Auckland

Aotearoa Land of the long white cloud

Maureen at the Museum carved meeting house

Arriving yesterday, a couple of hours late but feeling good, I picked up a hire car and found myself battling right across Auckland at rush hour to stay with artist Maureen Lander at Devonport. Some of you will remember Maureen from her visit to PVAF ( Perthshire Visual Arts Forum) in 2007. Until her retirement last year she taught Maori material culture at Auckland University so she was the perfect guide to take me to the Maori displays at Auckland Museum today (Thursday 5^th) Connie recorded her visit to the Museum in 1897 , probably in the old building , recalling the magnificent 80ft carved wooden canoe capable of holding a thousand rowers and all carved from a single tree, and the splendid Maori house carved all over, which both looked just as fantastic to me today – and Connie remarked then ’ how differently one looks at these things when one has really made the acquaintance with the people who made them’. Maureen’s Maori perspective and knowledge certainly drew my eye to many things I would otherwise have missed.

When they were in New Zealand Connie and Margaret made a collection of ‘Kits’ a specific style of Maori basket made with New Zealand flax, and co-incidentally – and I am not short of those – Maureen has a collection and has made kits as an artform using all manner of contemporary fibres and materials. She co-wrote a book about Kits and I was able to purchase a copy from the Museum Bookshop this afternoon. Crossing the harbour by ferry today I really wished I had at least a week here as there are so many places to visit and explore, and all this blue sky and sunshine takes time to adapt to.