Typically featured in the whare whakairo (decorated meeting house) on the heke (rafters), kōwhaiwhai is an art form that is distinctively Māori, and unique to Aotearoa New Zealand. Issued to coincide with the dawn of Māori New Year, the Matariki 2015 stamp issue celebrates this ancient art form in a more contemporary setting.
In this post I have shown the full set below so you an get an over-view of the designs. Further down we will feature each of the six stamps with more detailed notes on each artist. (Current images will be replaced when better ones become available.) Next there is an area of other items of interest, including the usual Miniature Sheet and First Day Covers. At the bottom just above the Technical Information is a 1988 issue that also featured Kowhaiwhai.
In this post I have shown the full set below so you an get an over-view of the designs. Further down we will feature each of the six stamps with more detailed notes on each artist. (Current images will be replaced when better ones become available.) Next there is an area of other items of interest, including the usual Miniature Sheet and First Day Covers. At the bottom just above the Technical Information is a 1988 issue that also featured Kowhaiwhai.
These six stamps below will be replaced by better images in a few months time.
Kōwhaiwhai - Maori Rafter Paintings.
On thing the Maori people of New Zealand need to celebrate is their rich heritage and culture. One thing the people of New Zealand need to celebrate is the steady stream of Maori artists who, while remaining focused on their Maori heritage, are adding to the richness of New Zealand culture as well. The stamps were designed by Rangi Kipa and Roy McDougall, and feature artworks from six accomplished Māori artists
Kōwhaiwhai represents not only the natural world, but ancestry and genealogy. Kōwhaiwhai patterns adorning Wharenui (meeting houses) in different regions have different meanings, but each pattern has a deep spiritual significance and represents the mana (prestige) of the artist and their ancestors. Each of the artworks depicts kōwhaiwhai in a unique way and has been chosen with the guidance of Toi Māori Aotearoa - Māori Arts New Zealand.
The work of six Maori artists are featured in this issue are more contemporary than the traditional kōwhaiwhai seen below in the Maori Rafter Paintings issue. Personally we all have our opinions and favourites but in some cases I struggle to see how these designs could ever find its way on to the rafters of a meeting house.
The Stamps.
80c - Johnson Witehira / Digiwhaiwhai'
Johnson Witehira is an artist and designer of Tamahaki (Ngāti Hinekura), Ngā Puhi (Ngai-tū-te-auru), Ngāti Haua and New Zealand European descent. He graduated from the Whanganui School of Design in 2004, going on to complete his Masters in 2007. His interest in Māori art and design led him to Te Pūtahi-a-Toi (School of Maori Studies, Massey University) where he completed his doctorate in Māori design. In his research, Tārai Kōrero Toi: Articulating a Māori Design Language, Witehira developed a platform for contemporary Māori design practice through the exploration of traditional carving.
Johnson Witehira’s work has a strong aesthetic that comes from combining traditional Maori form and pattern with ideas from graphic design and contemporary Western arts practice. Through his numerous projects he looks to develop indigenous and Maori design in the areas of typography, graphic, product, packaging and fashion design. In this way Johnson Witehira creates new and innovative kōwhaiwhai designs which incorporate new techniques, materials and influences that have been applied to a variety of forms and spaces that are not exclusively Māori.
He has also been involved in the development of Māori design education through teaching and the development of new Maori-centred design programmes.
80c - Kura Te Waru Rewiri / Tenei au tenei au
(This is me, this is me)
Kura Te Waru Rewiri (born in Kaeo 1950) is a New Zealand artist, academic and educator of Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Rangi descent. In Te Puna, Māori Art from Te Tai Tokerau Northland, Deidre Brown writes,"Kura Te Waru Rewiri is one of Aotearoa New Zealand's most celebrated Māori women artists."
Kura experiments with the illusory qualities of kōwhaiwhai, the sense of movement and depth that is created through the use of positive and negative space. She uses transparent glazes to overlay various kōwhaiwhai designs. Symbols and techniques are drawn from traditional Māori art and custom in her works, such as Kowhaiwhai patterns, weaving imagery, and Tā moko patterns. In many of her works, her brushstrokes emulate the motions found in carving and weaving.
Kura's use of traditional Māori art combined with the techniques of contemporary art results in a contrast between new and old that has made her work distinctive and celebrated within New Zealand.
$1.40 - Kylie Tiuka / Haki from the series
Whakahokia mai te mauri.
Kylie Tiuka says her Tuhoe tupuna (ancestors) were the inspiration for turning her love of art since childhood into formal study for a university degree. Coming from Te Urewera area, she attended St Joseph’s Mäori Girls’ College in Napier before completeing a Diploma of Computer Graphic Design at the National College of Design and Technology in Wellington, then a Bachelor of Mäori Visual Art at Toimairangi – Te Wänanaga o Aotearoa in Hastings before enrolling at Massey and graduating with a Postgraduate Diploma of Mäori Visual Art.
Kylie Tiuka (Tūhoe) is a former student of Sandy Adsett and belongs to a new generation of Māori artists who incorporate kōwhaiwhai within their work. She admires the rhythm of customary kōwhaiwhai and strives to achieve the same degree of balance in her work. Tiuka draws inspiration from painting in the whare whakairo from her tribal region of Te Urewera.
Speaking about a recent exhibition of her work, Kylie says, “The works reflected the natural surroundings of the Urewera, the people, genealogy and histories of Tuhoe,”
$2.00 - Buck Nin / Banner Moon
from the series Land Protest 1975-1976 (reworked 1982)
Buck Nin (1942-1996, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa) was a central figure in the establishment of the contemporary Māori art movement in the 1960s. His paintings combine customary Māori arts with landscape and portraiture tō convey the strength and resolve of Māori culture in the modern period.
An artist, teacher, restorer of marae (communal meeting places), and organiser of exhibitions, Nin was a major force in contemporary Māori art.
In the stamp above, entitled Banner Moon, a landscape is seen through the lattice of a carved canoe prow.
$2.50 - Ngatai Taepa / Part of the Te Hatete o Te Reo series.
Ngātai Tāepa (Te Arawa, Te ātiawa) promotes the practice of kōwhaiwhai as a visual language and has advanced the tradition with a range of new, confident and complex designs. The artwork featured on this stamp is from a series called Te Hatete o Te Reo, which references a waiata (song) that encourages people to speak the Māori language.
The work of Ngatai Taepa includes installation works which look at contemporary issues within New Zealand society, as well as paintings that are fuelled by childhood fascination with kowhaiwhai (rafter patterns). Taepa completed his Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts in 2000 and his Masters in Maori Visual Arts in 2003, and is now a lecturer in the Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts programme at Massey University.
$3.00 - Sandy Adsett / Taona Marama (Night Lights of the City)
Sandy Adsett (Ngāti Kahungunu) has long been regarded as the artist most closely associated with modern kōwhaiwhai painting. Adsett has, however, consistently challenged the classic definition of kōwhaiwhai as a fixed and repeating pattern in the standard colours of red, black and white. Rather, he has drawn attention tō the wide range of colours used by the ancestral artists.
Sandy is one of the most influential artists working within Maoridom today. He has achieved this through his work in art education and as the founding chairman of Te Atinga, the contemporary Maori art committee of Toi Maori Aotearoa. He is currently the senior tutor at Toimairangi, Contemporary Maori Arts School, of Te Wananga o Aotearoa in Hastings.
Other items of interest.
First we have the
Above is the Miniature Sheet for this issue.
The Two First Day Covers.
Above is the cover showing the single stamps. Below is the miniature sheet cover.
1988 Maori Rafter Paintings.
This is not the first time that Maori Rafter Paintings (Kowhaiwhai patterns) has appeared on New Zealand stamps. In 1988, this four stamp issue showed four more traditional examples of Kowhaiwhai.
40c (left) - Mangopare / Hammer-head Shark / Strength.
40c (right) - Koru / Fern Sprout / New Life.
40c - Raupunga / Growth of Knowledge.
60c - Koiri / Breath of Life.
1988 40c Rafters block of 4 mint stamps with the top pair showing black colour drags.
1996 Maori Rafter Frama Stamps.
The final issue of New Zealand Frama Stamps featured a Maori Rafter Design (Kowhaiwhai) on its label paper.
Kowhaiwhai Designs on Definitive Stamps.
In 2003 NZ Post started using a Kowhaiwhai design across the top of the Scenic Series of definitive stamps. Later in 2014, this design was moved to the left-hand edge where it has appeared ever since.
Left-hand stamp: - $1.00 2003 Scenic Definitives, Coromandel Harbour.
Right-hand stamp: - $2.00 2014 Scenic Definitives, Mount Taranaki.
2015 - Technical information
Date of issue:
|
3 June 2015
|
|---|---|
Number of stamps:
|
Six self-adhesive stamps
|
Denominations:
|
80c (x2), $1.40, $2.00, $2.50 and $3.00
|
Stamps designed by:
|
Rangi Kipa and Roy McDougall
|
Printer and process:
|
Southern Colour Print Ltd by offset lithography
|
Number of colours:
|
Four process colours
|
Stamp size and format:
|
40mm x 30mm (horizontal and vertical)
|
Paper type:
|
Self-adhesive: Tullis Russell 210gsm PSA red phosphor stamp paper. Gummed miniature sheets: Tullis Russell 104gsm red phosphor gummed stamp paper
|
Number of stamps per sheet:
|
25
|
Perforation:
|
13.33 x 13.60 (Miniature Sheet)
|
Period of sale:
|
Unless stocks are exhausted earlier, these stamps will remain on sale until 2 June 2016. First day covers will remain on sale until 3 August 2015.
|
Some of the images and information in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their web site and On-line Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/
Comments
Post a Comment
We appreciate your engagement with our content. To ensure a respectful and constructive community, please take note of the following:
- No Spam, Please: We do not tolerate spammy or promotional comments. Any such comments will be promptly removed.
- Moderation in Place: All comments are moderated to maintain a positive and inclusive environment. Please be patient, as it may take a little time for your comment to appear.
- Sign In with Google: To comment, please sign in using your Google account. This helps us maintain the integrity of our community and allows for better interaction.