STACY Gordine, is the senior tutor of bone and stone carving at Te Puia, Rotorua.
Excitement is reaching fever pitch among bone carvers ahead of the country’s largest bone carving symposium, which kicks off at Mōkau Hall on Good Friday evening.
The symposium, which has attracted 60 bone carvers from throughout the country, would allow members of the public to see and experience world class bone carvers at work, to meet the artists and even buy a treasure from their favourite carver, organiser Mike Brown said.
“I hope people from across the country will make the effort to drive to Mōkau to see the carvers in action,” he said.
“Some of the biggest names in bone carving will be there.”
They include Owen Mapp, who won the order of merit for services to Māori art and bone carving; Steve Myhre, author of Bone Carving – A Skill Base of Techniques and Concepts, and Stacy Gordine, senior tutor of bone and stone carving at Te Puia, Rotorua.
The carvers will be welcomed onto the Maniaroa Marae tomorrow afternoon and the carving will begin in earnest on Saturday morning, finishing at noon on Easter Monday.
“We’ve got a cohort of 10 beginner carvers who will be mentored into bone carving by more experienced carvers, there’s a big group of competent carvers who will be working on pieces at their workstations, and four master carvers who will be guiding and advising the competent carvers, to increase their skills,” Mike said.
Specific skills will be taught to those attending in elective masterclasses which have been woven into the event programme.
“The idea is to get the carvers away from their busy and demanding lives for a few days, allow them to draw from the inspiration of the natural beauty of the Waitomo district with its energetic coast, farmland, river and bush, and to just have a great time with like-minded people,” Mike said.
“This is a rare opportunity for the people of the district to meet these heavyweights, talk to them about their art and to view their exquisite works.”
The symposium was initially run in 2017 with 12 carvers but it has grown year-on-year to become a national event.
“It’s just fantastic that Mokau can host such a prestigious national event, Mike said.
“You’d expect to find an event like this in one of the big cities, but you know what: Mōkau is in my view a much more suitable venue for the creative arts because of the beauty of its coastal, rural setting and its gentler pace of life.”
