Crafting Aotearoa A Cultural History of Making in New Zealand and the Wider Moana

A major new history of craft that spans three centuries of making and thinking in Aotearoa New Zealand and the wider Moana (Pacific). Paying attention to Pakeha (European New Zealanders) , Maori, and island nations of the wider Moana, and old and new migrant makers and their works, this book is a history of craft understood as an idea that shifts and changes over time. At the heart of this book lie the relationships between Pakeha, Maori and wider Moana artistic practices that, at different times and for different reasons, have been described by the term craft. It tells the previously untold story of craft in Aotearoa New Zealand, so that the connections, as well as the differences and tensions, can be identified and explored. This book proposes a new idea of craft—one that acknowledges Pakeha, Maori and wider Moana histories of making, as well as diverse community perspectives towards objects and their uses and meanings.

Damian Skinner is an award-winning author of several books on art, craft and artists, most recently The Maori Meeting House and Theo Schoon: A Biography. Kolokesa Mahina-Tuai has been a curator at both the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira. She now works as an independent consultant. She is the author of numerous books including, with Sean Mallon and Damon Salesa, Tangata o le Moana. She is currently the Tongan representative on the Pacific Arts Committee for Creative New Zealand. Karl Chitham (Ngapuhi) is the director of the Dowse Art Museum. He has experience and involvement with Artists Alliance and mentoring programmes and is a selection panel member, advisor, award’s judge and curator advisor within the New Zealand arts community.