Page 68 - Constructing Craft

Pine Taiapa standing with items of Maori wood carvings (probably his own work) for the
Kahungunu Meeting House in Nuhaka. Photograph taken circa 1940s by an unidentified
photographer. Alexander Turnbull Library.

We have been introduced to only a small sampling of the ‘pioneers’ of craft. Many

have been selected for what they represent rather than for their standing as leaders

in the history of craft in New Zealand. Some were pioneers in two ways. They were
early (European) settlers in New Zealand and they were New Zealand’s first

craftspeople. Later, the interwar craftspeople were dubbed ‘pioneers’ by the

craftspeople of the post-war studio craft movement in recognition of their dedication
to their craft in the face of many obstacles and their early adoption of studio craft.

The former, in the main, did not think of themselves as anything other than craft
workers or tradesmen, but the latter often felt that their craft had an ‘artistic’

component and their membership of art societies gave substance to this claim –
even if their position in such groups was considered inferior to the place of painters

and sculptors. Māori craftspeople usually did not separate craft from art. Craft for

them was both craft and art. The craftspeople of the later movement at first
positioned themselves in a similar way. They were content to exhibit their work with

art societies or sell through a small but growing number of craft shops. But as the
studio craft movement matured and craftspeople sought more recognition – and

Constructing Craft