Diggeress Te Kanawa

Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa CNZM QSO (9 March 1920 – 30 July 2009) was a New Zealand Māori tohunga raranga (master weaver) of Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Kinohaku descent. At the time of her death she was regarded as New Zealand's most renowned weaver.^[1][2][3][4]

Biography

Born in Te Kuiti in 1920 to Dame Rangimārie Hetet and Tuheka Taonui Hetet,^[5] Te Kanawa was named Diggeress in honour of the World War I diggers after her father served in the New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion. She came from a family renowned for its weaving tradition and was taught weaving by her mother, Dame Rangimārie Hetet, and other kuia.^[6] Through her mother, Te Kanawa's grandfather was Charles Wilson Hursthouse and her great-uncles included Richmond Hursthouse and Henry Richmond.

Te Kanawa married Tana Te Kanawa at 20 and they had 12 children, raising them at Oparure, near Te Kuiti. Through Tana she is aunt to opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa. Her children include Rangi Te Kanawa, a museum professional and textile conservator specialising in Māori textiles and Kahutoi Te Kanawa, also a museum professional and weaver.^[7][8]

Weaving

Te Kanawa is remembered as a teacher of weaving, on marae, and at the tertiary institution Te Wānanga o Aotearoa^[9][10] and at events. She taught weaving to renowned weavers such as Maureen Lander^[11] and also passed on her expertise on traditional methods of preparing the harakeke and earthen dyes.^[12]

She intentionally used a wide variety of techniques when weaving to encourage their survival.^[13]

As a member of the Māori Women's Welfare League she contributed to the resurgence of Māori weaving traditions during the 1950s.^[14] In 1983 Te Kanawa co-founded what would become Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa with others including Emily Schuster of Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua.

She travelled extensively to catalogue taonga obtained by foreign museums during the colonial era. In 1987 Te Kanawa travelled to the Museum of Brisbane in Australia to demonstrate and talk on the art of Māori weaving.^[15] In 1988 she and Emily Schuster travelled to museums in Britain and the United States to study taonga and obtain information about past weaving techniques.^[16]

Her work is not widely held in museums, being mainly made for specific people. However a collection of 12 of her kahu huruhuru (woven muka cloaks, feathered on one side), made for her children, is held in trust at the Waikato Museum in Hamilton.^[17] In 1989 Te Kanawa and her mother were commissioned to make a cloak to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the University of Waikato.^[18] In 2006 she completed a commissioned korowai made of kiwi feathers for King Tuheitia as a statement of support for the Kingitanga.^[19] The British Museum holds a feather cloak, kahu huruhuru, made by Te Kanawa in 1994. Te Kanawa described the cloak as a korowai kakahu. It is made entirely of flax fibre, in double-pair twining weave. The feathers, forming a horizontal band pattern, are of three kinds blue and white from pūkeko, and red from pheasant. There are two rows of openwork between the upper edge and the feathers.^[20]

Honours and awards

In the 1988 New Year Honours, Te Kanawa was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service,^[21] and two years later she was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.^[22] In the 2000 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori arts and crafts.^[23]

In 2001 Te Kanawa was awarded the Sir Kingi Ihaka award by the Māori Arts Board.^[17] She was an inaugural recipient of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icons award in 2003.^[24]

In 2007 Te Kanawa received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waikato.

Selected publications

• Weaving a kakahu by Diggeress Te Kanawa. Bridget Williams Books, 1992. ISBN 0-908912-08-0
• Te aho tapu / the sacred thread by Diggeress Te Kanawa. Exhibition guide. Waikato Museum of Art and History, 2004.
• Weaving a kakahu by Diggeress Te Kanawa. Puwaha ki te Ao Trust, 2006. ISBN 978-0-473-11796-2 / ISBN 0-473-11796-7

Selected exhibitions

• Contemporary Maori Art Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton (1976)^[25]
• Craft New Zealand Europe (1978 - 1980)^[25]
• Rangimarie Hetet and Diggeress Te Kanawa: Korowai Weavers Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton (1979)^[25]
• South Pacific Festival Port Moresby Museum, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (1980)^[25]
• Feathers and Fibre Rotorua Art Gallery, Rotorua (1982)^[25]
• Te Amokura o te Māori (1986)
• Rotorua National Hui (1990)
• Te Waka Toi: Contemporary Māori Art from New Zealand Toured the United States of America (1992–1993)^[26]
• Paa Harakeke (2002).
• Te Aho Tapu / The Sacred Thread (2004)
• E Nga Uri Whakatupu - Weaving Legacies: Dame Rangimarie Hetet and Diggeress Te Kanawa Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato. (2014)^[27]

References

1. "'Icon artist' Diggeress Te Kanawa dies". Stuff. 31 July 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2011. One of New Zealand's official 'icon artists', tohunga raranga (master weaver) Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa, has died aged 89.
2. "Death of Diggeress Te Kanawa, mother of weaving renaissance". radionz.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011. Born in Te Kuiti in 1920 of Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Kinohaku descent, Diggeress Rangitutahi Te Kanawa was named in honour of the World War 1 troops known as diggers.
3. "Poroporoaki: Diggeress Te Kanawa". scoop.co.nz. 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2011. Tariana Turia expressed today the Maori Party's sadness at the passing of Diggeress Te Kanawa, one of Aotearoa's most prestigious Maori weavers.
4. "Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa – Biography". thearts.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
5. "Tuheka Taonui Hetet". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 7 July 2022 – via Online Cenotaph.
6. Toi te Ao : Aotearoa world celebration of indigenous art and history, Te Taumata Gallery, Auckland, 1993. Wellington [N.Z.]: Toi Te Ao Art Committee. 1993. p. 24. ISBN 0473023113.
7. "Rangi Te Kanawa - Conserving textiles". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
8. Auckland War Memorial Museum (21 September 2020). "Meet: The Te Awe Team". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 6 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
9. "Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa. mourned". scoop.co.nz. 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2011. Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Chief Executive Bentham Ohia today joined with leaders from throughout the country in marking the passing of much loved and respected Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Kinohaku kuia, Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa.
10. "Tributes: Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa". thebigidea.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011. Creative New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen Wainwright said Diggeress Te Kanawa's contribution to mahi harakeke has had a profound impact on Maori arts. "As early as the 1950s Diggeress was working alongside her mother, Dame Rangimārie Hetet teaching weaving to those who showed an interest. Her sharing and educating in the art of weaving has made Maori arts stronger and the nation culturally wealthier."
11. "Maureen Lander". Auckland Art Gallery.
12. Te Waka Toi: Contemporary Maori Art From New Zealand. Biographies of contemporary Maori artists whose work toured the United States of America from 1992 to 1993. Wellington: Council for Maori & South Pacific Arts. 1992.
13. Tamarapa, Awhina; Wallace, Patricia. "Māori clothing and adornment – kākahu Māori – Weaving traditions and technique". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
14. "Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa". The Arts Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
15. Nga Nui O Te Ra: teaching, nurturing, developments of Maori Womens Weaving. Auckland: Te Taumata Gallery. 1993. p. 12.
16. Tamati-Quennell, Megan (1993). Pū Manawa : a celebration of whatu, rarange, and tāniko. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. p. 24. ISBN 0909010005.
17. "'Icon artist' Diggeress Te Kanawa dies". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
18. . waikato.ac.nz. 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2011. This korowai was commissioned from Dame Rangimārie Hetet, honorary Doctor of the University of Waikato, and her daughter, Mrs Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa to mark the 25th year of the foundation of the University of Waikato in 1989.
19. "Famous weaver credited with reviving artform". The New Zealand Herald. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
20. Dorota Starzecka; Roger Neich; Mick Prendergrast (2010). The Māori Collections of the British Museum. British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0-7141-2594-7. OL 30499958M. Wikidata Q104706202.
21. "No. 51173". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1987. p. 34.
22. Taylor, Alister, ed. (2001). "New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa 2001". New Zealand Who's Who, Aotearoa. Auckland: Alister Taylor Publishers: 861. ISSN 1172-9813.
23. "New Year honours list 2000". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 1999. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
24. (PDF). Applause – Newsletter of Arts Foundation of New Zealand. 2: 5. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
25. Foster, Susan; Gorbey, Ken (1985). Treasures from the land : crafts from New Zealand, Barry Brickell ... [et al.] Wellington: Printing by Service Printers. ISBN 0477037003.
26. Taiarotia : contemporary Maori art. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Waka Toi. 1994. ISBN 0473023431.
27. "Major Exhibition Celebrates New Zealand's Finest Traditional Maori Weavers". waikatomuseum.co.nz. Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato. Retrieved 13 June 2015.

Further reading

• Helen Schamroth, 100 New Zealand Craft Artists (Auckland: Godwit Press, 1998) ISBN 1869620305

External links

• Diggress Te Kanawa in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa