea in tahoraiti didn't have any fancy carvings and tukutuku panels in our tahoraiti wharenui. But looking at an old photo that was displayed on the wall in the makirikiri Wharenui, shows that in the far distance of the photo is large poutama tukutuku panels. I felt passionate about painting this, as the old tahoraiti site is where my Mother and Sister are buried close.
Acrylic on Plywood board
500x500mm
SOLD
Whanau Ribs
This is the pattern from Kaokao pattern - human ribs/armpit tukutuku panel - this painting is titled... Whanau Ribs. The largest gold pattern represents the Father (head of the house) and the other gold patterns directly above is the Mother and the one directly below is the Daughter, represents the whanau/family. With the whanau losing their beloved husband/Father resently, I felt this was the perfect painting to gift. With the Father not here he will always be part of them, holding them together still.
I put the Father pattern on the left side of the painting, I told the daughter that I put him there is because when she holds the painting, he is there protecting her heart…
Acrylic on Plywood board
400x400mm,
Gifted
poutama
My very first painting I sold : )
The painting above shows the stepped poutama pattern. It symbolises the growth of man, striving ever upwards.
In meeting houses, the panels are usually mirror imaged (a reflection) so that the steps climb upwards from both sides to reach the top at the centre. The poutama (step-like pattern) has both religious and educational meanings. The steps symbolise levels of attainment and advancement. At one time, the poutama was the only pattern used in tukutuku.
Acrylic on Plywood board
400x400mm,
SOLD
Roimata Toroa | Taku (my) Tears
This is inspired from a tukutuku Design, Roimata Toroa (albatross tears) has alternate parallel rows in vertical blocks, while in a similar Whanganui design was shown as tuturu (leaking water) or turuturu (falling raindrops).
In the Ngāti Porou story of how the kumara came to New Zealand, the ancestor Pourangahua left his wife on the East Coast when he returned to Hawaiki to obtain the tubers. There, his tohunga Ruakapanga not only gave him baskets containing the kumara tubers but also two sacred birds, to help him return. He instructed Pourangahua that he must give prayers of thanksgiving on his safe arrival back in New Zealand, as well as prayers for the safe returns urn of the sacred birds back to Hawaiki, and for a bountiful kumara harvest. However, in his joy at being reunited with his beautiful wife, Pouranahua forgot his instructions. Later, he found the albatross birds weeping, their tears falling onto their breasts. One had been crying so long that its tears were just dripping, short tears. The other cried long tears - roimata toroa. Accordingly, for Ngāti Porou, the Roimata Turutururoimata turuturu design shows long and short tears.
My tears are from the loss of my Mother and Sister recently, as they will never return.
Acrylic on Plywood board
400x400mm,
Private collection
KeteAronui
Acrylic on board
500mm x 500mm
SOLD