Papermaking at Anakoha

Kei te rongo i te kore
Kāore e kore
Ka puta a Rongo - JT

Recently we spent a month at Anakoha, beautiful whenua in the sounds - creating, relaxing, exploring, fishing, walking, reading, more fishing and walking! An encounter with a cliff or two, so plenty of learning too 😅

It was an opportunity to dedicate a month to creating, working in new ways, with new materials, inspired by the amazing environment we were in! Me tuku mihi atu ki a mana whenua o te kainga nei, tēnā koutou Ngāti Kuia otirā ki a @clomcfadyen rāua ko Nic, ngā kaitiaki o te whenua nei. Tēnā koutou katoa.

These images are some of the fruits of our stay there. I've always wanted to create works without having to frame them, or put them behind glass. In the past I've framed harakeke paper works behind glass and I always felt like they were not able to breathe. I want people to feel the fibre with all their senses. So that is the reason I framed my recent works with no glass as well as framing them with untreated pine stained with native tree dyes, a statement of reclamation of our native trees.

And now these works that have no glue, nails, wood, glass - they are all fibre, native tree dyes and pigment and can be displayed standing up or hung with muka or other natural fibres. And they are light.

And I loved creating wharariki paper! So strong, just like it's whanaunga harakeke, but much easier to process because the leaves are already soft.

If you ever want an amazing place for a holiday or getaway, check out @stayanakoha - you will fall in love with this magical giving space. And Clo and Nic are amazing hosts. We are planning an art residency for March 2023, watch this space 😍

And, the whakatauki above we created in response to how we felt when we arrived to Anakoha. That space of te kore (space of potential) and Rongo (peace) was always present, guiding us each day.