Crafting Aotearoa

‘Crafting Aotearoa is ambitious, to say the least. Across 460-plus pages it surveys three centuries of craft in New Zealand and the broader Pacific, examining its role in defining cultural identity, and the tensions and transformations that occur as it engages with outside knowledge and practices … a delight to dip into. For a significant work, it carries its load lightly’ - New Zealand Geographic; ‘Crafting Aotearoa charts it all, providing an important overview of all things cut and carved, stitched and sewn, hammered and hewn to build a uniquely New Zealand story of cultural change’ - Sally Blundell, New Zealand Listener; ‘… first and foremost an acknowledgement of history as it should be acknowledged: a kind of retelling that is resolved to start a ‘dynamic conversation’ between Maori, Pakeha and wider Moana Oceania (Pacific) craftspeople and their work … it’s a wellspring of knowledge on what has constituted three centuries of making in New Zealand’ - Urbis; ‘An indispensable, encyclopaedic and comprehensive reference to three centuries of craft in New Zealand, Crafting Aotearoa manages the difficult task of marshalling the contentious categories of craft, art, folk art, design and indigenous practices in a way that will surely set the standard for future scholarship … Although there have been sporadic books on craft in Aotearoa before, this is the first of its scope, and for a reference work it is surprisingly readable and not at all bogged down in its scholarship or the ever-volatile politics of craft’ - Paul Wood.

Kolokesa U Mahina-Tuai has a background in art history, social anthropology and museum and heritage studies and was curator of Moana Oceania cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa from 2004 to 2008 and Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira from 2013 to 2017. She has been a guest curator and consultant for Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, and a consultant for Alt Group and the Government of Tonga’s Culture Division, Ministry of Tourism. She is co-author of Nimamea`a: The fine arts of Tongan embroidery and crochet (Objectspace 2011), Tangata o le Moana: New Zealand and the people of the Pacific (Te Papa Press, 2012) and Kolose: The Art of Tuvalu Crochet (Mangere Arts Centre - Nga Tohu o Uenuku, 2014).

Damian Skinner is a Pakeha art historian and curator who lives in Gisborne. He received his PhD in art history from Victoria University of Wellington in 2006, for a thesis exploring the dynamic relationship between customary and modern Maori art in the twentieth century. He has written a number of books about Maori and Pakeha art, and Pakeha craft. His most recent book is Theo Schoon: A biography (Massey University Press, 2018).

Karl Chitham (Nga Puhi) is Director of the Dowse Art Museum and was formerly the Director and Curator of Tauranga Art Gallery. He has been involved in the arts in Aotearoa in a variety of roles for over fifteen years. His projects have included a series of exhibitions and accompanying publications highlighting contemporary toi Maori such as Whatu Manawa: Celebrating the weaving of Matekino Lawless, Toi Mauri: Contemporary Maori art by Todd Couper and Whenua Hou: New Maori ceramics.