The Importance of Remembering

MATARIKI 2013

This exhibition opened to a roaring start on Saturday 8th June. Do come and see this show of beautiful artworks, it will lift your spirits on a winter’s day !

Artists help kick off Maori New Year

by Peter de Graaf Northern Advocate, Saturday June 1.

Matariki, the Maori New Year, will be marked in Kerikeri with an exhibtion featuring many of Northland’s leading artists. The Importance of Remembering opens at Kaan Zamaan on Saturday June 8th, with a preview from noon to 4pm. Among the pieces on show will be a bronze maquette ( model ) made in 1990 by Chris Booth of his Rainbow Warrior Memorial at Matauri Bay.

Also up for sale is another Booth maquette called ” Islands”, consisting of five moveable bronze elements and made in 2003. If it sells, the artist’s proceeds will go to Fish Forever, a group dedicated to marine conservation in the Bay of Islands.

Other standouts include a series of black and white portraits of Maori by Whangaroa photographer Tracey Stevens. Waitangi artist Paitangi Ostick — known for her ta moko, weaving and carving– takes an unusual place in the show because she is an exhibiting artist and the subject of several artworks. On show will be her wood and whalebone carvings, a feather kete and a taniki  ( small cloak ) , as well as striking photos by Stevens of her tattooed face, back and bottom.

The show’s strong Maori theme is continued with a puriri carving by Rawene art tutor Will Ngakuru and weaving by Heiwari Johnson ( Kohukohu ) and Sue Foster ( Kaitaia ).

Other artists, working in everything from glass to paint, include Russell photographer Laurence Aberhart, Richard Adams, Rachel Miller, Beverley Cox, Mary McKay, Bill Snider, Dulcie Draper and Ngawha inmate MTK. The show will run until August 31.