Traditional and contemporary mix for Puanga at Space

With one of the arapaki panels are Dr Rawiri Tinirau (left), Sarah Williams, Doreen Bennett and Brigham Anderson. Photo / Paul Brooks

The display areas at Space Studio and Gallery in St Hill St reflect the national celebration of Matariki, or the more localised aspect of that, Puanga.

The rising of those stars and the start of a new season in the traditional Māori calendar is the reason for the new exhibitions but some of the work has a purpose beyond their display as works of art.

Whakamahana i te Marae (Warming the Marae) is a series of arapaki panels which will soon adorn the walls of Te Puawaitanga at Te Ao Hou Marae in Aramoho.

The panels have been created by a large team of Whanganui weavers, carvers and artists, represented in this story by Doreen Bennett, Dr Rāwiri Tinirau and Brigham Anderson.

Honouring the season was something Space proprietor and curator Sarah Williams felt should be done and the Space galleries are perfect for it.

"Doreen got in touch with me about exhibiting the arapaki panels and we were [at the time] finalising what we were going to do for our Puanga celebrations, so it was one of those moments when something comes up and it's so perfect it just falls into place."

She says the exhibitions have taken on a life of their own and have all clicked into place.

Each panel is a collaborative and multi-generational effort with whānau involvement, with 10 on display at Space.

"Just with these 10 there may be 30 or 40 [people involved]," says Doreen.

"There's a lot of art being prepared and will be installed at the marae over time," says Rāwiri. "It includes these arapaki, whakairo, kowhaiwhai and other tāonga."

"It's taken us eight months, so far," says Doreen, "And that's not counting all the prep stuff which was six months prior. It was going to be a two-year project and we've cut that in half, because when the call went out, everyone jumped on board.

"It's been like magic: it just flowed quite nicely."

She says the building has been waiting since 1980 for this to happen.

"It's been waiting for the right people to come along, and here we are."

For Brigham, the word that comes to mind when talking about the process, is tension. He talked about the need for communication between the two people, one on each side of the panel, during the weaving process. His family was involved, so one of those people was his teenage daughter.

When thinking of a name for the panel, he briefly considered "No teenagers were hurt in the making of this ...

"There are the tensions of getting the stitches right ... and the tensions between you and the other person, it's really important to get that right, and it reflects in the stitch," he says.

Rāwiri says they had three generations from the wider hapū working on their board.

"I think the youngest who worked on it is 7, and then we had some over 80. It's been a good exercise," he says.

The last time he worked on something similar was 30 years ago.

"We're not in the business of building marae a lot. Once they're up, they're up. It's almost a whole generation until the output comes into play again."

Artists and weavers from all over the district have been involved in the project.

"We've got weavers from Ngāti Rangi (Ohakune), Mōkai Pātea (Taihape), Taranaki, Ngā Rauru, the river (Whanganui), and then all of our extended whānau who live everywhere," says Doreen. "We all wanted as many from our families to be a part of this."

She says it is also important that people in the area are learning the art of tukutuku / arapaki, passing it on and taking those skills into the future.

"It's our responsibility that our families pick it up and carry it to the region."

This would be a first to see arapaki panels exhibited ahead of being installed at the marae.

"The opportunity was there for us to go a little bit wider," says Doreen. "I'd be sad if the Whanganui community did not get an opportunity to see this. It's not so much showing off our work, but giving them a glimpse into who we are."

There are 24 panels going on to the walls at Te Ao Hou Marae, with 12 mirroring the opposite 12.

"It's important to know that they are art pieces, but they are primarily a transmission, a reminder of values and stories that are important to us," says Brigham. "Each of these is a reminder to us of those things our tupuna are wanting us to remember."

To accompany the panels, Doreen is working on a book to help people interpret what they see.

"It'll have a little bit of history of arapaki in Whanganui and arapaki in general, and then we'll go into the process we've all been through to get them home on the wall," she says.

Because harakeke doesn't last forever, there will have to be restoration in decades hence, and the restorers will be greeted with a full kōrero on the back of each panel.

But that's not all there is at Space.

"As well as the arapaki panels we've got two solo exhibitions showing as well," says Sarah. One of them is Hou i te Rongo by Brigham Anderson in the Pop-up Gallery.

"It's lovely to have a mix of traditional Māori art forms with quite contemporary forms as well."

Brigham's work is a new take on traditional design as well as creating new forms while retaining a hint of old style. Each work has meaning and depth.

The other exhibition, in Gallery 2, is Nga tohu o to ao hurihuri by Hohua Thompson.

"That's directly aligned with the Matariki celebrations," says Sarah.

Using recycled rimu and elastic cable, he has created a series of sculptures that "spatially explore Matariki and Puanga as signs of the Māori New Year", he says in a statement.

"And yet the fundamentals are all there and all very strong," says Sarah, referring to both of the solo exhibitions.