Carver, first student unite 40 years on to celebrate all cultures in archway project
Tuesday, 20 October 2020
A prolific Marlborough carver and his first student are teaming up again to design and carve a couple of archways to celebrate all cultures.
Kua tūhono anō te kaiwhakairo rongonui o Wairau, rāua ko tana pia tuatahi, ki te whakahoahoa me te whakairo i ētahi waharoa hei whakanui i ngā ahurea katoa.
Marlborough man Andrew MacDonald first learnt to carve from Reg Thompsett in 1979, beginning a 40-year friendship.
I ako tuatahi te tangata o Wairau, a Andrew MacDonald, ki te mahi whakairo, i raro i a Reg Thompsett i te tau 1979, i puāwai te hononga pūmau mō te 40 tau.
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The teacher and student have reunited to create a legacy to pass on to future generations. The pair starting with a carved gateway on the Queen Charlotte Track, part of which is on MacDonald’s property.
Kua tūhono anō te kaiako me te pia ki te hanga manatunga, hei taonga tuku iho mā ngā uri whakaheke. E huataki ana ā rāua mahi me te waharoa ki runga o Te Ara o Tōtaranui, ka mutu, ko tētahi wāhanga o te ara, kei runga i te whenua o MacDonald.
When he went to his mentor and old friend to see if he would support him in the idea, he found Thompsett had been thinking about his own legacy.
Nō te haerenga ki te kite i tana whakaruruhau, hoa hoki, mēnā ka huri mai ki te tautoko i tana whakaaro, ka kitea e ia e whakaaroaro ana hoki a Thompsett ki āna ake mahi tuku iho.
“He was talking about starting a carving institute in Marlborough. So I said ‘I’ll back you, you back me, and we’ll work together and do what we can to get both our ideas up’.”
“Ka kōrero mai ia mō te whakaaro ki te whakatū wānanga whakairo ki Wairau. Ka mea atu au, ‘tēnā, ki te tautoko mai koe i a au, ka tautoko hoki au i a koe, ā, ka mahi tahi kia tutuki e tāua ō tāua hiahia’.”
MacDonald, of Rangitāne and Ngāti Kuia descent, and Thompsett, of Ngāti Maniapoto, wanted the art to encompass all cultures.
Ko te hiahia o MacDonald o Rangitāne me Ngāti Kuia, rāua ko te uri o Ngāti Maniapoto, a Thompsett, kia whai wāhi mai ngā ahurea katoa ki roto i tā rāua mahi.
“The idea occurred to me that we’ve got all these visitors coming from overseas, some might be feeling a bit lonely,” he said. “What if they could see some of our art and a certain aspect of that art reminds them of their home? Because we’re all travellers really.”
“I toko ake te whakaaro, he maha ngā tūmomo tāpoi(tūruhi) ka taetae mai i tāwāhi, tērā pea, e noho mokemoke ana rātou,” tana kōrero mai. “Ka pēhea mēnā ka kitea e rātou ētahi tūāhuatanga o ō rātou ahurea i roto i ngā mahi toi hei whakamahara i a rātou ki ō rātou ake wā kāinga? I te mea he manuhiri katoa tātou i te tōnga o te rā.”
The Queen Charlotte Track stretched 71 kilometres between the Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru sounds, with 2km going through MacDonald’s private property.
E 71 kiromita te whāroa o Te Ara o Tōtaranui, i waenga i ngā kokoru o Tōtaranui me Kenepuru, ā, e 2 kiromita o te ara ka haere mā te whenua matawhāiti o MacDonald.
The gateways would be 2km apart, about 34km from Anakiwa.
Ka 2 kiromita te tawhiti o tētahi waharoa i tētahi, tōna 34 kiromita atu i Anakiwa.
MacDonald said the track could get up to 15,000 trampers each year, and he liked the idea they would look at the archway and find something of their own culture in it.
E ai ki a MacDonald, tērā e 15,000 pea ngā kairangatū ka taetae mai i ia tau, ā, he pai ki a ia te whakaaro o tō rātou tiro ki te waharoa me te kite i tētahi āhuatanga o tō rātou ake ahurea.
“We wanted to put ourselves in the tramping shoes of the travellers that come along the track. I was imagining what I would want to see if I came around the corner.
“Ko tā māua mahi he pohewa ko māua tonu ngā kairangatū ka tae mai ki te ara. Ka whai whakaaro au ki ngā mea ka hiahia kite pea ahau i taku huringa mai i te kokona.
“So two large archways on either side of our property, perhaps people could stop and take a photo with it [and] we can add some great memories to people’s experience of the country.”
“Nō reira, ka whakatūhia ngā waharoa kaitā e rua ki ia pito o tō mātou whenua, ākene pea ka tū ngā tāngata ki te tango whakaahua [me te aha] me te waihanga mahara nui ki te wheako o tō rātou wā ki tēnei motu.”
Thompsett had been carving in the top of the south for decades, and in 1990 was commissioned by the Te Runanganui o Te Tauihu o Te Waka a Maui to complete the carvings for a 30-metre waka taua, Te Awatea Hou.
Kua hia tau a Thompsett e whakairo ana ki te Tauihu-o-te-waka-a-Māui, ā, i te tau 1990, i kirimanahia ia e Te Rūnanganui o Te Tauihu o Te Waka a Māui kia hahaungia ngā whakairo o te waka taua e 30 mita te roa, arā, Te Awatea Hou.
As head carver on the Queen Charlotte Track project, he hoped the idea would draw more young people to carving, an art he believed was at risk of dying out.
E manako ana te kaiwhakairo matua o te tūmahi o Te Ara o Tōtaranui, ka hiko tonu te rangatahi ki te mahi whakairo, he toi e whakaponotia ana e ia e tāmate haere ana.
He hoped young people would be encouraged to get involved, and had a vision of setting up a Marlborough carving institute one day.
Ko te wawata ka whakatenatenahia te rangatahi kia whai wāhi mai, me tōna whakakitenga nui, ā tōna wā ka whakatūhia te wānanga whakairo ki Wairau.
“There’s a lot of young ones out there that haven’t been introduced to the art of carving, or any art of our culture,” he said.
“I want to teach it before it’s too late.”
He huhua te huinga rangatahi kāore anō kia whai wāhi mai ki te mahi toi whakairo, ka mutu, ki ngā momo taonga toi rānei o tō tātou ahurea,” tana kī mai.
“E pīrangi ana au ki te whakaako i te whakairo, koi ngaro.”
The cost of the project was estimated at about $130,000, including labour and materials, and they hoped to have it completed within three months early next year.
E whakaarotia ana ka $130,000 te rahi o te utu o te tūmahi nei, tae atu ki ngā mahi me ngā rauemi, ā, e manakohia ana ka oti i roto i te toru marama atu i te tīmatanga o tērā tau.
MacDonald and Thompsett had approached Creative New Zealand for the bulk of the funding, but were hoping for support from other interested groups.
I whakapā atu a MacDonald rāua ko Thompsett ki a Toi Aotearoa mō te rahinga o ngā pūtea, engari e manako ana ki ētahi āwhina anō i ētahi atu rōpū.
Self-described do-ers rather than talkers, the longtime friends were determined to pass on their legacy.
E ai ki a rāua anō, he whakatinana kē tā rāua, kaua ko te pahupahu noa. E ū ana ngā hoa pūmau nei ki te whakatutuki i tā rāua taonga tuku iho.
“When I carve, everything else becomes second,” Thompsett said.
“Ka whakairo ana ahau, ka noho tuarua ngā mea katoa ki aku mahi whakairo,” te kī a Thompsett.
“I get in here and to me it’s like ploughing the field, except I’m ploughing a piece of our art.”
“Ka kuhu mai ana au, anō nei e parau ana au i te māra, engari ko te hua kē he mahi whakairo.”
Te reo Māori translation courtesy of Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori, the Māori Language Commission