Mahere Mapping Series: Untitled

Kei te whakanuia a Wi Taepa hei tētahi o ngā mātanga ringa toi uku Māori o Aotearoa; kua roa ia e ako ana, e ārahi ana i ngā ringa toi tokomaha i te roanga o tōna mahi i roto i te ao toi. He tino ringa rehe a Taepa ki ngā tikanga toi uku e pā ana ki te mahi-ā-ringa, ki te niko, ki te hanga ā-papa, ā, kāore anō ia kia rata ki te ahu uku. Ko tōna waitohu ko te aronga ā-ringa ki te waihanga, ki te tārai, ki te hanga. Kitea ai tēnei āhuatanga i roto i te toi tāroa, a *Mahere Mapping Series: Untitled*, 2002. Kua hangaia ki te uku raku mā, ā, kua pākatihia ā-nēra maitai noa iho hei hanga i te kakano angiangi, i te rārangi, i te tauira. Kupi tonu te mata o te ipu ki te hoahoa kōpikopiko, hoahoa ohia e kopaki ai te katoa. Kei te rakuraku ēnei hoahoa i te āhua ānō nei he pākati kei runga i ngā kiri, ka noho ko ngā pakini me ngā kōpura tē taea te muku. Ko te āhua tōrire, āhua whaiora, āhua whakapātari – ko ēnei he momo no te tāera me te tukunga iho o Taepa.

Wi Taepa is celebrated as one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s senior Māori clay artists, and a longstanding art educator and mentor to many artists over his career. Taepa is highly skilled in the clay working techniques of hand-building, coiling and slabbing, and has never formed an affinity with wheel throwing. Instead, the hands-on, tactile approach of building, sculpting and shaping is his signature. We see this in the tall piece, *Mahere Mapping Series: Untitled*, 2002. Fashioned out of white raku clay the work is incised with a simple steel nail to create texture, line and pattern. Taepa maps the surface of the vessel in meandering, free-form design that envelopes the object. These designs pierce the form like incisions on the surface of the skin, leaving indelible marks and impressions. Strikingly elegant, organic and provocative these are characteristic of Taepa’s style and his legacy.

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