To celebrate the New Millenium the gallery held a sculpture symposium. Its broad theme was to share the myths and legends of the early Māori cultures with the visitors and locals to New Zealand. We wanted people to become aware of the deep spirituality and history that hundreds of generations had formed on this land.
The logs were kindly donated by Sally Austin and John Glasgow. The team of local and international artists were invited to sculpt the huge logs with chainsaws, chissells, sweat imagination and woodchips into their interpretation of the early Māori myths and legends. Each morning before work would commence a Karakia or prayer to allow the creative process to work through the carvers was performed. After many many weeks of work the placement of the sculptures was celebrated with a big feast and a blessing by Harvey Ru Ru.
Maui, being the trickster of the Gods, was not welcome to go fishing with his brothers. This did not deter him and he hid the Waka (Māori canoe) under some flax mats. He had with him the magical jawbone of his Grandmother to use as a hook. At dawn the brothers went out fishing but Maui went unnoticed. Fierce winds blew them offshore where they usually fished. Maui came out from his hiding place and cast his magical hook. It wasn't long before Maui felt a tug and a great weight on his line. When he started pulling it up his brothers became frightened and wanted Maui to cut the line with a stone adze. He refused and he pulled and he strained until a giant stingray surfaced from the murky depths. The greedy brothers jumped on the back of the giant fish and started cutting and fighting over it. The giant fish became the land and rough cuts on it's back became the jagged lines of mountain ranges. This is how Maui pulled up the North Island of New Zealand from the sea.
Timber is Macrocarpa weighing approximately 3.5 tons.
Carved by Ken Blum and Woody Woodward.
Maui decided he would get fire to warm his people. The Guardian of the fire was Maui's Grandmother who lived in a cave in the mountains. Maui visited his magical Grandmother. She had four fingernails that burned with the fire that Maui wanted. She gave Maui one finger nail and in his excitement to get home he tripped and fell into the river and extinguished the flame. Maui's Grantmother was quite annoyed when he returned asking for more fire but she gave him another fingernail and sent him on his way. Maui decided to walk back along the mountains far from the river but the wind was so strong that it extinguished the flame. Maui returned to his now very annoyed Grandmother who gave him her third fingernail of flame. Maui decided to stay away from the river and the mountains. He travelled back through the darkest thickest forest. Unfortunatly the air was so damp that it extinguished the flame once again. Maui's return to his Grandmother was met with fury and when she saw him she flung her fourth finger of flame straight at him which started the forest to burn. In this scuplture we see Maui fleeing the flames.
Timber is Macrocarpa weighing approximately 750 kg.
Carved by Chris Ramsay.
In Maori mythology, Hine Ahu One was the first human as well as the first woman crated. Her name means Woman Of The Sands. Towards the beginning of time, when only the immortal gods and the spirits of nature existed, it was decided amongst the gods that a quest should be undertaken to find the spirit of woman. Tane Mahatu, god of the forest and divider of the earth and heavens, was choosen to go. Before he began, he approached his mother Papatuanaku - Earth Mother, and asked her for advice. She told Tane to go and lay down with each of the feminine elements until he found one that would produce a human. Tane did as he was told and many beings were created, all of the trees and rocks and animals, but the spirit of woman remained hidden. He returned to the gods unsuccessful and was told taht only on the place called Kurawaka, where elements of virginity and fertility dwelt, could he reach his goal. When Tane finally came to this place he knelt down to his mother the Earth and from her flesh, the sand, he moulded a beautiful woman. Each of the gods gave their attributes to parts of her body and when they were done, Io the highest god, gave his 'Hau', a breath of pure lifeforce. This breath was carried by Rehua, the guardian, to Tane who brathed it into Hine Ahu One and thus was woman born. Hine danced for joy at her birth onto her new home between the earth and sky. Hine Ahu One and Tane Mahuta became the ancestors of the human race and all geneologies lead back to them.
Timber is Macrocarpa weighing approximately 2-3 tons.
Carved by Sebastian Bernhart.
Raukata-uri and Raukata-mea in Maori mythology are said to be the originators of games, music and dancing. Raukata-uri is usually the first mentioned of the two sisters and is often called the voice and the song of the forest. The Case moth is her flute and the sounds the forest her elusive music. In the story of Tinirau and Kae, Kae visits the sacred island Motu-Tapu for naming ceremony of Tinirau's son Tuhuruhuru. He is allowed to return home on the back of Tinirau's pet whale Tutunui. Kae wickedly betrays Tinirau, killing Tutunui at the shores of his homeland and feasting on the flesh of Tinirau's favourite pet. Tinirau smells the burning flesh of Tutunui and realises Kae's crime. He sends his two sisters in search of Kae to capture him and to revenge Tutuni's death. Raukata-uri and Raukata-mea travel Aotearoaas entertainers in search of the infamous Kea. In the last village they come to they perform a funny song and dance and they identify Kae by his crooked teeth when he laughs. They then give a sleeping charm, in the form of drink, to the people of the village. Kae wakes in the meeting house of Tinarau and knows that his time has come. He bows his head and is carried away and killed. So with cunning and crativity the two sisters were able to bring not only Kae but song and dance to their people.
Timber is Macrocarpa weighing approximately 2-3 tons.
Carved by Paul Cannon.
In the beginning lived Papa and Rangi. Their love was so strong that their children were trapped between them in the darkness of their embrace. After much pushing and shoving Tane managed to separate his parents, and let the children of Papa and Rangi escape and create the world as we know it. The disappointment of Papa and Rangi at being separate was great. Pap became Earth Mother and stayed with all growing things, and Rangi was pushed far into the sky to become Sky Father. Even now when it rains Sky Father's tears fall down on Earth Mother, whose tears are springs of water that mix the rain and run in streams through the forest to the sea. Finally rising as mist, like the song of her heart, to her lover in the sky. The children of Papa and Rangi became Gods, and most stayed with Papa. Tane whi is God of the Forest, Tangaroa God of the Sea, Ru God of Food, Rongo God of Peace, and Tu God of War. Tawhiri would not live on Earth and made his home between Papa and Rangi, he is God of Wind and Storms.
This sculpture took Ken Blum (an australian artist) and Woody Woodward five intensive weeks to finish. Woody searched Golden Bay to find the Macrocarpa log that weights 7 tons and had it delivered by truck to the site where work commenced. The Maori tattoo or Moko was created by John Motu who is a master carver of the Motueka Marae and we were priviledged to have his skills and artistry.
Timber is Macrocarpa weighing approximately 6 tons.
Carved by Ken Blum and Woody Woodward.
In Hawaiki, Paikea was one of seven-score sons of the great rangatira Uenuku. Another of these young men, Ruatapu, considered himself insulted by his father and determined to gain revenge by murdering his brothers. A new ship had been built, and the sons set out on its first voyage in ignorance of the fact that Ruatapu hed bored a hole in the bilge and was covering it with his foot. Far out on the ocean he let the water rush in and the vessel capsized. The Ruatapu drowned all his brothers except Paikea, who escaped.
Paikea recited a long chant, and a taniwha in the form of a whale came and carried him on his back. His journey ended at Ahuahu (Great Mercury Island) in Aotearoa where he began a new life and a new story.
Timber is Macrocarpa weighing approximately 2.2 tons.
Carved by Jeff Bryan and Tim Wraight.
There is a story still told deals with the raids warriors from the north have made into Tasman Bay over the years. Tho story relates to a fine canoes in which parties of Ngati Apa had migrated to the South Island from their ancestral home in the Rangitikei district. It had been a prized possession of Ngati apa for at least 450 years. The waka had fine carvings and bore the name Te Awatea 'the dawn'. Hearing that a raid from the iwi from the north was imminent the owners of the canoe buried as part of the spoils of war and assembled a crew departed the late owners assembled on the beach and a tangi usually called by the kai hautu, fungleman, echoed over the water. Great was the sadness of the Ngati Apa at seeing their canoe disappear towards Rangitoto. Early on still autumn and winter mornings, as the sun's rays first strike the surface of the cold water, mists rise and drift, without any apparent wind, along the surface of the bay. It is at such times that watchers have reported seeing the ghostly shape of the Te Awatea with it's shrouds of warriors speeding along the coast through Astrolabe and around Golden Bay.
Timber is Macrocarpa weighing approximately 2-3 tons.
Carved by Mark Rainer.
This gateway was built to remember those gone before - every nation, every colour, every race and to unite them all under one roof. This structure is based on the entrance to a Wharenui (meeting house). It represents the ancestor whose legs are the Amo or posts, whose arms are the barge boards or Mihi and whose head keeps watch from the apex of the roof. The left post is Rongo Ma Tane, Kaitake (guardian) of the fruits of the forest. The design on his body represent plentyfulness and he holds a Ko (digging). Haumia Tiki Tiki stands to the right and he is the guardian of things grown in the earth. Hi facial tattoo tells the story of planting and his legs are the strong roots. In his hand he holds greenstone for peace. Tha barge boards above represent on the left the children of Tangaroa, the creatures of the sea and on the right the children of Tane, the creatures of the forest. This gateway honours the past but it also leads to the future - a future of understanding and cooperation. It depicts designs and symbols which show our common humanity. A gate through which quite different people may walk through together.
Carved by Hohepa Barrett and Ropata Nelson.
The Maori people have legends of a "terror bird" which used to come out of the forest and carry off members of their tribe. This, and the fact that the Maori have a name for the bird probably indicate it died out less than 600 years ago. In addition to this, legendary explorer Charlie Douglas reports shooting something in the late 1800s which was probably a pair of eagles.
The Pouakai (Harpagornis moorei), or Haast's Eagle was once the terror of New Zealand's skies. At 25kg, with a 3m wingspan, it used to be the largest flighted bird in the world attacking at speeds up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph). The prey of the Pouakai was the Moa, and it is believed that the Pouakai became extinct when the Moa did. Due to the forest habitat in which it lived, Pouakai developed short, broad wings to manouvre within the forest, and carry its incredibly heavy prey, some of which stood taller than 12 feet high.
Unlike the moa, the harpagornis may have been wiped out deliberately: a large, fast bird of prey that specialized in hunting large bipeds may have been perceived as a threat by the early Maori settlers of the islands. (The Maori arrived in New Zealand only 1000 years ago.)
In effect, all positions in the New Zealand animal ecology were occupied by birds. The moas filled a grazing niche occupied elsewhere by deer or cattle, and the harpagornis occupied the same niche as carnivorous hunters such as wolves, leopards or tigers. For this reason, they have sometimes been termed leopard eagles.
Woody carved this Eagle because Pouakai used to be a part of the Maori life and it belongs inseparably to other sculptures in our garden. Carved by Mathew De Boer.
The name tuatara derives from the Māori language, meaning "spiny back". Tuatara feature in a number of indiginous legends; they are ariki (God forms). Tuatara are regarded as the messenger of Whiro, the God of Death and Disaster. Māori women are forbidden to eat tuatara.
Though it resembles a lizard, it has several characteristics unique among reptiles. Its teeth are fused to its jaw bone; it has no external copulatory organs or earholes. Indeed, tuatara were originally classified as lizards in 1831 when the British Museum received a skull. The species remained misclassified until 1867, when Gunther (also at the British Museum) noted certain bird-like, turtle-like, and crocodile-like features and proposed the order Rhynchocephalia for the tuatara and its fossile relatives.
It thrives in much lower temperatures than are tolerated by most reptiles, preferring temperatures of 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (16-21 C); temperatures over 80 (27) degrees are fatal. Adults are about 50cm long and weigh maybe three kilograms. Tuatara are notoriously cryptic, and hibernate in winter. Adults are terrestrial and nocturnal; hatchlings are arboreal and diurnal.
It is extremely long-lived, with individuals commonly living for over a century, and reproduces very slowly: tuataras take at least ten years to reach sexual maturity, females only lay eggs once every four years, and it takes between 12 and 15 months after copulation for a new tuatara to hatch from its egg. Like some lizards, it has a third eye on the top of its head; in adult animals a scale grows over the eye, and its purpose isn't clear.', 'The tuatara is the only surviving member of the order Rhynchocephalia. It is native to a small number of islands off New Zealand and has been classified as an endangered species since 1895. Tuatara, like many native New Zealand species, is threatened by habitat loss, harvesting, and introduced species such as mustelids and rats.