Diggeress Te Kanawa

Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa (1920-2009) was a New Zealand Māori tohunga raranga (master weaver). Of Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Kinohaku descent, she was was given her unusual forename to honour the WWI diggers after her father served in the Māori Battalion. At her death, she was perhaps New Zealand's most renown weaver.^[1][2][3][4]

Biography

Born in Te Kuiti 1920 to Dame Rangimarie Hetet and Tuheka Taonui Hetet,^[5] Te Kanawa was named Diggeress after the nick-name 'diggers' acquired by the Māori Battalion (and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps more generally). She was taught weaving by her mother, who also taught Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, who would become her sister-in-law.

Te Kanawa married Tana Te Kanawa at 20 and they had 12 children, raising them at Oparure, near Te Kuiti. Through Tana she is Aunt to opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa.

Weaving

Te Kanawa is remembered as a teacher of weaving, on marae, at the tertiary Te Wānanga o Aotearoa^[6][7] and at events. She also traveled extensively to catalog materials lost to foreign museums during the colonial era.

Her work is not widely held in museums, being mainly made for specific people. In 1989 Te Kanawa and her mother were commissioned to make a cloak to celebrate the 25th annaversary of the founding of the University of Waikato.^[8] In 2006 she completed a commissioned korowai made of kiwi feathers for King Tuheitia as a statement of support for the Kingitanga.^[9]

Throughout the 1950s she was active in the Māori Women's Welfare League and in 1983 Te Kanawa co-founded what would become Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa with others including Emily Schuster of Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua

Te Kanawa was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2000 New Year Honours.

In 2007 Te Kanawa received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waikato, her mother had revieced one in 1986.

A collection of her kahu huruhuru (woven muka cloaks, feathered on one side) is in the Waikato Museum in Hamilton.

Works

• Weaving a kakahu by Diggeress Te Kanawa. Bridget Williams Books, 1992. ISBN 0908912080
• Te aho tapu / the sacred thread by Diggeress Te Kanawa. Exhibition guide. Waikato Museum of Art and History, 2004.
• Weaving a kakahu by Diggeress Te Kanawa. Puwaha ki te Ao Trust, 2006. ISBN 9780473117962 / ISBN 0473117967

Exhibitions

• Te Amokura o te Māori (1986)
• Rotorua National Hui (1990)
• Te Waka Toi: Contemporary Māori Art from New Zealand (1992)
• Paa Harakeke (2002).
• Te Aho Tapu / The Sacred Thread (2004),

References

1. ^ "'Icon artist' Diggeress Te Kanawa dies". stuff.co.nz. 2011 [last update]. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2709479/Icon-artist-Diggeress-Te-Kanawa-dies. Retrieved 24 October 2011. "One of New Zealand's official 'icon artists', tohunga raranga (master weaver) Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa, has died aged 89." 
2. ^ "Death of Diggeress Te Kanawa, mother of weaving renaissance". radionz.co.nz. 2011 [last update]. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/14783/death-of-diggeress-te-kanawa,-mother-of-weaving-renaissance. Retrieved 24 October 2011. "Born in Te Kuiti in 1920 of Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Kinohaku descent, Diggeress Rangitutahi Te Kanawa was named in honour of the World War 1 troops known as diggers." 
3. ^ "Poroporoaki: Diggeress Te Kanawa". scoop.co.nz. 2009 [last update]. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0907/S00416.htm. Retrieved 24 October 2011. "Tariana Turia expressed today the Maori Party’s sadness at the passing of Diggeress Te Kanawa, one of Aotearoa’s most prestigious Maori weavers." 
4. ^ "Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa - Biography". thearts.co.nz. 2011 [last update]. http://thearts.co.nz/artist_page.php&aid=21&type=bio. Retrieved 24 October 2011. 
5. ^ "Auckland War Memorial Museum - Hetet-Tuheka-Taonui-World-War-I,-1914-1918". muse.aucklandmuseum.com. 2011 [last update]. http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/34343.detail. Retrieved 24 October 2011. 
6. ^ "Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa. mourned". scoop.co.nz. 2009 [last update]. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0907/S00440.htm. Retrieved 24 October 2011. "Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Chief Executive Bentham Ohia today joined with leaders from throughout the country in marking the passing of much loved and respected Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Kinohaku kuia, Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa." 
7. ^ "Tributes: Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa". thebigidea.co.nz. 2011 [last update]. http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/industry-news/2009/jul/58987-tributes-diggeress-rangituatahi-te-kanawa. Retrieved 24 October 2011. "Creative New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen Wainwright said Diggeress Te Kanawa’s contribution to mahi harakeke has had a profound impact on Maori arts. “As early as the 1950s Diggeress was working alongside her mother, Dame Rangimarie Hetet teaching weaving to those who showed an interest. Her sharing and educating in the art of weaving has made Maori arts stronger and the nation culturally wealthier.”" 
8. ^ "Korowai". waikato.ac.nz. 2011 [last update]. http://www.waikato.ac.nz/library/about/taonga/korowai.shtml. Retrieved 24 October 2011. "This korowai was commissioned from Dame Rangimarie Hetet, honorary Doctor of the University of Waikato, and her daughter, Mrs Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa to mark the 25th year of the foundation of the University of Waikato in 1989." 
9. ^ "Famous weaver credited with reviving artform". nzherald.co.nz. 2011 [last update]. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10587923. Retrieved 24 October 2011.