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TE HUE IPU - Artifact and Artwork
14 Oct – 28 Jan
“The gourd’s relationship with people is at least as old as the beginnings of agriculture and has continued for thousands of years throughout the world. Its history exemplifies the complex interaction between people and plants.”
Joan Maingay, May 1985, Te Hue– People and a Plant., pg.270.
Extract from University of Auckland thesis presented in partial
fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology.
Te Hue Ipu -Artifact and Artwork (working title) is an exhibition that explores the interaction of the gourd and the New Zealand people and in particular the New Zealand artist, both Maori and others.
It is a history that starts its journey with the arrival of the Maori in New Zealand and continues through to the gourds (te hue) uses and influences today on artwork in Aotearoa.
It is a journey that threads its way through the art history of New Zealand in an unobtrusive and unspectacular but none the less distinctive way, rather like the creeping vine it grows upon and the soft curvilinear form of its fruit that this creeping vine produces.
Within this history is an element of cross fertilization where the gourd becomes a vehicle to the exploration and experimentation of pattern making by Theo Schoon. Schoon’s avid interest and passion for the artistic worth of traditional Maori design helped allow Gordon Walters to courageously develop his Koru paintings against the advice of some of his peers.
Today the soft curvaceous form of the gourd and its place in our history both pre and post colonialism, still informs the output of many artists working today. It can be especially seen in the ceramic artworks of contemporary potters, though certainly not limited to ceramic artworks as we have painters and sculptors exploring or referencing Te Hue in their work.
Rueben Paterson and Manos Nathan, gourds, collection of the artists.
Manos Nathan, IPU WAIROA, 1993.
Ron de Rooy, TWISTED GOURD, 1990.
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