Papatuanuku grows for us, taonga (gifts) of beauty and abundance. For millennia peoples of the world have created functional and often beautiful,  forms from clay to ceramics.

As the cultures shift and bump against each other, new forms are developed and made.

Sometimes when this happens the sacred is used in an inappropriate medium - misunderstandings/offence occur. With the right heart, these can be acknowledged, owned, and righted. Just as cultures adopt and use other gifts from Papatuanuku - plants for food and beauty. 

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This painting includes three Crown Lynn pieces. The 'Kokowai Bowl', is decorated with manaia figures below a border of Rauponga pattern and raised on three Koruru mask feet in a rich green glaze. The bowl in the foreground of this painting is inspired by decorative elements from the Rauponga and Manaia ashtray with an upper border of Rauponga and underneath a band of Manaia and spiral design. The coffee pot is in a honey glaze, which thins out on the raised parts of the pattern creating interesting highlights to paint.

 

Native New Zealand flora includes Koromiko flower (Hebe), Raupka (Easter Orchid) flower, Manuka flower, and foliage of the silvery foliage of the Chatham Island Kakaha (Astelia Chathami), Kiokio (Blechnum Novae-Zelandiae and Makawe Taoairu (Maidenhair fern).

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24 inches x 24 inches and painted in golden acrylic onto a stretched cotton canvas triple primed with quality acrylic gesso and finished with a matt varnish.

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