Page 268 - Constructing Craft

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patterns.’ Others were less comfortable using Māori motifs. The potter, Mirek
Smίšek, for instance, explored the use of both Aboriginal and Māori imagery but
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‘came to believe that using such designs was culturally inappropriate.’

Share or Perish

At times frustration at the reluctance of Māori to conform to the craft paradigm as it

was understood within the studio craft movement was expressed openly. For

example, in a 1982 article on the Pākehā bone and ivory carver, Owen Mapp, the
editor of Craft Council News, Grant Finch, suggested that if Māori were not

prepared to advance their craft then Pākehā would:

The carving of bone and ivory, an ancient art practised by many
cultures has become a popular craft and while in New Zealand
it was once the domain of the Maori, their failure or lack of
desire to communicate their craft to the public has left the way
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open for pakeha prominence.

Finch’s perception that Māori were not passing on their knowledge may have arisen
from the concerns of the New Zealand Māori Council which, during the

developmental stage of the training of Māori arts and crafts specialists, had
indicated that while it believed that Māori craftspeople still retained their traditional

skills they did not possess the necessary teaching expertise to pass the knowledge

on. But his comment also contains a hint of frustration with the idea that Māori craft
was seen by some as a static craft form.

By the 1980s there was continuity in the development of skills ‒ even if they were

being learnt informally ‒ and the traditions were changing. Hepi Maxwell, a Māori

pounamu (jade) carver, described his background in the Māori community in
Rotorua and, while acknowledging that his work was not traditional, stated, ‘Maoris

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seem to like them [his carvings] and see tradition in them.’ Maxwell had lost both
legs in a trucking accident and looked to carving as an occupation that did not

require the use of legs. As a young Māori with no formal craft training, Maxwell may

have felt he lacked the mana to state unequivocally that his work was a valid Māori
craft form, but his comments suggested that the traditional skills were being passed

on and adapted.

Constructing Craft