Toi Maori: The Eternal Thread features more than 100 traditional and contemporary woven items from New Zealand collections, including visually stunning cloaks woven from native plants and the feathers of native New Zealand birds.
The Maori exhibition was organized by the Pataka Museum of Arts and Culture in Porirua City, New Zealand, where it was first exhibited in 2004, in partnership with Toi Maori Aotearea-Maori Arts New Zealand, and supported by a major grant from Te Waka Toi/Creative New Zealand. It is one of several "Maori Art Meets America" cultural events taking place in the United States during 2005-2006.
In the 1950s, New Zealand witnessed a major revival of traditional Maori weaving initiated by a new generation of Maori weavers including Dame Rangimarie Hetet, Diggeress Te Kanawa, Te Aue Davis and Puti Rari, among others. In addition to several traditional kakahu (cloaks) created over the past 20 years, such as those woven by artists Kohai Grace and Maureen Lander, the exhibition honors a new generation of artists who have created innovative works of art anchored in the concepts, materials and techniques of the past ... [read on] (Excerpted from Brush Strokes)
Exhibition itinerary:
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, August 5-14, 2005
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon, September 23-December 22, 2005
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, February 4-May 29, 2006
Museum of Warm Springs, Warm Springs, Oregon, June 4-September 5, 2006
Related publication:
The Eternal Thread by Ranui Ngarimu and Miriama Evans (Huia Publishers, 2005)
More on Maori weaving (caveat surf-or):
harakeke weaving (from Ngati Mutunga web site)
raranga - the art of weaving
taniko weaving (Judy Shorten)
flax weaving (Fernwood Nursery)
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