Aotearoa / New Zealand

Peter Hawkesby ✿ Building a heart basket - Lucy Hammonds writes about a New Zealand ceramicist whose work is grounded on the land he walks.
Whiria: Twisting together  - Karl Chitham bears witness to intricately woven works by Tyrone Te Waa that honour the Māori tradition of elevating the ancestors.
The sensory archive - Nina Finigan celebrates the grit that accompanies the documentation of potter Barry Brickell.
Stevei Houkāmau ✿ Clay as whakapapa - Zoe Black tracks the journey of Stevei Houkāmau in finding whakapapa connections through ceramics.
Ka rongo au: In response to senses - Rangimarie Sophie Jolley (Waikato-Tainui) and Sian Montgomery-Neutze (Muaūpoko, Ngai Tara) introduce the ways we sense Māori art.
Poi: The mesmerising sound of living taonga - For Isaac Te Awa, poi is not only an accessory for dazzling performances, it is also a traditional Māori instrument used for practical and cultural reasons in itself.
Voicing the winds: Kōea O Tāwhirimātea – Weather Choir  - Phil Dadson writes about the method of constructing aeolian harps that he developed for wind recordings across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa as part of the World Weather Network
Rēwena bread: A nourishing food with its own whakapapa - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna shares her love of Māori bread and its starter bug that is passed down through generations.
Taste and rongoā Māori: The art of experience - Arihia Latham describes the importance of taste as a life energy in rongoā, Māori medicine.
Neke Moa ✿ How to make deities for everyday use - We interview Neke Moa to learn about being a custodian of pounamu and how she uses it to connect with atua as guiding spirits.
Ropework: Soft garniture for life - Finn McCahon-Jones weaves a story around his artistic self, Finn Ferrier. An innocent exploration of knotting ends up as part of the treatment for a life-threatening illness.
From Aotearoa to Uzbekistan: New Zealand in the Zar Festival of Gold, Bukhara - Finn McCahon-Jones feels the vibe from New Zealand makers who participated in an epic celebration of opulence in Central Asia.
Martin Hill and Philippa Jones: Encircling the world - Alasdair Foster writes about the New Zealand duo that crafts emblematic shapes from the landscape to be captured by the camera.
Ka Taka Te Wā – Time Passed - Areta Wilkinson creates jewellery imprinted with stones from her whenua among the braided rivers of Canterbury.
The Svord Peasant Knife: Thanks to “Heavenly Blue Sky” - Bryan Baker recounts the day a Czech master arrived at his door and passed on the secrets that would enable him to develop the knife that is sold by hundreds of thousands around the world.
Tangimoe Clay ✿ Crafting the world on a string - For Keri-Mei Zagrobelna, Tangimoe Clay's poi evoke memories of crafting these Māori balls on a string out of found materials.
Tessa Aroha Harris ✿ Kōrimurimuri dreams - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna lies on the mat woven by Tessa Aroha Harris and dreams of the traditional Māori seaweed dish made by her grandmother.
Frances Stachl ✿ Cheer at hand in COVID times - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna finds an Aotearoa jeweller who can trigger a smile from new COVID rituals.
Lissy Cole ✿ The many faces of Te Ao Māori - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna is struck by the technicolour crochet wheku (faces) woven by Melissa and Rudi Cole, who live an equally colourful life.
Tamihana Katene ✿ taonga puoro - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna shares several powerful taonga puoro, traditional Māori instruments, made by Tamihana Katene.
Tongan designs for a safe pandemic voyage - Angus Gillies writes about traditional Tongan kupesi designs re-interpreted by Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows and Tui Emma Gillies for the COVID era. 
Whakahoki: Returning to the lunar cycle in Māori culture - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna evokes an ancestor spirit to protect against the chaos of the new moon
Mary Curtis ✿ The wood between our fingers slows us down - Mary Curtis explains how she has primed her jewellery to provide a tool for medication.
Māreikura: Exploring the goddess in Māori women - Neke Moa, adornment and object artist, describes how she explored the role and importance of wāhine (women) in the spiritual and physical world for her latest solo exhibition.
Isolation jewels: A well-made life - Vicki Mason "makes" the most of her time during 14-day quarantine, showing how a garland can invite imagination and create joy.
Ā Mua ✿ Crafting Aotearoa 2.0 - A dazzling new exhibition at the Dowse Art Museum features objects that look ahead to the past.
Ruth Woodbury ✿ A Māori-Salish encounter featuring salmon and cedar cloaks - The Maori weaver and educator Ruth Woodbury took the Toi Sqwigwialtxw residency run by Washington's Salish community. It revealed an extraordinary Moana connection.
Nikau Hindin ✿ A star compass that makes history - Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin created an installation Kāpehu Whetū, Star Compass at Auckland's Maritime Museum. This work uniquely draws on traditions of navigation across Moana with unfinished business from first encounters with European colonists.
Carried Away: A bag of the month - Held close to the body, whether slung askew across a shoulder or closely strapped to the back, bags are objects that have the ability to disappear right under our noses.
Uzbekistan and the promise of apple trees - The glass artist Layla Walter anticipates her travel to Uzbekistan, evoking memories of a childhood garden
Wanda Gillespie ✿ Abacus - Our January laurel goes to Wanda Gillespie's gorgeous abacus. She takes mathematics on a detour.
Art for whales ✿ A driftwood tribute from Golden Bay - Nicola Basham describes a community project to make sculptures out of driftwood to help in efforts to save beached whales.
The quilts of Jess and Cynthia Johnson: A mother-daughter partnership - Sophia Cai talks to mother and daughter about how they work together to create such vibrant art quilts.
The story behind Wellington’s Handshake - Helen Wyatt explores the enduring and successful Handshake project by Peter Deckers
Warp & Weft – a selection of textile-ish NZ artists - Garland was launched in Ōtautahi Christchurch with the exhibition Warp & Weft, which featured extraordinary textile-related works from artists in Aotearoa New Zealand. We'd like to share a selection of those works with you.
Yuka Oyama: Helpers – Changing homes 🎞️ - Yuka Oyama is producing a series of work "Helpers – Changing homes" in Wellington as part of a residency at Whiti o Rehua School of Art.
How to Make a Necklace from a Chair – Sarah Read - One of New Zealand's most interesting jewellers, Sarah Read has created a performance practice which explores the value of labour. In this project, she is stringing the polystyrene beads from a bean bag into an epic necklace form.
Knotting culture: the muka of Rowan Panther - Tryphena Cracknell considers the way Rowan Panther has interpreted the traditional muka fibre within the technique of lace-making.
Tending relations: Lisa Reihana’s lei epic - Tessa Laird takes a serious look at the cliché of the Pacific lei through the work of Lisa Reihana and her own experience as a wedding guest.
I like reality. It doesn’t terrify me. - Kristin D'Agostino seeks to identify a common element behind the surface in Aotearoa artists working with disparate media.
Weaving a koha - Māori weaver Kohai Grace describes how the koha of weaving is a continuous connecting of other generations.
Taurangi - Keri-Mei Zagrobelna writes about Taurangi, her jewellery work that embodies Māori values of honour.
Tears of Tāwhirimātea: carvings by Todd Couper - Karl Chitham reflects on the power of Māori mythology that Todd Couper is able to express in his carvings.
Knot Touch: From greenhouse to gallery - Jaqui Knowles explains the ways in which the NZ Maritime Museum has unraveled the potential of Jae Kang's tomato plant installation.
A visit to TÜR Studio - Jane Groufsky visited weaver Christopher Duncan and designer Joseph Yen in their welcoming TÜR Studio on K Road, Auckland.
Casting shadows: Areta Wilkinson and Mark Adams at the National - Harriet Litten reviews the exhibition by jeweller Areta Wilkinson and photographer Mark Adams that navigate biculturalism through an inventive combination of material and image.
Taonga and Photography in the Post-Treaty Settlement Era: A Case Study of Photograms by Mark Adams and Areta Wilkinson - Damian Skinner writes about the collaboration between jeweller Areta Wilkinson and photographer Mark Adams which use photograms as a way of "capturing" taonga.
My grandmother’s hands: Nina Oberg Alaifea and Stephanie Oberg - Nina Oberg visits the Avon Loop community and discovers the tīvaevae of Alaifea and Stephanie Oberg.
He tupare o ka kupu (a garland of words) 🎧 - Andrew Last reflects on his identity has an Australian manuhiri (guest) in the South Island of Aotearoa and how he has creatively responded to his new home.
Tuhirangi writes on the sky 🎧 - Making the pūtōrino Māori flute channels the wairua and the tapū, the sacred and the forbidden.
Talafungani Vea Garland ✿ Auckland: 9 December 2017 - Come along to launch Garland #9, featuring an online exhibition curated by Luisa Tora. Lots of karakia, garlanding, poems and talanoa.
The lei, the garland and the daisy chain - Fran Allison follows a path towards the Pacific lei via the European garland and doily
Moana issue #9 – December 2017 - The December 2017 issue #9 will focus on New Zealand / Aotearoa / Pacific / Moana. We hope to be a new space for gathering contemporary ways of making, particularly those that are not easily accommodated in the modernist studio model. As part of a journey across the region, this will be part of a broader conversation about ornament that includes space for exchange and dialogue. Within a modernist paradigm, objects are ideally encountered on a plinth in a gallery abstracted from their production or use. However, the value of objects often lies in their customary role within ritual practice, particularly gift exchange. When a guest arrives in a community, or a member returns after a long absence, there is sometimes […]
Pink Terraces - Dean Smith is a Castlemaine ceramicist and photographer whose work seeks to interpret landscape. The Pink Terraces series reflects on a distinct geographical feature of New Zealand, his home country.
Nature craft - The traditional story of craft as an art of civilisation involves controlling nature. Fibre is spun, wood is carved, metal is cast, glass is blown and clay is thrown. Making seems to involve an improvement in the otherwise formless quality of materials found in the environment. Natural substances are mastered in order to manipulate them into forms of useful beauty.
Second Home - Shelter is a key element of life on earth. Humans construct homes, birds weave nests, insects make cocoons, animals develop skin, sea creatures and nuts grow shells for protection.
Dear Adelaida - Dear Adelaida, Four years ago, I purchased one of your figurines in San Antonio, Texas, from a Mexican folk art store packed with the usual Frida shopping bags, wrestling masks, ceramic jugs and embossed tin picture frames.
Defining studio furniture down under - A summary of the studio furniture phenomenon in New Zealand including its beginnings, educational opportunities, exhibitions, and participants.
Tales of Wonderland: Schmuck aus Neuseeland – jewellery from Aotearoa New Zealand - Warwick Freeman and Karl Fritsch go on a fishing expedition for contemporary jewellery in New Zealand / Aotearoa
Ruth Castle, Basket Maker - Damian Skinner presents an iconic basket maker from New Zealander and considers her use of imported materials.