Matariki art a koha from AUT Pou Māori
This year’s Matariki art resource pack, commissioned as a koha to all by Pou Māori at AUT, features work by Bachelor of Design tauira Te Awanui a Rangi Teresa Clark (Ngāpuhi).
Commissioned annually since 2022 as a learning resource to celebrate the rising of Matariki, this year's art is inspired by the work of Czech painter and illustrator Alphonse Mucha.
“The designs featured in Mucha’s Art Nouveau style work reminded me of the same flow and shape found in kowhaiwhai and whakairo,” says Te Awanui a Rangi, who is specialising in Animation, Visual Effects and Game Design with minors in Māori Media & Animated Drawing.
“Using this style also meant I could add more things that the stars represent into the works, without visual noise becoming a problem.
“With a lot of Mucha’s art, the longer you look at it the more detail you notice - while still having enough balance to not be overbearing.”
Details added by Te Awanui a Rangi include Waiti’s hinaki earrings and Waita’s pā kahawai earrings.
For the characters themselves, she took inspiration from the side profiles of friends and whānau.
Each poster-sized work depicts one of the nine stars of the Matariki cluster and is accompanied by a scannable QR code which links to further information.
This is the second year that Te Awanui a Rangi has created work as part of the Pou Māori Matariki commission, and she is grateful her work has been selected again.
She says for her whānau, Matariki is a “time of grounding, abundance and reflection.
“There is an emphasis on togetherness - especially when a part of the abundance of Matariki is found in my nana’s kitchen with a shared yummy kai.”
Commissioned annually by Pou Māori as a gift to celebrate the beginning of the new year in te aō Māori, when Matariki first rises on the eastern horizon just before dawn, they are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This license allows anyone to use the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as the artist is credited.
“Matariki is for everyone,” AUT Pou Awhina Jana Nee says.
“It is a time for reflection and aspiration, and we wanted to share this with community, hapori and iwi.
“There is so much to be learnt from mātauranga Māori regardless of your cultural background.
“We encourage whānau and friends to download the posters and display them in workspaces, homes and schools.”