Mike Crawford

Stevei Houkāmau
(Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau ā Apanui, Rangitāne descent)

Stevei's journey with Uku started with a small pinch pot at a Wananga with guest tutors Wi Taepa, Manos Nathan and Baye Riddell in 2011.

From that moment on, her fascination, commitment and love of Uku has continued to grow. Stevei is a member of Ngā Kaihanga Uku (Maori Clay workers Collective) and has been mentored in the early stages of her career by Wi Taepa.

Her works reflect the influence of her whakapapa and the impact and impression of her surrounding growing up in Porirua. You see a strong integrating of Maori and Pacific Island patterns that derive from Ta Moko and Tatau (tattoo). With a fascination and experience of Ta Moko and Tatau, Stevei is interested in how these art forms are used to accentuate and frame the body while telling stories of a people.... past present and future.

Stevei has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has been part of nationally traveling exhibitions as well as having her first public Solo show He Kakano at Pātaka Art + Museum in Porirua in 2020. Stevei work is in numerous private and public collections including Te Papa Tongarewa. Stevei has been most recently artist in residence at Toi Poneke in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and is currently showcasing the results of her residency at Toi Poneke, in her exhibition Te Ira Tangata Te Ira Atua 15 Jan – 11 Feb 2022.

Luke Jacomb
Luke Jacomb received extensive training in glassblowing techniques in the United States, where he spent a total of 8 years training, working and refining his practice. Jacomb recently returned to New Zealand bringing with him a wealth of expert skills and knowledge.

Jacomb's latest body of work, the Pacific themed series of blown and cast glass works including a life-sized paddle and a canoe, has already received much critical acclaim. It was be on exhibition earlier this year at the Otago Museum in Dunedin.

Jacomb also works together with his partner Kate Rutecki, who is an expert in glass casting skills and also lends her expertise in design and concept.

Jacomb is well established on the international glass art scene and his work can be found in a number of important public collections including:

Birmingham Museum of Art, Al USA Cleveland Institute of Technology, OH USA Corning Museum of Glass, NY USA Ebeltoft Glass Museum, Demark Milwaukee Museum of Dec Arts(Villa terrace), WI USA New Orleans Museum of Art, LA USA Works Museum, OH USA

Cora-Allan
Cora-Allan (nee Wickliffe) is a multidisciplinary artist of Māori (Ngāpuhi, Tainui) and Niue (Alofi, Liku) descent, originally from Waitakere. In recent years her practice has focused on her efforts to revive the art form of Hiapo, prior to this she completed her Masters in Visual Art and Design in Performance from AUT (2013), also receiving a AUT Postgraduate Deans award for her research.

A contemporary practitioner of the Niuean tradition of barkcloth known as hiapo, she is credited with reviving the "sleeping artform" which has not been practised in Niue for several generations. Her 'samplers' show her skill and draw attention to hiapo's components - white cloth (unlike the tan ground of the cloth prevalent across much of Polynesia) and the decorative elements - delicate botanical drawings and abstract patterns. Unlike lots of women across the Pacific, Wickliffe was unable to learn her craft sitting alongside older women and has had to research and teach herself. Her work is very important to the Niuean community and has been exhibited in Australia, Aotearoa, England and Niue.

She has exhibited her work throughout Aotearoa and internationally including Australia, Niue, England and Canada.

Her work is a part of major collections including The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Wallace Arts Trust. Cora-Allan was recently undertook the McCahon House Residency (2021), Mana Moana and Te Whare Residency in Wellington (2021), received the Creative New Zealand Pacific Heritage Artist award (2020) and received Annual Arts Grant funding to focus full time on her Hiapo practice in 2021.

She is a founding member of BC COLLECTIVE and is a maker of Hiapo (Niuean Barkcloth).

Tui Emma Gillies
The collaborative mother-daughter duo of Tui and Sulieti reflect the collaborative origins of much art-making in Moana-nui-a- kiwa, and challenge Western contructs of art as a solo pursuit. Their mahi elevates Ngatu (Tongan bark cloth) into a contemporary art context through their combination of traditional making methods and patterns with bright colours and illustrations that reflect the world today. Traditional patterns given a contemporary context continue to share knowledge and promote it’s value in todays’ world.

Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows and Tui Emma Gillies are a Tongan Aotearoa team that make tapa cloth and are scholars of the art. The duo’s art manifests their shared passion and close relationship in a hybrid style harmonizing traditional tapa with contemporary elements. Apart from adding colour pigment onto designs that are customarily black and brown, their work also integrates themes that deviate from the standard of geometric grids and floral motifs, often featuring themes of femininity, nurturing, protection, and spirituality. Burrows and Gillies strive to utilize as many natural resources as they can in tandem with modern materials. Tapa cloth itself is entirely decomposable, and the glue they use to paste each piece together is mixed with tapioca starch, half-cooked until the texture’s right. Their main modern adaptations in creating tapa art include Indian ink and acrylic paint.

The mother-daughter duo have presented, exhibited, and sold their art to museums and private collections around the world and were the recipients of the 2018 Creative New Zealand Heritage Arts Award. They have works in collections around the world including The National Maritime Museum, Auckland War Memorial Museum, GRASSI museum in Germany, National Gallery of Victory in Melbourne and Pick Museum of Anthropology in Illinois, USA. In 2020, Burrows was honored as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her "services to Tongan art and education".

Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows

masterworksgallery.co.nz

Masterworks has been a leader in contemporary craft since 1986.

The gallery has been working in partnership with artists for over 30 years showcasing everything from experimental installations to large scale exhibitions.

Eloise Kitson and Christine Hedlund (a mother and daughter team), along with our enthusiastic staff, work to delight and educate our audience by evolving the gallery’s focus on ceramics, glass, textiles and jewellery and to develop a gallery to reflect the continuing changes in the contemporary craft.

For our booth for 2024 we have curated a selection of artists that represent excellence in contemporary practice in our field and who reflect our location in Moana-nui-a-kiwa / the Pacific.

Selected artists: • Tui Emma Gillies & Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows (Tongan) • Mike Crawford (Raukawa, Scottish/Pākeha) • Stevei Houkāmau (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau ā Apanui, Rangitāne) • Luke Jacomb (Pākeha) • Cora-Allan Lafaiki-Twiss (Ngāpuhi, Tainui, Alofi, Liku/Niuean)

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