Karl Leonard hopes to take his weaving further

Te Arawa artist Karl Leonard has been selected for a six-week artist's residency at Evergreen State College in Washington State.

He follows in the footsteps of two other well-known Te Arawa artists, June Northcroft Grant and Tina Wirihana.

Leonard (Ngati Rangiwewehi, Ngati Ngararanui, Ngati Pahipoto, Ngati Raukawa) leaves this week for Washington State where he will collaborate with Native American and Alaskan artists from the Pacific Northwest, based at the college's recently opened Northwest Native Woodcarving studio, which is also used for weaving.

Leonard told The Daily Post words could not describe how excited and fortunate he felt.

"I look forward to exploring any shared techniques, designs and traditions we may have with First Nations artists and breaking ground in myown work, through exposure to new indigenous ideas," he said.

"There's a whole world beyond your backyard so even though I'm quite secure in Maori arts, I want to see what arts are out there and what are some of the processes they use."

Leonard was prompted to look at a residency by national and international artist Darcy Nicholas.

"I asked him what I could do to improve my art and where I could go," he said.

Nicholas recommended the residency and said, when he was there, it had been a most productive time.

Although most would consider his work traditional, Leonard said he thought he was more contemporary but in a traditional medium.

He hopes to develop more of his own signature although his weaving had been inspired by many people including "the ladies of Tuhourangi".

"They were all particular ladies and, usually, they kept aspects of their technique to themselves and didn't actually share them," he said.

"It was those old guides who really got me into weaving, into speaking te reo, so a lot of what I have is a collation of their techniques."

Leonard said he owed much to his grandmother, Ranginui Parewahawaha Leonard, who still wove at 100 but he was also inspired by his uncles, who were carvers.

Later this year, Leonard will take up a nine-month Fulbright Scholarship with a sting at the Flathead Valley Community College in Montana in the US.

Art aside, Leonard is heavily involved in Maori performing arts and is a composer, choreographer, regional kapa haka leader and national judge.

He is also passionate about the art of language and holds a masters in te reo Maori.

In 2011, he became the first male elected to the committee of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa (the national Maori weavers' collective).

His Toi Sgwigwialtxw residency in Washington is a biennial exchange between Creative New Zealand through Te Waka Toi (the Maori arts board) and the Longhouse Education and Cultural Centre in Washington State.

The residency is open to Maori artists with demonstrated excellence in visual arts, who are culturally proficient ambassadors able to establish networks with the First Nations peoples of North America.