Creative Arts Napier (CAN) Winter Artisan Market is filled with local creative goodies.
Creative Arts Napier (CAN) Winter Artisan Market is filled with local creative goodies.
Opinion by Tania Wright
COLUMN
As we rapidly approach the shortest day, the CAN Winter Artisan Market is nestled in our Main Gallery, offering a range of beautiful creations for sale.
If you need any gifts, this is your opportunity to support our local makers and give something unique and handmade to that someone special. The market is open seven days a week from 10am – 4pm, until June 19.
We are excited to welcome KARE, curated by Putaanga Waitoa, to the CAN main gallery from June 21 to July 18 this Matariki.
Step into the boundless realm of KARE, our annual Matariki exhibition bursting with boldness and diversity. In a creative landscape often constrained by repetition, KARE emerges as a multi-layered karanga, beckoning all to explore its limitless depths.
Artist Rachael Stone with her painted hue offering.
At its heart lies our foundational Matariki exhibition, a tribute to te tau hou Māori and all its richness. Fourteen visionary creatives responded to the karanga, infusing their works with the essence of tradition and innovation.
Venture further and encounter WH/ORCE WH/IELD, a collaborative masterpiece crafted by 15 ringatoi Māori.
This textile piece drips with TE IHI TE WEHI TE WANA, a cloak of protection, solidarity, and Mana Motuhake. We are humbled to host such a profound tāonga.
And finally, ‘Whāngai Rangatira’ pays homage to the legacy of rangatira Phil Belcher, as twenty hue scattered across Aotearoa unite in creative tribute, honouring celestial and ancestral knowledge.
These three elements tie together the very foundation of toi Māori’s celebration of MATARIKI. As we proudly breathe life into KARE for a second year, it shines brightly as Te Matau-a-Māui’s sole Matariki creative celebration.
There are also a range of awesome workshops happening around the Kare exhibition.
Creative Arts Napier (CAN) general manager Tania Wright.
Come along to a matariki weaving workshop with Harakeke Patupaiarehe, Ahi Nyx. Ahi infuses her passion for connection and honouring the mana of harakeke; through these wānanga spaces, you’ll get hands-on with the sacred fronds of harakeke.
Ahi ensures these spaces are safe, inclusive and fun. These workshops offer an immersive experience in weaving, blending tradition with creativity.
There is a workshop designed for our tamariki ages 7-13 years on Thursday, July 11, from 11am to 1.30pm, and one workshop designed for our pākeke /adults on Saturday, July 13, from 11am to 1.30pm.
You can also explore our Matariki exhibition as part of KARE, ensuring an immersive experience for the whole whanau.
All are welcome, but bookings are essential, and a fee, a kōhā.
Please visit our website at www.thecan.co.nz for more information and to book.
Also, in our foyer, we are proud to welcome back Emara Whaanga with her latest exhibition, Wisdom Keeper. Emara’s minimalist work, which focuses on the feminine form, is both evoking and modern.
‘Wisdom Keeper’ by artist Emara Whaanga on display at Creative Arts Napier.
Her use of bold colours and fine lines in these studies of wahine creates softness, strength and beauty. CAN Foyer June 2024.
Emara explained that, like the moon cycles and her different phases and faces, our life cycles involve flowing in and out of different versions of ourselves, acquiring wisdom and knowledge and returning deeper and deeper into our innate knowing with every shift.
The artwork on display occupies 12 states of her being and 12 versions of herself.
“Take a moment, with each image, ground yourself, allow your energy to enter into a space of present time, take a deep breath and breathe out, entering into your life force energy.
“These pieces are our reminder on the first month of the Maramataka to Connect. Release. Align. Set. Heal. Evolve. Be your highest potential,” Emara said.
In other exciting CAN news, this winter, we have an exciting opportunity for local photographers, including amateur and hobby photographers.
This is an open invitation to submit a photographic work to exhibit for sale in a CAN collective showcase exhibition, ‘The Golden Hour’.
Golden hour is the period of the day one hour before the sun sets or after it rises, when the light is warmer and softer than usual, so photographs taken in it have a pleasing quality. Submissions close on June 30 and are limited to one entry per person. Registrations for this exhibition are now live on the CAN website.
The opening celebration for ‘The Golden Hour’ will take place on Friday, July 19, from 5pm to 7pm. The exhibition will run until August 1 in the Main Gallery.
Places are limited so please don’t hesitate if you’d like to participate.
There is always something new happening at CAN. We look forward to seeing you soon.
