Page 32 - Constructing Craft

women acted both to conserve specific social meanings in the name of tradition and

to embrace a modernity enjoyed by white society, while many Pākehā
commentators devalued the trappings of modernity and expressed longings for the
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simplicity of rural life.’ But Māori disrupted the unified New Zealand identity that
had been constructed by Pākehā. Many Pākehā believed that the Māori contribution

to New Zealand society was more acceptable as an image seen by tourists – the
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flax skirts and of course traditional crafts. Traditional art and craft, with its rural
connection, made a more meaningful contribution to the way that Pākehā saw their

national culture than any attempts by Māori to contemporise their craftwork.

Extinction/Survival/Growth

In the 1930s there were many who believed that the decline of Māori skills and
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knowledge was unstoppable. For instance, while showing admiration for the skill
of Māori carvers a writer in The New Zealand Railways Magazine, writing about the
carvings in a whare whakairo in 1934, stated that: ‘It is really a very difficult matter

these days to find a Maori who can explain satisfactorily the various patterns and
designs. Those who had that knowledge have passed away without handing it down

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to others.’ Even in the 1950s writers such as Erik Schwimmer, who was an editor
of Te Ao Hou, a magazine published between 1952 and 1976 by the Māori Affairs
Department, had to prove that Māori arts and crafts were strong and dynamic.

Schwimmer pointed out that two Māori wood carvers and teachers, the Taiapa

brothers, claimed that they could easily issue at least sixty-five diplomas in wood
carving to their students. He suggested that the craft was not dying out ‒ but the
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willingness to pay carvers for their work was. The studio craft movement slowly
acknowledged the place of Māori art and craft in the 1970s and 1980s as a

formative influence and the work of younger Māori craftspeople acknowledged the
strong links with the past. However, the gap between traditional Māori art and craft

and the new work was sometimes graphically reinforced. For example, in the
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booklet that accompanied the ‘Bone, Stone, Shell: New Jewellery ‒ New Zealand’
exhibition in 1988, Māori traditional arts and crafts and Māori contemporary arts and

crafts were acknowledged – but separately.

Constructing Craft