Painstaking work painting a puzzle

PAINSTAKING: Moa Belkouadssi at work in his studio. PHOTO/ SUPPLIED

JOAN: If you glance into the window of Blank Kanvas on Victoria Avenue, you will see some of the work of Moa Belkouadssi.
Mike and I visited him in his Whanganui studio last week where we were invited to watch the painstaking process involved in creating a single tile, one of an order of a thousand tiles that he is creating for a designer in Auckland - the biggest order that he has received since his arrival in Whanganui.
Moa is both passionate and patient. He has to be - the process is long and delicate.
Firstly, there is the pattern to design. This is a geometric puzzle in itself, as each tile is part of a whole "tiling carpet" and must match perfectly when placed alongside others.
Moa makes each pattern by hand, measuring every detail. He then forms the pattern from perfectly bent pieces of steel, carefully welded together and deep enough to become the mould for his tile. This mould is placed in a frame which holds it firm. Moa creates the substances he uses in large amounts - in fact, there is a cement mixer in the studio - and this way he can guarantee unity of colour in each tile.
Into the mould he carefully pours each of his chosen colours and on top of these he layers dry cement and sand to absorb excess water, following this with a dampened mixture, each time removing any excess.
The tile is then placed under a power press for 30 seconds. Removed from its frame, the pattern is beautifully formed - though each tile must stand in a rack for 24 hours to dry. After that, each daily batch is covered in black polythene to keep out draughts and maintain temperature for three whole weeks to firm ... and, indeed, become everlasting.
This is fascinating to watch and the result reminded me of the European and African houses I had seen where tiled floors of amazing patterns keep temperatures cool in the hot climate.
This true artisan skill was taught to Moa in Morocco where he was born and perfected in Barcelona where he lived before joining his New Zealand wife and daughter here. His struggle to gain permission to come here was a long one, but he is now content here, and works with joy and commitment.
The lady who has commissioned such a huge work from him runs a firm in Auckland that should exhibit his work to many. I am sure that the uniqueness of what he produces will give Moa both a guaranteed future and renown. He ended what was a humbling and quite astounding visit by inviting each of us to choose a tile from his collection, sealing and polishing each one. We will treasure them.
MIKE: Part two of our trip to India deals with the cities we visited - eight in all.
Landing at Delhi airport well after midnight, we were driven to our hotel. As we made our way through the city centre at 4am, the car had to stop for a large flock of sheep which was being driven across a main road. It caused less of a traffic problem than, I presume, it would have done at 4pm.
Although Delhi, Jaipur, Cochin and Khajuraho all had their areas of special interest, this account will be confined to the other four which were absolutely staggering, each in its own way.
The Taj Lake Palace stands on Lake Pichola at Udaipur, shimmering and glistening, its outline reflected in the water. Once a maharajah's palace, it is now a five-star hotel where we stayed in guilt-inducing luxury shortly before my 70th birthday.
Clearly the manager wished to impress us by the personal touch and, on several occasions, we were warmly greeted with a reference to my special day. Unfortunately there was a slight lapse in communications. "Congratulations, sir on your 70th wedding anniversary." We must have been reeking of longevity! A minor glitch which did not diminish the extravagant splendour of our two nights there.
Next was Agra, chiefly for the Taj Mahal, which was just as gaspingly beautiful as I had imagined. Its architecture, delicate carvings, inlaid stone work, gardens all created by the devoted love of Shah Jehan for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. For Joan, it really was a dream come true - "It seems to be floating on the air," she whispered.
In contrast to other cities, Mumbai was very Western with traffic actually obeying road rules, including staying in lanes, no rubbish or cows in sight, and people smartly dressed. Whether these points were in its favour, I couldn't decide, but overall the authentic India impressed me more.
On our one evening in the city we saw an exceptional piece of experimental theatre, with four young actors providing great energy in a play containing both pathos and humour. Hotel Taj Mahal was where we stayed - four months later it was one of the three targets for the group of terrorists who came over the sea in inflatables and attacked the city. Many reports commented on the selfless courage of the staff, who herded guests into safer areas of the hotel during the siege, disregarding the risk to their own lives.
My strongest memory, however, is that of standing upon a "ghat", a cremation platform, at Varanasi, India's oldest and holiest city, where the Ganges daily receives a huge amount of ashes.
We saw five bodies there, at various stages of combustion, yet there was no smell of burning flesh. Ashes were being raked up by a member of the lowest caste who are employed for this purpose. A dog scurried past us, in its mouth a bone from a corpse. "It happens," we were told with a shrug.
My diary entry reads: "Joan was distressed by the grief of a husband whose wife was being cremated as we watched. I felt removed from reality - was I really looking at human bodies burning within a few metres of us? Revulsion, sickness, horror - these were the emotions I had been expecting to feel - but it wasn't like that. Rather, a bland acceptance of the end of life."
JOAN: I went along to the Community Arts Centre to see a very vivid and interesting set of work by three local artists, John Singleton, Richard Cotgrove and Christine Regan. I have enjoyed John's work before, especially paintings that hark back to his childhood in London and we reminisced about our shared "Pom" memories of playing in the street when young.
John has a variety of work on view, ranging from a clever, colourful tree via a fine panoramic photo to a hazy, evocative hill range. Included is a humorous bundle of well-executed rugby players and a view of children playing that caught my eye.
Richard Cotgrove provided an informative, historical explanation to some of his strong, pallet knife paintings - tactile and carefully managed and atmospheric. Christine Regan achieves good colour and form composition in most of her work here. All are members of our local Artists Society and well worth a visit.
www.moabell.com
¦mjstreet@xtra.co.nz