Shared inspiration - General Tiki

M ManoKoa Member Downers Grove Joined: Jan 25, 2005 Posts: 106	M ManoKoa Posted posted on Sun, Nov 27, 2005 4:14 PM This last Friday I had the pleasure of spending with my kids at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. After reading about the Maori meeting house that is there, I had to go visit and spend some time in it. Coming at it from a carvers standpoint is something that can be very overwhelming. At the end of the Pacific Spirits exhibit there is the meeting house and other carvings from NZ. During our visit there, I sat and watched a video presentation of Maori tribal elders sharing their culture and explaining details about the meeting house. It also had highlights from the opening. Afer the presentation I got to spend some solo time inside the house taking in all that I could from the spirits invoked into the panels. With other visitors walking in and out and my own kids nearby, however many minutes I sat in quiet, it wasn't nearly enough. The feeling is something that I would trivialize by trying to describe it but it is something that I wish that everyone can experience, especially all the carvers here. As you progress, you turn your hobby into a craft, then an art, and in turn a lifestyle and a religion, just like these Maori warrior/artists who have a carving diety grown out of the mythology of their culture. Each of you would be given something special and unique from a visit like that. There's were a couple hundred pictures I took but here are the highlights: The minis in front of the meeting house. With the flash, you can see all the paua eyes of the carved panels. The rafters were patterned with the mangopare motif and at the ends were uniquely detailed panels each representative of a tribal ancestor. These are a few modern carvings done by NZ artists presented to the museum. Weapons and images with ancestral boards from the PNG part of the Pacific Spirits exhibit. A Hawaiian carving and shields from the Pacific Spirits section. Weapons and fish hooks from the Pacific Spirits section. Near 50ft totems in the Museum Atrium right by the entrance for the Americas exhibit. These are big totems about 20 ft tall and a few mini totems about 1.5 ft. from the Pacific Northwest exhibit. There are more from the visit that I shared out through the following link: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbMmrZy0cN36g I hope they inspire someone else to create the same way they do to me.

This last Friday I had the pleasure of spending with my kids at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. After reading about the Maori meeting house that is there, I had to go visit and spend some time in it. Coming at it from a carvers standpoint is something that can be very overwhelming.

At the end of the Pacific Spirits exhibit there is the meeting house and other carvings from NZ.

During our visit there, I sat and watched a video presentation of Maori tribal elders sharing their culture and explaining details about the meeting house. It also had highlights from the opening. Afer the presentation I got to spend some solo time inside the house taking in all that I could from the spirits invoked into the panels. With other visitors walking in and out and my own kids nearby, however many minutes I sat in quiet, it wasn't nearly enough. The feeling is something that I would trivialize by trying to describe it but it is something that I wish that everyone can experience, especially all the carvers here. As you progress, you turn your hobby into a craft, then an art, and in turn a lifestyle and a religion, just like these Maori warrior/artists who have a carving diety grown out of the mythology of their culture. Each of you would be given something special and unique from a visit like that.

There's were a couple hundred pictures I took but here are the highlights:

The minis in front of the meeting house. With the flash, you can see all the paua eyes of the carved panels.

The rafters were patterned with the mangopare motif and at the ends were uniquely detailed panels each representative of a tribal ancestor.

These are a few modern carvings done by NZ artists presented to the museum.

Weapons and images with ancestral boards from the PNG part of the Pacific Spirits exhibit.

A Hawaiian carving and shields from the Pacific Spirits section.

Weapons and fish hooks from the Pacific Spirits section.

Near 50ft totems in the Museum Atrium right by the entrance for the Americas exhibit.

These are big totems about 20 ft tall and a few mini totems about 1.5 ft. from the Pacific Northwest exhibit.