NZIA Artist
| Taonui-a-Kupe Rickard |
[choose another artist]Tribe - Tainui / Ngati Porou Karioi te maunga, Whaingaroa te moana, Whareiaia te tangata. Karioi is the mountain, Whaingaroa the ocean, Whareiaia is the man. E nga manuhiri, tena koutou ,tena koutou,tena tatou katoa . A warm welcome to all of the visitors to this website and I hope we have what you want,and if not,I hope that we can provide what ever it is that you want. My name is Taonui-a-Kupe Rickard and I have been a carver for 34 years and along the way I've learn't a lot about myself,my tribe and most of all my culture and like any other culture, it thrives and survives within the enviroment that encompasses it. All of the ideas that one seeks to use in carving comes from ones surroundings and as the enviroment changes so to do variations in our art and craft. All too often people try to branch out and create their own little creations without fully comprehending the legacy left to us by our old masters. I hope that this website in some way addresses some of those problems which I'm sure that all cultures face in this plastic disposable world that we've somehow found ourselves living in today. During the 34 years, I've also worked as a lumberjack ,taught conservation to the youth of my town and at this point in time I'm teaching carving to young men who have the passion to learn. My hometown is called Whaingaroa [Raglan ] and if you're a surfing buff you will know that it has one of the best left hand breaks in the world.It is a small rural seaside town with a population of approximately 2500 people.My grandfather said that we have always lived in this land which makes me Tangata Whenua [People of the land] I guess. I'm what you would call a reluctant carver because a the age of sixteen I wanted to be a pilot but my mum had other ideas, and I found myself learning how to carve at the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute under Master carver Hone Taiapa.I guess in hindsight , I own my mum a debt of gratitude for the taonga [gift of carving ] that I now possess.My 34 years has been marvellous journey of discovery which I hope to share with whanau, friends and those who take the time to ask. As with all ancient cultures we can only guess at the hidden meanings behind what we do but there is in this country a move amongst all iwi [tribes] to try and rediscover the links between the old masters and the art forms that we try to maintain. Only time will tell if we are successful because to be successful, we first must conserve the environment from which all the art forms originate.There seems to be a demand for native timbers around the world and this country is no exception.To try to conserve what little we have left we have begun to use alternative timbers for our wharenui,namely willow,macrocarpa,patula and all manner of introduced species and there is hope that in the future our descendants will have an environment from which the shapes and forms that we use today will serviced them in the future. Kia ora koutou katoa, Taonui-a-Kupe Rickard |
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