When Rangi Kereopa (Ngāti Tāhinga, Ngāpuhi) first took up weaving 20 years ago, it felt less like learning a new skill and more like reconnecting with a taonga from her past.
“It was amazing, it just woke up a memory I had,” she says.
That memory was of her mother weaving whāriki (mats) on the porch of their whare (house).
“I didn’t take much notice of it until after Piripi and I got married. Mum would come and stay with us on the farm at Te Akau, and I would sit and watch her weave.”
Rangi is one of the artists taking part in an upcoming exhibition at the Raglan Old School Arts Centre presented by Ringa mā Koha Koha o Te Kōpua-Whāingaroa (Nimble Hands Creating Beauty).
The exhibition celebrates the traditional art forms of raranga harakeke (flax weaving) and whakairo (carving).
Inspired by the recollections of her mother’s weaving, Rangi took her first steps as a weaver at a wānanga in Kāwhia 20 years ago, and she hasn’t looked back.
“It was a week-long wānanga and you stayed up weaving until you couldn’t weave anymore, then went to sleep, got up and started again.”
Since then, Rangi has attended every weaving wānanga she could, continually learning new techniques and refining her craft.
“Let’s just say I turned up whenever there was a weaving wānanga and sat with everybody else. We learned from one another,” she says.
Like her mother, who wove mats that lay in front of the kitchen fireplace, Rangi is passionate about creating practical pieces.
“I’ve always said, ‘Well, that won’t hold a two-litre milk,’” she laughs. “I like making things where you can just dump things in.”
True to her love of learning and experimentation, Rangi also enjoys pushing the boundaries of traditional weaving. Her intricately woven kete, inspired by traditional Māori kupenga (fishing nets), will be among the works on display.
The exhibition will also feature work by kairaranga (weavers) Whiwhi Aspinall, Judy Pihama, Nani Keni, Gwyn (E Rangi) Brodie and Ebony Waitere, and kaiwhakairo (carvers) Byson Paora, Tare Kereopa and Raj Irving.
The exhibition runs from 17–29 June at the Raglan Old School Arts Centre. The gallery is open from 10am-2pm on weekdays and 10am-4pm on weekends. On Saturdays and Sundays, weavers and carvers will be in the gallery offering demonstrations and hands-on taster sessions for visitors.
by Janine Jackson
